Citrus Exports Not Factored Into Total Citrus Production
As you heard, the primary or agricultural sector also showed improvement. That's including citrus which had almost flatlined last year. But even the increased figures to not reflect all the oranges that went across the border:
Best Expo Booths Awarded
While you may have enjoyed the Expo earlier this month, some of the hard working exhibitors were just awarded today for their booth presentation. Every year the BCCI rewards those that participate in the expo, and the public relations manager explains what this year's categories were and what they were looking for.
Andrew Usher, Public Relations Manager, BCCI "Every year for expo we do a best booth competition and sometimes the categories change throughout the years, this year we did best overall booth, best micro booth, and best up and coming entrepreneur, which is similar to our youth award as well but we do it to recognize the hard work that these exhibitors have done over the past couple of months to ensure that their presentation is the best, their representation of professionalism, of creativity, of innovation, of efficiency, they've done a great job in terms of being out at the expo, putting on their best show that they could put whether it's decorating their booth in a specific or fancy type of way, if it's their presentation and they're all in uniform, if they're all in the same shirt, and of course customer service, being out there and calling people to your booth, giving them a one of a kind experience that they can only get at the expo."
Most outstanding up and coming entrepreneur went to Little Ceramic Painters, while HEY ABBZ won best micro booth and Smart Belize won best overall booth. We spoke to all three winners today.
Aaliyah Herbert, Owner, Little Ceramic Painters "Basically we provide blank canvas, the ceramics and whether people have the creativity where they can go ahead and paint it however they wish or if they wish to follow a specific design and we provide them a little template to give them an idea to do so."
"It's such an honor, it feels incredible because it's a testament that our passion and hard work does pay off and this definitely encourages us and we're excited to see what's next for us."
Abigail Budd, Owner, HeyAbbz "We are participating for the third year and this is the second year we're walking away with a little award. It is quite a journey honestly to see all the hard work and dedication that we've had to put into the expo. I remember sitting on one of the shows and telling other entrepreneurs that when it comes to the expo, it's a lot of work and to be able to really and truly bring our best self forward, really and truly grinding and doing all the work that a lot of people don't see behind the expo to see it come to fruition, to see the results of it have been quite a blessing."
Tristian Coleman, Marketing Manager, Smart "I think the main thing that stood out was the way we innovated, our physical display as well as the services we had to offer, we made sure that we wanted to build an experience for our customers where they'll be in the sun hot, we looked at different factors that we wanted to emphasize on customer experience, that's the main thing and then we accompanied that with the bells and whistles that we had out there so we had different artists, we reached out to BCCI and we're very happy to collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce to make sure that the event for everyone that attended was an experience that they'd want to come back next year."
1,500 Call Center Jobs Available
And finally tonight, Peak Outsourcing, one of Belize City's call centers, today inaugurated their new building on Coney Drive. It's expected to host 1,500 employees, who will work three shifts in groups of 500. That's a lot of jobs for city residents and the CEO said they hope to keep growing.
Charles Harmonick, CEO, Peak Outsourcing "This is a huge milestone for us because we had filled the facility across the street with 100 FTE's which shows that there is great commitment for the North America clients and the UK clients to be positioning business in Latin America and Central America so there is a great demand for doing business within Belize."
"So obviously we had building number one across the street, this is building number two. Our plans are to eventually go into tertiary cities and possibly have satellite offices where we can bring work to folks that may not have the means to travel to large cities like Belmopan or Belize City."
"We're different that the other BPO outsourcers, we're not looking to come in and have people come and have a job, we want them to have a career, we want them to make impact, we want them to be able to grow with the company and because we're a global company, we have opportunities for people to grow, not only here in Belize but we have the opportunities to go into other countries."
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City "It means that clearly Peak Outsourcing is demonstrating that they have confidence in the local economy of the country of Belize City. Whenever you have enterprises investing in buildings, in acquiring land, in fixed assets you know that they have to have some measure of confidence in the direction the economy is going in the country and the city and so we are so excited about playing a role in driving jobs to our young people."
"It's a great opportunity given the fact that in the past we have seen where following graduation many of our young kids coming out of high school, coming out of sixth form didn't have opportunities, didn't have jobs. This sort of enterprise provides that shift, that change and being able to, as Chuck said, he's looking at 1,500, three shifts of 500 so clearly that is a lot of jobs for our young people."
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While you may have enjoyed the Expo earlier this month, some of the hard working exhibitors were just awarded today for their booth presentation. Every year the BCCI rewards those that participate in the expo, and the public relations manager explains what this year's categories were and what they were looking for.
"Every year for expo we do a best booth competition and sometimes the categories change throughout the years, this year we did best overall booth, best micro booth, and best up and coming entrepreneur, which is similar to our youth award as well but we do it to recognize the hard work that these exhibitors have done over the past couple of months to ensure that their presentation is the best, their representation of professionalism, of creativity, of innovation, of efficiency, they've done a great job in terms of being out at the expo, putting on their best show that they could put whether it's decorating their booth in a specific or fancy type of way, if it's their presentation and they're all in uniform, if they're all in the same shirt, and of course customer service, being out there and calling people to your booth, giving them a one of a kind experience that they can only get at the expo."
"Basically we provide blank canvas, the ceramics and whether people have the creativity where they can go ahead and paint it however they wish or if they wish to follow a specific design and we provide them a little template to give them an idea to do so."
it's a lot of work and to be able to really and truly bring our best self forward, really and truly grinding and doing all the work that a lot of people don't see behind the expo to see it come to fruition, to see the results of it have been quite a blessing."
And finally tonight, Peak Outsourcing, one of Belize City's call centers, today inaugurated their new building on Coney Drive. It's expected to host 1,500 employees, who will work three shifts in groups of 500. That's a lot of jobs for city residents and the CEO said they hope to keep growing.
"So obviously we had building number one across the street, this is building number two. Our plans are to eventually go into tertiary cities and possibly have satellite offices where we can bring work to folks that may not have the means to travel to large cities like Belmopan or Belize City."
"It's a great opportunity given the fact that in the past we have seen where following graduation many of our young kids coming out of high school, coming out of sixth form didn't have opportunities, didn't have jobs. This sort of enterprise provides that shift, that change and being able to, as Chuck said, he's looking at 1,500, three shifts of 500 so clearly that is a lot of jobs for our young people."