Organized by Rhics Technology based in the UK and Chamberlain Consulting, Belize hosted its very first Digital Leadership Conference this morning at the Biltmore. It's organized to address the urgent need for digital transformation across Belize's private and public sectors. With over 70% of Belizeans connected online, there are numerous opportunities to harness digital tools to enhance businesses, improve government services, and drive inclusive economic growth. The Chairman of the Belize Coalition of Service Providers told us what was the catalyst for this conference.

Dr Dionne Chamberlain, Chairman, Belize Coalition of Service Providers
"After Belize's signing agreements, EPA. agreements with the UK and Croatia and foremost importance they have assigned that, we must focus on exporting our services sector initiatives in terms of spa and wellness, digital and music and entertainment and of course architectural and construction services. So we are celebrating services week right now and we realized that we need to do something in reference to the sectors we are trying to push so today we are doing digital leadership and tomorrow is Human Resources which we are going to have here in the same room. So digital leadership is absolutely important in this point in time because it is not only the tools and the tactics and the programs and all of that there is a mindset shift that needs to occur between the leaders of all these organizations for them to embrace the changes that are needed understand that there is money that needs to be spent and understand that technical people are rare and we must respect them and their craft and their trade and grow them and help to upscale our entire nation of individuals to be able to move towards this digital landscape which is not something that we want to do it's something that we have to do it's a priority so we can stay relevant and be able to thrive within this new economy that is being created worldwide."

This morning's presentations were focused on digital strategy, cybersecurity, and innovative workforce engagement. The Presenter, Christian Junior from the UK gave us more details on some of the key point objectives in his presentation.

Christian Junior, Managing Director, Rhics Ltd
"So today I spoke at the first digital leadership conference in Belize. I spoke about creating strategies, digital and cybersecurity strategies and my talk is focused on exposing participants to a lot of emerging technologies, particularly Ai, blockchain and all of the things that are out there, well most of it so businesses can start understanding how to tap into these tools and platforms to actually improve their outcomes in Belize. The second part of my talk focuses on cybersecurity strategies as well how to help businesses safeguard their data protect their infrastructure, protect their computers and systems because with all of this digitization it actually exposes businesses to a lot of risks around cybersecurity because you have a lot of barriers, hackers and criminals that just want to steal data like what happened for example with Belize Electricity recently where they stole a lot of customer data and exposed it on websites. So this conference really is to teach businesses how to protect their data how to safeguard their data to ensure that things that happened with Belize electricity doesn't repeat itself over and over again. So these are the kinds of conversations we are having here and digital strategies and cybersecurity."

The conference will focus tomorrow on Human Resources, which will include some of today's participants and stakeholders. The President of the Belize Association of Human Resource Professionals told us how today's conference ties into tomorrow's Summit.

Consuelo Waight, President, Belize Association of Human Resource Professionals
"Not today but tomorrow we are hosting the first ever HR Summit. It's a day where we are coming together and learning from each other. The focus is to share knowledge and hopefully we have some self organization that occurs among the HR professionals so that they can continue learning from and with each other after the summit."

"One of the core roles of HR professionals today is to be outside thinkers and subsequently you need to understand your external environment not only here in Belize but in Central America within the Americas and also around the world because everything that occurs are potential triggers for us here in Belize so learning from the outside so that you can then help your organization be more competitive and you know successful and everything that HR does is linked to the business and as a result of that HR has to be a strategic positioned by learning from the outside In."