3 weeks ago
21
The MSME Roadshow, which supports micro, small, and medium enterprises across Belize, continues this week following its first stop held in San Ignacio. The opening leg of the roadshow took place last week, from the 25th to the 27th, where entrepreneurs and business owners took part in a series of presentations, networking sessions, and business development discussions aimed at strengthening the MSME sector. Love news spoke with Executive Director Ishmael Quiroz on the outcome of the first leg of the roadshow and added that the sessions focused on improving access to information, financing opportunities, and key support services available to small businesses.
Ishmael Quiroz, Executive Director, BELTRAIDE: “So we had very good participation at the San Ignacio kickoff. As you said it is a three-day program where the first day is a boot camp style exposure to different topics. And we have fresh, exciting, interesting, relevant topics that every business owner should want to kind of like take up that opportunity to train up. The second day is our formalization clinic where we bring the services that support business operations together under one roof and where you can get information firsthand from the different agencies that will be present including the financial sector. And so there’s good opportunities there to learn more about what these different agencies do but also to access services. You can register your business, the companies registry is going to be there, the Belize Tax Service is also out there, Social Security Board, the Labor Department, the local municipality for trade license information and others and so that’s the second day. The third day is the marketplace. It’s a pop-up style marketplace where the participating businesses as well as others are able to showcase what they’re producing by way of not only products but also services and to have more people in your community but also in the country know what it is that you’re producing and doing as a small business. We certainly want more people to take up the opportunity but we were very satisfied with the attentiveness of the people who did participate. We did have healthy and robust numbers. As I said though, we want people across the country when it is in their destination to come on out and participate. It’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.”
This week, the roadshow continues in Benque Viejo del Carmen, running from Thursday through Saturday, and will conclude with an Expo. Similar activities are expected as stakeholders continue efforts to strengthen linkages and support business growth across the country. /
English (US) ·