And while those visiting surgeons were helping out Belizeans in need, the embassy of Taiwan has been lending a hand to women owned MSME's in the tourism sector.
It's yet another collab between the government of Taiwan and the Ministry of Tourism to target a sector that took a tough hit during the pandemic.
Our 7News team stopped into the program's closing ceremony and heard from the organizers about the importance of this program and its effect on Belize's Economy.
Lily Hsu, Taiwan Ambassador to Belize
"We know that tourism is one of the important sectors here in Belize. They support a lot of households and we think because covid-19 hit hard with this sector, especially the women-owned MSME's tourist related firms and industries, so we want to support them with our women empowerment program Belize and Taiwan governments working together."
"I think meeting these women is most rewarding, because they obviously are so resilient and so determine to face the challenges. Although things are difficult and sometimes might feel very helpless, but with this kind of help from both governments I think they be encourage and participate with resilience. I joked that this program is a resilient program and the 30 beneficiaries being called the "resilient 30." We want to empower women, because women are such an important part of this country and they can support the economy. If we can empower them, they can help in this country to develop in a much stronger and healthy stand. So that is very rewarding as I say this is a very rewarding endeavour that we work with the Belizean government."
Jonelly Hemmands, Business Development and Investment Officer
"There were 3 components to the project; we did a diagnosis of the business to actually let them know their performance, they bench marked it against international standards to see where they are performing and where there are gaps and where they can improve."
"The second portion was to have them gold standard certify, wo they were meeting certain bio-security protocols and now they are certified by the BTB to operate under a certain standard and thirdly, there was a digital transformation portion where we assisted with their marketing. A lot of people were staying indoors due to covid, so digital marketing was key to any MSME, so we help bolstered their photography, their videos, their website in order for them to attract traffic to their business."
"And lastly, we wanted to digitize the operation, so we added a POS system, a tablet and a printer into their operation so they could keep track of their inventory and also move into modern times with meeting what the standard is for our US or UK market as well too."
Nicole Solano, CEO, Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations
"The tourism industry is supported by the small businesses and the small businesses within Belize make up the majority of the businesses that operate in tourism. So in order for us to have the level of experience that our tourist are expecting, we have to make sure that we support all of these services; the hotels, the tour operators, the tour guides, the restaurants, the gift shops - all of the businesses that support the tourism industry."
Reporter
"Do you feel that after this program these women would have effectively bounce back from covid?"
Nicole Solano, CEO, Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations
"This is not the solution to the overall challenges that they face. This is only one aspect. So, it isn't that we put the program in place and then it ends here, we have to continue to support and we have to look for new ways and new programs that they can become a part of. So, it's an ongoing process. Its not just program was implemented and it's over and that's it. Its ongoing."
As you heard from the C.E.O. The women will be able to access future programs that will continue to help them improve and bolster profits for their businesses.
