BELIZE CITY, BELIZE- October 22^nd and 23^rd 2014

The Making Tourism Benefits Communities Adjacent to Archeological Sites (MTBCAAS) Project is proud to announce the official launch of its “Unique Belize” artisan programme. The launch took place over two days, October 22 and 23, 2014, at the Ramada Belize City Princess in Belize City. The event included the launch of the Unique Belize Brand and the exhibition of the first Unique Belize artisan product line. The Unique Belize artisan programme was made possible through The Government of Belize with counterpart funding from the European Union via the Belize Rural Development Programme 2 (BRDP 2). Unique Belize is a standardization, certification, and branding programme aimed at helping Belizean artisans working at or near to nine archeological sites in the country to promote their work in the local and international marketplace and to help consumers to identify and purchase authentic Belizean artwork.

The Unique Belize label is designed to indicate that the artwork meets three criteria:

• Firs, the artwork was created by a Belizean citizen or legal resident;
• Second, the artwork is the original design of the artisan;
• Third the artisan has been licensed or otherwise legally been given the authority by the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) to use the design.

The Unique Belize Artisan Programme is one of the major outcomes of the “Diversification of Community Based Tourism Products and Services” components of the MTBCAAS project. This component was initiated in November 2013 and involved a rapid assessment of the sector, the development and delivery of a small business and product development training as well as a three month mentorship programme for the artisans.

Sixty four artisans participated in the small business training programme, of which 42 were women. The artisans were then invited to participate in the advanced product development training, which focused on introducing product design innovation and production to piloting a new line of artwork that meet current market trends and are more appealing to identified target markets. Thirty-five (35) of them were then provided with a three month mentorship programme at the end of which they completed new product prototypes. The authentic Unique Belize artworks that they created will be exhibited at the Launch on October 22^nd and 23^rd 2014. Souvenir and giftware stores and buyers from around Belize are being invited to the Launch, and will be able to place orders with the artisans.

About the MTBCAAS project:

The Government of Belize received counterpart funding from the European Union via the Belize Rural Development Programme 2 (BRDP 2) to finance a project entitled “Making Tourism Benefit Communities Adjacent to Archeological Sites:” Co-financing for the project is being provided by the Government of Belize through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation represented by the Belize Tourism Board and the National Institute of Culture and History. The project is being implemented by the Belize Tourism Board and the National Institute of Culture and History through a Project Execution Unit housed at the Belize Tourism Board offices. Continue reading “Unique Belize” →

Belize Training & Employment Centre Prepares Belizeans for Work

The number of call centers is growing in Belize creating employment to just under three thousand Belizeans. This week, the Belize Training and Employment Center is preparing individuals to become professional in the workplace. Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Business Process Outsourcing, BPO, as it is commonly referred to, is a burgeoning industry in Belize that is recognized as a specialized “niche” area.  As such, it has become a priority sector for socioeconomic growth.

Rolanda Ferguson, Student, Belize Training and Employment Center

“It’s one of Belize’s fastest growing industries, you know, this where it’s happening so I guess this is where I want to be.”

With the emergence of call centers across Belize City, there has been a need to standardize the quality of customer service presently being offered.

  Continue reading “Belize Training and Employment Centre (BTEC), a unit of BELTRAIDE, Prepares Belizeans for Work” →

Are you a tech savy programmer or data scientist in Belize looking for a new challenge? Do you feel that you have the skills to compete globally? If yes, then you should definitely visit http://www.kaggle.com/competitions

Through Kaggle, you can participate in real life competitions with significant payouts and a chance to compete globally for the big win! Kaggle is the leading platform for predictive modeling competitions which focus on analytics and data science. In order to join and compete on Kaggle, simply follow the three (3) steps indicated below:

1. Enter – Find a competition and download the training data. You don’t need new software / skills to submit
2. Build – Build a model using whatever methods you prefer and upload your predictions to Kaggle
3. …Win – Kaggle scores your solution in real time and you’ll see your place on the live leaderboard for your chance to win big!

An example of a recent competition involves Netflix, the online movie platform, ran a competition to develop a model to help them predict which movies customers would request on demand. They offered a prize of USD &1,000,000 to the best model developed. Continue reading “Can Belize Kaggle?” →