First Angels Jamaica (FAJ) is hosting a series of five virtual meet-ups aimed at strengthening the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector.

The events will be held every month, beginning October 28, and will expose founders of high-growth, potential start-ups as well as early-stage companies to the requisite knowledge and new skills needed to support the growth of businesses amidst the challenges of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

According to FAJ co-founder Sandra Glasgow, the equity financing company was excited to be providing this opportunity for SMEs as it seeks to promote and support the growth of these entities in a changing environment.

“We have carefully curated the topics of these meet-ups to focus on some of the key issues that founders will need to address as they work to survive and thrive during this ‘new normal’ business environment,” she said.

The first meet-up will feature Andrew Nooks, director of Symptai Consulting Limited, who will present on the topic ‘Cybersecurity: securing business and client information’.

“As more and more small businesses have an online presence, cyberattacks pose an ever-increasing risk. Many people think that only big businesses face cyberattacks, but the evidence is that small businesses are the new frontier for cybercriminals. SMEs are more vulnerable because they may not have the dedicated information technology staff and network security systems to ward off attacks,” Glasgow added.

Other speakers for the virtual series include Gregory Peart, who leads National Commercial Bank’s merchant sales and relationship team. He will address the topic ‘Leveraging digital technology to enhance business growth ‘.

The last two meetings will be addressed by Carmella Vong, an account manager on the Google ads mid-market team, who will discuss ‘Building and scaling products with the best of Google – its people and advanced technologies ‘ and Jeremy Neuner, head of start-up content at Google, whose topic will be ‘What founders need to know about managing people and culture’.

FAJ, through the provision of “smart capital” has, over the years, supported founders/entrepreneurs to properly grow and develop their businesses. The entity said that it strongly believes that the development of SMEs is key to the country’s growth and economic development.