As part of BELTRAIDE’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP), this year’s National Competitiveness Month was hosted via a series of virtual webcasts from May 15th to 29th, 2020. Our team at BelizeINVEST, a unit of BELTRAIDE, hosted a webinar on May 21st, 2020, on the topic “Investment Diversification Opportunities Post-Covid-19”.  The session covered key areas such as Regional Investment Opportunities, Investment Diversification Trends, and featured discussions of private sector case studies on the “Work from Home” transition and product diversification within multiple industries nationally and globally.

Panelists included representatives from the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), the Investment Policy and Compliance Unit (IPCU), IDB Invest, BELTRAIDE, and Private Sector Stakeholders.

The new realities and possibilities created by the COVID-19 Pandemic were at the center of the discussion, with each panelist speaking about ways in which their respective institution plans to adjust during this time.

Ms. Suzette Hudson, Senior Advisor at the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), emphasized on the need for nations in the Caribbean Region to adapt to an ever-changing investment climate by embracing new emerging industries. These industries, for example, include the Offshore Outsourcing Sector, and the countless opportunities that will be created through the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics.

The premise of this new approach includes scenarios where diversification across industries are of paramount importance.

During the session, Mr. Linsford Coleman, representing IDB Invest, also expressed that while food security is important, there is a dire need to move up in the value chain. This means investing in more value-addition and export of products and services, while implementing efficient and technologically driven methods.

The session included remarkable Private Sector milestones in the fight against the adverse effects brought by the Pandemic. Transparent BPO, for example, shared their experience on the necessary “work from home” transition, and the immense success that came along with the adjustment. Travellers Liquors Ltd., also present at the session, ingeniously diversified their product line by shifting from liquor to sanitizer production in supporting the already growing COVID-19 demand.  

Furthermore, the Creative Industry was also cited as being a low hanging investment prospect. In other words, investment in the requisite infrastructure along with targeted incentive programs to attract the film industry could have a profound impact on the economic recovery efforts of Belize, and other Caribbean Nations.

For more information on existing and emerging investment opportunities in Belize, kindly contact the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service, BELTRAIDE, via email at investment@belizeinvest.org.bz.

To view a recording of the session, please visit the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7Ph5zf7Bk&t=372s