Breaking Barriers Internationally – Business Success Tips, JW005-23 Back then, it was all about pricing, pricing, pricing! Now in today’s business environment, it’s all about branding, branding, branding! In a world full of similar products and services, branding helps you to differentiate and be “unique” from others especially when there is a small window of

Breaking Barriers Internationally – Business Success Tips, JW004-23 A Marketing support plan or strategy is key to have for any business that is trying to gain new business whether locally or abroad. If a prospect may want to invest in your brand, product, or service the question that will most of the time be asked

Breaking Barriers Internationally – Business Success Tips, JW003-23 A top rule in business and life—Don’t offer a gourmet/premium product or service if the result is mediocre. Even with the best marketing or branding approaches consumers will know the difference between what is said compared to what they taste, experience, or receive. If value and satisfaction

Breaking Barriers Internationally – Business Success Tips, JW002-23 Don’t share your biggest dreams and aspirations with “little” people. They will come up with a 100 ways and reasons why it won’t work. Instead share it with close persons that you trust and have the know-how on how to proceed and at the same time encourage,

Breaking Barriers Internationally – Business Success Tips, JWoo1-23 Business meetings with prospects and potential business clients/ partners are crucial for any firm. Today taking along just business cards, product samples, and product catalogs is just not enough. In order to secure business and create an impression and gain trust more can be added to your

In Good Faith? The Role of the Minimum Wage Task Force Contributed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry “On November 25, 2021, CABINET requested that the ministry develops a plan for the GRADUAL implementation of the government’s commitment to a five-dollar minimum wage. …The government recognizes that any increase to the present minimum

Minimum Wage and a Balanced-and-Evidenced-based Approach Contributed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry “Many countries have discovered that a gap exists between the legitimate needs of workers and their families and what the economy is capable of paying in terms of minimum wages. It will not be possible to eliminate this gap in

The Trade License Regime: A ‘tax’ by any other name (Part 3) Contributed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry In this final installment of this three-part piece on the Trade Licensing Regime (TLR) it is necessary to bring two final elements into this discussion: The Productive Footprint and the now famous Schedule VII.

Business Perspective The Trade License Regime: A ‘tax’ by any other name (Part 2) Contributed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry In the immediately preceding Business Perspective (BP) Column entry, we had delineated the distinction between a “tax” and a “fee.” More precisely, we had looked at the fact the trade license regime

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE The Trade License Regime: A ‘tax’ by any other name “The mere fact that something is labelled a ‘fee for services’ does not necessarily preclude it from being a tax.  In other words, an imposition that must be paid, whether or not the relevant services are acquired and that has no discernible relationship

Business Perspective BCCI-NTUCB Labour Committee Re: OSH Bill— The BCCI-NTUCB’s Labour Committee met on Tuesday, March 29th, so as to discuss the way forward with the joint review of the review of the Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) provided by the OSH Technical Working Committee. NTNC Re: Belize-Mexico FTA— BCCI’s President and Chief Policy Analyst

Business Perspective Fuel Prices and the Belizean Economy It is clearly no secret: Belize is a net importer when it comes to fuel products, with gasoline being chief among them. As an imported commodity, Belize has to contend with the international prices and associated acquisition costs. That is an indisputable fact. Also an unavoidable fact

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE Belize, Mexico, and Special & Differential Treatment For more than a decade, there has been a near-complete acceptance among Belizean stakeholders that there are merits in improving Belize’s trade and investment relationship with our northern neighbor, Mexico. As the Directorate General for Foreign Trade (DGFT)’s website explains, “Consultations since 2010 have shown that

Business sector Senator Kevin Herrera presented his position in the Senate on December 6th 20201 in opposition to the Sugar Industry (Amendment) Bill 2021. The Senator cited great concern with the bill’s proposal to confer powers upon the Minister to be able to hear appeals from parties aggrieved by a decision of the Sugarcane Control

Weekly Business Tips With BCCI’s Councilor Jody Williams JW’s Biz 101-005 In business, being too agreeable can be a limiter or a disadvantage. Here is why– Business is about negotiating, but how can we negotiate a better deal if we say yes to everything? Business deals can be based on verbal or written contracts, but

Weekly Business Tips With BCCI’s Councilor Jody Williams Active listening is vital in any business meeting. Sometimes when we are trying to sell and promote our products or services, we get so excited that we end up talking more than we listen. That is fine since we are trying to gain more customers and markets!

JW’s BIZ 101-003 Is it possible for a company to survive with a good product with bad customer service? How about a not-so-good product with good customer service? The chances are that survival may be very slim and not geared towards long-term success. Good quality products and excellent customer service undoubtedly form a synergistic effect

JW’s BIZ 101-002 Do not neglect marketing your business and service on Social Media. Looking at trends around the world, businesses, whether small, medium, or large, are all using social media to push their brand, products and services. Many people (possible consumers, prospects) are spending much of their time on social media; as businesses, we

JW’s BIZ 101-001 Learning a new language can be a goal on someone’s bucket list. This may not include Spanish since Spanish can be classified as a secondary language in Belize, the US and other parts. In addition, many persons may want to take French or Italian classes or courses to learn the language of

The Protected Disclosures (Whistleblowers’) Bill 2021 A “Necessary” but not “Sufficient” Condition The Protected Disclosures (“Whistleblowers’”) Bill, 2021, once enacted into the laws of Belize, would be a landmark piece of legislation that could yield grant dividends in the fight against corruption. Regardless of the country, there is always a need for there to be

Business Perspective The ‘heavy-laden’ the Belizean Economy: The need to ‘do no more harm’ It is certainly no secret that the Belizean economy—like most economies around the globe—is in a bad place. Having declined by more than 14%, it is no wonder that unemployment surged from 2019’s ten percent to roughly 30% last year. And

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE Belize’s illicit enrichment laws need upgrading Last year, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), and the Belize Network of Non-governmental Organizations (BNN) all formed what has since been dubbed “The Social Partners of Belize” (SPoB). In the preamble of the SPoB declaration, the

The BCCI’s Position in Budget Consultation Part II Contributed by the BCCI In the previous installment of the Business Perspective (BP) Column we had started dissecting the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI)’s position on certain matters related to the ongoing budget consultations. Of course, our last conversation on this matter had to begin

Even the most casual consumer of local news would know at least two things: First, that the government’s deficit has climbed up to $500 million; and, second, that there’s a robust and fairly public debate as to whether or not the government should implement a public-sector wage cut. Following its last Tuesday morning meeting with

It has been an open secret that there is certainly need for reforms as it pertains to Belize’s key oversight mechanisms. Among the bodies that have been recognized as requiring significant institutional strengthening are the Public Accounts Committee, the Auditor General’s Office, and, yes, the Office of the Contractor General. Actually, as was discussed in

Enforcing Contracts and Doing Business Late last August the announcement was made by the World Bank that it had opted to pause its “publication of the Doing Business report” due to, as the Bank explained, “a number of irregularities” that had been reported “to the data” in the 2018 and 2020 reports. While the Doing

Part 2—it’s time to take Developing countries’ trade Vulnerabilities into account In the previous installment of the Business Perspective column, we had started a discussion on the need for trade vulnerabilities to be weighed more heavily in the international trade scene. The conversation in this area had definitely received a boost due to the Trump

It has never been any secret that the international trade scene is a mixed bag of major and “minor” players, with countries like Belize clearly falling within the latter classification. Putting things into a clearer perspective, in 2019, United Nations Trade Statistics Database (UN COMTRADE) placed the value of global exports at just below US$

The ‘32nd Constituency’: the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Let’s be honest: There is little surprise that a newspaper column dubbed the “Business Perspective” will be talking about the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Practically speaking, it would be more of shocker if it didn’t. Thing is this, though. As we inch closer to November 11th, it becomes increasingly important for

The Spirit of the Social Partners’ Joint Declaration: Fixing the ‘System’ Eight years ago, the Office of the Auditor General (AG) published its audit report for the 2011/12 Fiscal Year which contained, among many other things, this statement: “The report received from Accountant General’s Department showed that forty-two (42) entities were sent memoranda requesting arrears

This week in the Senate In this week’s Senate meeting there were several Bills passed, including the Cybercrime Bill, an amendment to the Treasury Bill Act, the Land Tax Amendment, and more. While the Wednesday, September 30, sitting was possibly the last for this session of Parliament, there was no absence of the conventional miscellany

Consultations on Proposed Amendments to CARICOM’s Rules of Origin For the last few months, undoubtedly most persons’ attention have been on matters associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19), a pandemic that as wreaked havoc on the global and domestic economies. Globally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates a 4.9% contraction in World Gross

Labour Bill Tries ‘Catches Up’ with the Times, but Doesn’t Go Far Enough The Intention In April 2020, when Belize fully entered into a State of Emergency (SOE) due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19), “Belize LMS Producers Ltd.” [firm’s real name withheld], a food producer with decades under its belt, lost more than

Foreign exchange, trade credit and a ‘matter of time’ Earlier this month the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and B20 (international business summit) issued a joint release to sound the alarm regarding the widening trade financing gap being experienced during the COVID 19 pandemic. The release notes that while trade

Forex Needs, USD $30 million Note and the Race against time The recently launched USD $30 million  Fixed Rate Notes (“The Notes”) has—like most major macroeconomic decisions—generated its fair share of public commentary, and rightfully so. After all, the issuance of the Notes comes on the heels of recent downgrades by rating agencies such as

Okay! We’re economically vulnerable! Now What? Part 2 In the last installment of the Business Perspective, we had briefly looked at both the general principle of economic resilience, as well as succinctly examined Belize’s degree of vulnerability to external shocks. Based on the framework promulgated by Briguglio et. al (2006), we similarly treated vulnerability as

Okay! We’re economically vulnerable! Now What? Part 1 There are a few inescapable truths that the actors of the Belizean (or frankly any economy) will have to accept. First, there is a “new normal” that will have to be embraced; and second, if there was ever a time for economies to start reviewing their resiliency

Livestock Exports and a Few Matters of Facts Having been in the news for roughly three to four weeks, the new-found barrier placed before livestock producers and exporters has certainly caught the nation’s attention. This is to be expected, because on the one end the country—like most jurisdictions worldwide—is facing one of the deepest recessions in

The 2020 Economy: Need for Expansionary Policies—Part 2 In the previous installment of the Business Perspective column, the various downside risks facing the Belizean economy were discussed. We ended that earlier article with the following point: “The Belizean economy—like others in the region—has a lot of downside risks bearing down on her this 2020. Consequently,

The ILO has developed over the years a wealth of OSH instruments and tools which could be of use for the protection of workers against COVID-19.

AG vs Corruption, Not AG vs Chamber “Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.” ~Richard Armour “Any call for good governance, or governing of any kind, is met with derisive partisan insults encouraged and perpetuated by those who blindly

Belize Needs Leaders, Not Politicians “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.” -Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Our leaders have no interest in leading, nor do they feel any pressure from the electorate to do so. This comes as no surprise to anyone paying close attention to the

The goal of diversifying Belize’s export basket has, once again, moved a bit closer to being realized as we can now say the country is also exporting crude soybean oil.  A release from the Government of Belize (GoB) indicated that the first shipment was sent on Thursday, January 24, 2019, thereby, representing the “first ever