It's called a 'supply chain workshop' and it's part of a $1.6 million small business programme funded and organized by the IDB, the BTB and the BTIA. Today, with the help of a foreign consultant, the BTIA held a small workshop to discuss how to get a product made in Punta Gorda, delivered to a cruise tourist on North Front Street. That's called the supply chain and project coordinator Deanna Peyrefitte explained why it's important.
Deanna Peyrefitte, Project Coordinator
"This is all about having the stuff that is made wherever in Belize, throughout the country of Belize, at points where the tourists frequent, so that we don't have people who are producing for the tourism industry but never really getting the items sold to tourists. So they are sitting, waiting for tourists to come to them and very few to where they are. So they have lots of products but it is not being sold the way it can be sold."
Jules Vasquez,
You're renting an expensive room at the country's premier conference center, at the Radisson; you've flown in a consultant - all these are administrative costs. It is $800,000 in administrative costs, in just trying to find out what is the problem instead of solving the problem.
Deanna Peyrefitte,
"Well you have to first find out what the problem is before you can solve the problem. So I think all of what we do is important but we didn't rent the room. BTIA was kind enough to assist us, through their in kind contribution, with a room at the Radisson and we do have local and international consultants and it is international best practices we are looking at and so we can justify our international consultants. We do have lots of local ones working as well."
Jules Vasquez,
But at the risk of being argumentative, we are not reinventing the wheel here. We are just finding a way to sell things to people who are in a specific area, rather than waiting for them to come. It is the marketplace, it happens everyday; people import rice from PG and sell it here in the city. It is not reinventing the wheel.
Deanna Peyrefitte,
"No we're not reinventing the wheel but we are trying to do what we are doing better. Yes we have people selling to the tourists but are you happy with the way it is being done, as a Belizean. There are lots of negative criticisms coming out of what's being done now. There are lots of products for sale that are not necessarily being sold because every booth has the same thing, nothing is differentiating one from the other, nobody is making sure that they have some uniqueness to what they are selling. We are also looking at the impression being created, we are looking at when you come to Belize you buy something that is made in Belize to take back. So at the end of the day it will help the micro and small enterprise."
Next the project moves unto countrywide workshops. As Peyrefitte discussed, branding is also a major part of the effort and that will be achieved by developing and distributing an exclusive insignia for crafts that are made in Belize.
