HAMMOCK MAKING IN BELIZE ALPS MAYA MOUNTAINS

DEBATE IN WESTERN BELIZE ABOUT COTTAGE INDUSTRY POVERTY LEVEL ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS START UP, PROBLEMS AND HOW THE GOVERNMENT REACTS TO ENCOURAGE, OR NOT ENCOURAGE SAME.


Why synthetic line? Because there are five factories in Guatemala City making synthetic type lines, in colors. ( Run by Koreans ) While there are no cotton line making factories. I really want nylon, but they don´t make nylon in Guatemala City either. Why Guatemala City, because it is the closest place with overnight shipping capabilities to Western Belize. I have and occasionally still do, get small amounts of stuff shipped to an agent in Melchor de Menchos. He receives and holds the stuff until I drive over and pick it up, and bring it through myself paying customs duties. For this I pay him a commission. What I want is to get my stuff delivered into Belize past the frontier - bypassing Melchor. Faster, more efficient and cheaper. I tried this already with latex paint. It failed.
I´m not sure if Glen missed the point, or I didn´t explain it enough? Hammock business is tight margins. It is also competitive. Since you plan to export the product, it becomes even more critical that you get the materials into Belize with minimum costs and problems at the Benque frontier. The government already does things like this. For instance duty free computers and there are other things. I´m not sure how such import lists work. I have an enquiry into Beltraide by email, and waiting on an answer. Right now hammocks made in Guatemala can be imported at $10 duties each. For export purposes and manufacturing in Belize as a cottage industry, that $10 is hopefully your margin for a profit. I´m to make a trip later this year to find out, the costs to do this, manufacturing in Belize, versus manufacturing by custom orders and exporting from either Guatemala, or Belize. It could be I can get them custom made for my market in the USA, done in Guatemala. Then it becomes a question of costs, for me to go and travel and pay hotels and meals to ship an order out of Guatemala, versus doing it out of Belize. Starting small scale, the margins become critical.
What should be the guiding role for customs and government, is the purpose. In this case the ability to boost the economy with jobs, even piece work jobs and cash flow, to raise poverty levels. There is an economic trickle effect. The import duty tax costs for materials to manufacture, for export, can make it impractical locally in Belize. The other solution is to simply do it in Guatemala and give them the jobs. You are always working against the margin costs.
We are working on it now. I have a meeting with this would be entrepreneur from Benque for Thursday and we will progress from there, or not. If it becomes more cost effective to do this in Guatemala, then it defeats the purpose or goal, of providing work for poverty level people here in Belize and transfers that economic impact to their society in Guatemala, rather than to Belize society. It is here the role of the Belize government becomes decisive.

From: Rendezvous
To: Lan Sluder
Cc: bz-culture@psg.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 1:19 AM
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: hammock cottage industry out Western Belize - job making and material supply dilemmas.

I was going to write a piece exactly about what you expressed Lan.
The point is without a prouven committed entrepreneur mentor how can we reasonably expect the youth to succeed.?
Even,you are stuck in the supposed paperwork??
As an entrepreneur, when you identify a profitable idea/concept, that is but the start.
You're suggesting the leg work required isn't worth it.
Well then?

Best regards,Glenn Schwendinger
Rendezvous Restaurant & Winery
Conchpearls.net
Tel. 011-501-226-3426



----- Original Message -----
From: Lan Sluder
Cc: bz-culture@psg.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: hammock cottage industry out Western Belize - job making and material supply dilemmas.

Why synthetic? Why not natural materials like cotton? http://www.hammocks.com/cottonhammocks.cfm

On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Ray Auxillou wrote:

Got a young man in Benque has been contacting me several times about starting a hammock making cottage industry. Going to see if I can encourage him to be an entrepreneur. There are a number of business problems to solve. One is how to get synthetic string made in Guatemala City factories shipped across the border here by delivery trucks, and getting the material ( synthetic string ) in duty free. As the purpose is to make jobs for locals in a piece work cottage industry style. We are only talking 50 hammocks a month to start. So going through elaborate red tape government paperwork is out of the question. Too time consuming and labor expensive red tape is too much, for the size of the operation.

Anybody know how to resolve this dilemma? I presume you get your product material needed, on a customs list at the border, to let it come in duty free?