Despite City Strain, Entrepreneurship Flourishes

As Belize City grapples with the pressures of rapid physical expansion and strained infrastructure, there’s another side of growth taking place, one that’s reshaping the city’s economy. While roads, drains, and planning remain major challenges, Mayor Bernard Wagner says more residents are turning to entrepreneurship, driving a sharp rise in trade licenses across the city. That economic shift, he says, was sparked by necessity during the COVID‑19 pandemic and has since taken on a life of its own.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“I know that trade licenses continue to grow in the city. We are very close to like three thousand trade licenses issued. When we took it over it was like two thousand five-fifty-four as far as I can recall. And now, it is near to two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-six active trade license and over close to seventeen thousand properties in the city. It says a lot and that growth may have been triggered by necessity, because when the COVID came, many people lost their jobs and they began to do other entrepreneurship and never went back to their jobs. That has spurred this great entrepreneurial spirit. I will certainly send you the data which shows that out of those three thousand trade license, the percentages that are concerned small, medium and large, a huge figure, a huge amount is the mom and pop, the small business that has really been triggered by the events of the 2020 COVID pandemic and that has not stopped. People have this entrepreneurial spirit that they want to work for themselves and be their own boss.”

 

Mayor Bernard Wagner says as Belize City continues to grow, both in size and in business activity, the challenge now is finding the balance between encouraging opportunity and ensuring the city can sustainably support it.