There are many opportunities for small businesses in Belize to sell their products in the US - but only a few of those opportunities are epxloited. Today Beltraide held a "How to Export to the US" workshop at the Radisson to educate entrepreneurs on the trade regulations and requirements to get into the US market. It is not an easy task though, according to Trade Counselor Bernard Geenen, you need to meet the right investors and producers and you need to be willing to invest a lot of cash. Geenen explains why exporting to the US is not for everyone.
Bernard Geenen, Trade Counselor, Embassy of Belgium
"We've invited small and medium sized companies, of course the big ones don't need us. What we try to brush is a large portrait of the US market; what it takes to enter the market, to try to penetrate it in an efficient way, not waste any time or money and at the end of the day, hopefully the companies will be able to evaluate and ready for the US market or the US market is for me or not, based on the information we are giving. We always say that the US market is huge market, it's tough to penetrate, it cost a lot of money and its time consuming. This is all true. There is also lots of regulation that you need to follow, but on the other hand, if you do everything right, if you do your homework, it's not at all impossible. It's a huge market opened to any product or service or any country, for that matter. I think there is potential. It's not for everyone, but once you get in, it's interesting. As I use to say to our companies, it's like a big show in Vegas - the entrance tickets is very expensive, but the show is worth it."
Shahera Mckoy, Manager, EXPORTBelize
"EXPORTBelize/Beltraide, what we try to do is to provide valuable information to our producers looking at market opportunities. But not also just to market opportunities, but also having the right information about accessing particular markets and so we thought, given that the statistics have shown that the US is one of our key export market that we would start off with having this workshop today and export to the US."
This workshop is a part of Beltraide's FINPYME Export Plus program that was launched last year.
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