Last week, we showed you small Belizean businesses for all your Valentine's needs. And today, we continue our small business series with two more local entrepreneurs who have seen success in the months of COVID-19.
Sangria Mia makes their own version of the popular wine-based drink with three flavors to choose from; meanwhile, Naturally Belizean is a clothing company that reps the 501 proudly.
Courtney Menzies spoke with the founders of both companies:
With COVID, you may have to cancel your vacation to the beach. But with Sangria Mia, you get the tropical escape right from your home.
Like many small Belizean businesses, this one was born out of the pandemic after the founder, Amira Pelayo, found herself with a new baby and a failing consultancy business. That's when she decided to use her sangria skills to venture into entrepreneurship.
Amira Pelayo, Founder, Sangria Mia
"In that time it was really hard to actually generate some sort of income and so I began to think, what else can I do? And during that time, never did I ever imagine that I would actually come in the kitchen to prepare something, to create something. And during that time my friends and family members were like, you're so good at making sangria. And I was like, that could potentially be some venture."
And Pelayo has never looked back. She said the product came naturally to her since she's been making sangria for years - something she was inspired to do since her parents were fruit and vegetable vendors.
And while her sangrias are unique, she says the special touch comes from how natural the product is.
Amira Pelayo, Founder, Sangria Mia
"My special touch is that it's homemade and it's natural. In my sangria, there is absolutely no added liquor. There are some other individuals or maybe even some people prefer to have some liquor in it like brandy, I don't do any of that. It's simply the wine and the fruits, the fruits infused into the wine to give it that delectable sangria."
And she advises anyone who has a business idea to go for it - which is exactly what Shatefa Garbutt did over four years ago. At only 17 years old, she started her clothing company called Naturally Belizean. And while she always had customers, she said business really started booming during the pandemic.
Shatefa Garbutt, Founder, Naturally Belizean
"Naturally Belizean came about back in 2016, I was working a summer job and at that moment I realized that I wanted something for my own and something to run and then I realized why not just be an entrepreneur. So that summer I saved my lack paycheck and I decided that I needed to create a business and so in 2016 the whole curly hair trend was going around and I said okay since it's all natural and everyone is natural or going natural then it's time to do something about natural hair but at the same time I wanted to put Belize in it, so I said instead of just doing something based around doing natural hair, why not have something representing us natural hair girls but at the same time representing where you're from, who you are and your country."
But it wasn't easy for her as a teenager to dedicate herself to her business - it required sleepless nights and tons of research and discipline. But she encourages young people to become business owners of their own.
Shatefa Garbutt, Founder, Naturally Belizean
"If you are a teen, you may think you're too young to start a business, you're not. So if you want to start young, you have to take on a lot of responsibilities, you have to be mature about running a business and you have to be serious. It is a challenge to start when you are young, about 16 to 18, because you have a bit of freedom so you want to be out there a bit but if you want a business you have to learn how to balance out life, work, school, and stuff like that."
She also warns that at first, you may get discouraged. That's what happened to her with her first set of T-Shirts, but now her business has grown with products for men and women.
Shatefa Garbutt, Founder, Naturally Belizean
"Since I started with t-shirts, I have done face masks, I introduced hoodies last year, I introduced a collection for men that includes men shorts and those sold out very quickly."
She recently released another line of 501 t-shirts - similar to the one she wore in the interview - as well as phone cases, pop sockets, tote bags and next month, she will be launching a children's line.
Sangria Mia is planning on adding new fruit options - like mango, while Naturally Belizeans has new launches in store for the rest of the year. Both companies can be found on Facebook and Instagram, and also TikTok in "Naturally Belizean"'s case.
