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Last week we showed you how a local rum factory single-handedly solved the country’s hand sanitizer shortage. It’s a trend we’re noticing on small and large scales, Belizeans are combining their ingenuity and creativity in a united effort against the faceless silent enemy, COVID-19. And tonight manufacturer Karim Berges shows us two new products he’s put on the market for medical practitioners and the public. Berges says he was inspired by the equipment of frontline workers featured on international news.

Slingshot company on Baymen Avenue is normally busy branding every new building that goes up in the old capital or wrapping corporate vehicles, they’ve even created major signage for rock bands.

But in times like these, these face shields are not signs, but signs of the times:

Kareem Burgees - Managing Director, Slingshot

“I’m a full manufacturing company. We have printing capabilities but we also have some cool machinery that allows us to intricate into many other manufacturing features. So I’m always looking for ideas, always exploring my mind is geared up to that so when I saw it on the news I said hmm I can do that. I don’t want to put this as we’re taking advantage of a situation but we’ve been having ideas, this is one of the ideas that came out of the blue just like that but the opportunity is here as well it’s a situation whereby we’re working along with the current times.â€￾

Not only is Slingshot filling a vital pandemic-time need but much like the switch up that Travellers Liquors they’ve been able to repurpose and retain their employees too.

Kareem Burgees

“From the way I operate my business because we always look for products or things that we can do that’s a little bit difficult for people to order from outside whether it’s Mexico or Guatemala or the U.S. I’m always saying that we can do that here and my employees are never surprised, they just say but boss “how we wah do thisâ€￾ and I just tell them this is how we’ll do it. It took a little while a lot of test runs and a lot of prototypes were made until we got the product to its final stage. It’s three parts really, it’s a framework which in this is the frame and this is the sturdiest and the most important part of it this is the part that requires machinery, so the other part is the shield itself it’s a simple acrylic that we could get here at maybe stationary house, but we also have some products in house as well and then the strap and again these are elastic straps that we use for various things and added on to that just a little cushion.â€￾

Cherisse Halsall

“What has been the response so far to these masks?â€￾

Kareem Burgees

“Great, great I’m completely surprised people love it. We already have ordered from doctors, doctors came, they looked at it and they loved it. They think it’s an excellent idea and they didn’t think that we had the capabilities to do such thing’s so fast.â€￾

And face shields aren’t the only sanitary product the company will manufacture. Burgees gave us a sneak peek at one request that he’s been very satisfied to fill.

Kareem Burgees

“We’re also doing some other, another medical product that doctors came to us and instantly yes we can, before the doctor even said can you do this. The other product is a straightforward cube. It’s a cube and it’s a protective cube to protect the doctors from their patients and it has some oval holes where they can put their hands so they can attend to the patients from the back to hold their head and if there’s any sneezing or coughing it catches I can’t say 100% but it catches enough to minimise the contagions.â€￾

And Berges says that once slingshot perfects its assembly line they will be able to make 200 face shields per day. Order’s for Slingshots face shields have been made by multiple doctors and by Belize Healthcare partners.