Business
in Belize:From Donuts to Dot.com
Article by Bill and
Claire Gray ~ Photos by Robin Sparks
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| Bill and Claire Gray are
the authors of Belize Reitrement Guide as well as numerous special reports
on Belize. Visit their website at www.belizeretire.com
- They will be hosting a Belize Offshore Conference and Tour in January
2003. Belize Offshore Conference and Tour - Belize
Offshore Conference and Tour - with Bill & Claire Gray. The conference
will be 3 days of offshore/privacy/financial experts from all over the
world, you will listen to them speak, engage in panel discusions, answer
your questions and consult with you privately, free of charge! And even
though the conference is being held in Belize, offshore services in other
countries such as Panama, Dominica and The Bahamas will be discussed. |
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| When we moved to Belize
in the 1980’s writing about business meant telling of the great entrepreneurs
we had come to know, both locals and expats.
The shoe repair shop on wheels…bicycle
wheels.
The first Belizean yoghurt company.
A couple from Chicago making their product in 5 gallon buckets in their
kitchen at night.
3 single American girls supporting
themselves by delivering freshly baked pizzas on motorscooters.
A retired music teacher opening
a music school for young people at the community civic center.
A mobile meat market in a trailer,
driven by the owner to areas where there are no meat markets.
None of these people got rich, but
they all lived where they wanted and worked how and when they
wanted, which in some cases was very little.The couple who started the
yoghurt business worked 1 day and 1 night a week to support themselves
and their 2 young children. |
| The other worldly beauty of Belize
is expressed in the photography of Robin
Sparks - |
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The simplicity and ease with which
one can start a business in Belize lets many people do something they have
always wanted to try but weren’t able to back home. I remember a 70 something
retiree who had owned a hearing aid business in Southern California who
told me he had always dreamed of having a donut business.When he went
to Texas in the early 1960’s he noticed there were no California
style donut shops. He felt he could make a killing in donuts, but when
his wife discouraged him and he added up what it would cost him to buy
the equipment he needed and to rent the business space he didn’t even try,
something he always regretted.
While living in Belize 30 years later
he started experimenting with donut recipes, this time his wife got interested
and together they started a business at home making donuts and specialty
breads and rolls to distribute to local grocery stores.
We loved seeing this older gentleman
so alive and enjoying his little business so much, even when he was on
crutches recovering from a motorcycle accident he was euphorically hobbling
around his kitchen overseeing the baking. Eventually when he decided he
had had enough of the donut business he simply hung up a hand painted sign
that said “No more donuts”, no expensive equipment to sell off, no
lease to try and get out of, just “No more donuts.”
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| Being free from all
the bureaucratic red tape, and expensive, complicated procedures,
frees a person to put all their creative energy into their business.We
love seeing owners of even the smallest of businesses empowered like this.
In the developing world no one expects anything from the government and
so they know they either have to get out there and earn money at
something or live off the food they have growing in their yard and
the fish they can catch.
But in the past decade, Belize has
become home to a very different and much more sophisticated type of business
and entrepreneur.
Belize is now the third largest domicile
for offshore businesses in the Caribbean-Central American basin, behind
only the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.This is remarkable
since offshore legislation just began to be written in Belize in the early
1990’s.
And in a time when many traditional
offshore jurisdicitons are adding more controls and restricitions, Belize
is doing just the opposite , making the system here more user- friendly.
Belize now has it’s sights set on becoming a leading offshore e-commerce
center. Some think that the Belize web extension “.bz” , will come to mean
business in a domain name. |
| Photo from the article, "Which
Way To Heaven?" by Robin Sparks - the story of one couple’s perilous
sea journey from New England to Belize - |
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As the days of the telecom monopoly
of Belize Telecommunications Ltd draw to a close, it’s 30 year
exclusive rights contract expires in January 2003, the future of
e-commerce looks bright for Belize. Already one of the first jurisdictions
in the world to allow online gaming, Belize is now home to an offshore
e-commerce free zone.
In an effort to attract investors,
the government of Belize has established an Export Processing Free
Zone(EPZ).The idea behind it is to combine Belize’s offshore financial
services with state of the art technology.The zone is located 13 miles
outside Belize City on the Northern Highway in Ladyville, just a few minutes
away from the Philip Goldson international airport.
Busineses in the EPZ enjoy the following
benefits:
Businesses can operate totally
tax free: No income tax, no capital gains tax, no sales tax.
Any equipment brought into Belize
for a business in the EPZ, including vehicles and office furniture would
be free of all customs duties and any other taxes.
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| Belize is in a good geographical
location. At least for lifestyle ~ |
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Goods and services can
be exchanged between EPZ companies tax free.
There are no exchange restrictions
and funds are transferrable freely in and out of Belize. No conversion
to Belize currency necessary.
The zone is technically offshore,
legally not even considered to be in Belize, so the telecom monoply
does not apply here.
It is thought that since Belize has
many of the elements sought by international investors the EPZ could have
wide appeal:
Belize is in a good geographical
location. By air, it is less then 2 hours from Miami, connecting it with
flights to the rest of the world.It is also accessible by road, 1,350 miles
south of Brownsville Texas, making shipping by ground possible. Belize
also has 2 deep water ports and is regularly serviced by several shipping
lines.
Belize is a stable democracy with
no history of political unrest.The exchange rate has been fixed for
the past 25 years and there has never been a currency devaluation.
Belize has an English speaking workforce
which will work for wages well below countries like the US or Canada. Expect
to pay a skilled full time worker $75-100 US for a 6 day work week. |
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DataPro Internaton Ltd. a Belize
City based company has created an e-business park in the EPZ. Set on 90
acres of manicured grounds the park offers executive office space ranging
from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet. So far there are 6 two-story buildings,
each having 6,000 sq.ft of available office space on the bottom and 4,000
on top.The office space comes with electricity ,water, air-conditioning
and fiber optic cable pre-
installed. Office space rents for
$3.50US per sq.ft with a 1,000 sq ft minimum.
Bandwidth is available at the following
monthly fees:
64k-$950
128k-$1,750
256k-$3,500
512k-$5,900
1,024-$9,500
T1-$14,200
E1-$17,500
The DataPro e-business park is designed
to cater to technology companies.The park has been open since 2000 and
currently has 10 companies operating out of it.For more info see www.datapro.bz
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| Bill and Claire Gray are
the authors of Belize Reitrement Guide as well as numerous special reports
on Belize. Visit their website at www.belizeretire.com
- They will be hosting a Belize Offshore Conference and Tour in January
2003. Belize Offshore Conference and Tour - Belize
Offshore Conference and Tour - with Bill & Claire Gray. The conference
will be 3 days of offshore/privacy/financial experts from all over the
world, you will listen to them speak, engage in panel discusions, answer
your questions and consult with you privately, free of charge! And even
though the conference is being held in Belize, offshore services in other
countries such as Panama, Dominica and The Bahamas will be discussed. |
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