Belize a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity

My recent trip home to Belize gave me an opportunity to experience first hand an entrepreneurial spirit and buzz that now seems to increasingly characterise life, livelihoods, and "bizniz" in the jewel. To be sure, there are pop up and online ' 'shops' (these are more markets in the economic sense of the word) of all types - from jewellery (e.g., earrings) to personal beauty products, desserts, food, clothes, shoes, gifts, floral arrangements, online stores ... you name it. And, it is not limited to products. A lot of what I witnessed included services such as professional cleaning services, business brokers, chef services, business services operators, you name it ... Belizeans, especially the young people, it appeared to me, are no longer satisfied with waiting for "nice office jobs that hardly pay the bills..." Moreover, these young entrepreneurs are adept at leveraging social media channels and networks for promoting and selling their products and services. I doubt most of them are trained in marketing, but they are social media savvy, know their markets (i.e., their customers), and their marketing is organic so it connects, and in ways I don't think the cut and dry news paper adds and 'screamer' radio and tv commercials can or ever did!

So what led to this outpouring of entrepreneurial activity, informality, and talent? I am made to understand that the Covid-19 lockdown stirred something in our young Belizeans. Used to moving on their own time, the lockdowns no doubt amplified frustrations for many, especially those without a "sweet-heart pass" to move around (loved that meme with the Garifuna background tune and still play it often), and so in a context of so much uncertainty things started to happen. Perhaps there were many who felt, rightly so, that there was nothing to lose really, and so they set out on their respective entrepreneurial journeys to test the market, so to speak, though I dare say the Covid-19 induced lockdown period was probably one of the riskiest times to try one's hand at setting up new businesses. Periods of contraction of economic activity however, can, and have been known to spur people to action albeit in the informal economy, and this seems to have been the case in Belize in 2020 as the country emerged from the Covid-19 lockdowns buzzing with entrepreneurial activity.

I spoke to three or four people (maybe more) about how they got started with their little enterprises and how they funded these. I was expecting to hear that they secured loans from the banks or credit unions or received assistance from the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) and was shocked that not one of the persons I spoke with had secured help from the SBDC, and none had gotten funding from their "friendly" bank or credit union. In fact, these people looked at me like I was not from Belize (admittedly I have lived aways from almost 15 years now - yikes!). One person responded - "mista - I no crazy. Dehn bank no got time fu we small fry and fu d lee bit ah money dehn want u hand and foot." The sampling of people I 'canvassed' (although this best describes the conversations I had with the relevant entrepreneurs it was not a formal exercise in any way) is not, I am sure, representative of the many small entrepreneurs out there moving things along. But they definitely speak to a reality which I have witnessed in a number of countries across the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and the South Pacific during my more than twenty years of work in trade and export development: that is, that the structures of business and financing (in this case in Belize) pose significant constraints and strictures to innovation and entrepreneurship, and this has led to a burgeoning informal economic sector buzzing with activity day in, day out, especially on weekends. In other words, the many young entrepreneurs in Belize have succeeded in setting up their businesses and making good on their ambitions and ideas of being business owners despite the lack of financing from the banks, credit unions, or support from the relevant business development organizations.

To be fair, I did a bit of research and found that to its credit, BELTRAIDE has previously hosted (or still hosts) an Entrepreneurship Fest and has an Entrepreneurship Strategy (I am not sure if this is current). BELTRAIDE's work with entrepreneurs in Belize was also previously guided by a Belize Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Work Plan 2016-2019. Arguably then, BELTRAIDE has had its eyes on the entrepreneurial landscape in Belize for some time now and through the Small Business Development Centre I believe it has helped a few enterprising people to get started on their entrepreneurial journeys. Still, the scores of young and other entrepreneurs that are getting business done without the help or assistance of BELTRAIDE suggests that the organization needs to revisit its approach. (@BELTRAIDE - this is not an attack and no harm is meant, but there seems to be a significant disconnect between your organization (and its constituent departments) and the dozens of young entrepreneurs operating pop-up and on-line shops all over Belize.)

On the score of informal economic activity, there is undoubtedly a resurgence of Belize's informal sector, in recent years. I recall the early elements of this starting in the early 1990s with people of hispanic descent, many of them women and single mothers, who came to Belize from Central America following the conflicts there. I remember this time because I was then head of the YMCA of Belize and, with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and support from the YM-YWCA of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, (Dr. Rick McDaniel was instrumental in securing the CIDA support for us), we established a whole suite of programs to support the migrant populations living in Belize including offering English-as-Second Language classes and support with societal issues they faced, from getting documents translated, to getting references for jobs, and help with dealing with unscrupulous landlords. Many will remember how these enterprising women and men put meat pies, fruits and vegetables, breads and other goodies (including school uniforms and other types of clothes) on bicycles and bicycle carts and rode around the city selling their wares, eliminating the need for many of us to have to walk up the road to purchase or wants.

To cut what could be a long story short, I see this new wave of entrepreneurial activity and informality as resulting from a contraction of economic activity during the Covid-19 pandemic period alongside business financing and business processes and systems in Belize that are not conducive to entrepreneurship and innovation, whereas, the emergence of the informal sector in Belize in the late 1980s to early 1990s was the result of the need for the migrants populations to fight against poverty and unemployment, and for survival in a new country with, arguably, low(er) levels of economic activity than the homelands from which they were displaced. If I am not wrong (and please correct me if I am), many of them came from communities with significantly larger populations than Belize had at the time and were 'placed' in locations like the Valley of Peace where there were no established communities or municipal structures, and with the (rather heavy) expectation and belief that they would take up agriculture and other rural activities.

Notwithstanding, the current levels of entrepreneurial activity I witnessed in Belize is refreshing and I applaud the many young people who have a "main or side thing going" - no pun intended. It was first hand evidence that the young people today "don't have time to waste" waiting for low paying jobs and political hand outs and have instead taken the proverbial bull by the horns and are making things happen. It is disappointing, though not surprising, that their successes have come outside of any support or financing from the formal banking and business development institutions in Belize. But their efforts are not be discounted - this group of young people are doing a lot to keep the Belizean economy moving and money flowing - and as a Belizean I was proud of their accomplishments (even as the cost of living in Belize shocked me, time and again) and awed not only by their sheer determination but also the quality of what was on display. Belize does have talent, and a lot of it.

For visitors to Belize, including Belizeans from the diaspora returning home whether to resettle or just to visit, it is evident that there is a lot happening and there is. Visit Belize and check it out for yourself! And please don't haggle the young entrepreneurs over the price of their products or services ... Belize is a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity. You betta Belize it!