How did you get started in business?
When Grace Foster Reid found herself unemployed after the closure of the two bauxite factories in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville she looked to her father’s farm for inspiration.

As an engineer and graduate from MIT, innovation comes as second nature, and so when she saw the bee hives on her father’s farm and learned about their versatility, she knew there was something she could do.

Hives provide five salable products – honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and wax. Grace decided bees would provide employment for herself, and at least 100 community members made redundant by the factory closures, including those at risk.

What helped to make the Ecofarmsâ„¢ dream a reality?
Like most entrepreneurs, Grace experienced numerous obstacles. Staffing issues, lack of capital and funding, and low profit margins all threatened to derail her social enterprise.

But innovation is in the engineer’s blood, and she produced a product with a difference. Grace unveiled Buzz™ HoneyStix™ in 2011, straw-shaped sachets, each with a teaspoon of honey. They include island infusions of cinnamon, ginger, lemongrass, mango, tamarind and watermelon. The sachets now retail in over 50 stores across Jamaica, including the global coffee giant Starbucks, which placed an initial order of 3,000 when they opened doors in Jamaica in the fall of 2018.

Ecofarms’ product offerings expanded in 2013 with the inclusion of “Buzzâ„¢ Honey Wine”, a product birthed after Foster accidentally left a bottled honey/passionfruit infusion in a cupboard. Six months later, it had turned to the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man – mead honey wine. Grace employed science to commence production of an award-winning product with infusions of Malay (Otaheite) apple, sorrel and carambola.

What’s next for Ecofarms™?
Two new products are on the cards Ecofarmsâ„¢, one in the drinks category, the other in confectionary. They are both slated for release in winter 2019.

In keeping with Grace’s goal to assist vulnerable members of her community, Ecofarms™ will expand operations to the Jamaica Deaf Village, where they will mostly employ the hearing impaired. Two deaf youths are currently training as beekeepers.

“We plan on moving to the Jamaica Deaf Village next, because the hearing impaired are…underemployed, and often paid below minimum wage,” Foster-Reid said.

The social enterprise company is also scaling up, having recently purchased production lines for their HoneyStixâ„¢, Honey Wine and honey packaging. Ecofarmsâ„¢ is also looking into select export markets in the Caribbean, North America and Europe, and is pursuing food safety certification.

A few takeaways for budding & aspiring entrepreneurs
“Reassess those things you currently consider obstacles or setbacks,” Grace advises, “because in them, you just may find the fuel you need to keep going.”

Ecofarms’ greatest periods of growth emerged from their most emotionally and financially trying times. That’s because, Grace said, these periods forced her to innovate, increase productivity, improve efficiency and research the training and funding opportunities available.
She also warns against being overly optimistic.
“Our natural optimism as entrepreneurs can lead us to over project, failing to account for possible mishaps. So, halve your projected revenue and double your expenses, and then ask yourself if the business is still viable.”

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT Ecofarmsâ„¢: Facebook and Instagram – @ecofarms, Twitter – @ecofarmsja, and by visiting their website: www.ecofarmsjamaica.com.

A chemist by profession, Julia Jimenez started her career in pharmaceuticals, but she had a deep interest in the beauty industry. So, with the help of a friend, Altagracia Figuereo, they founded Kapril Industrial in 2002, a company manufacturing hair care products.

“At that time there was a need in our country to provide quality products at affordable prices. Most of the products for professional use were imported, and expensive,” Jimenez said. “So we created a product of competitive quality, and at a better price than the imported ones.”

Under the Kapril brand, the duo created a line of professional hair care products that are inspired by nature, and backed by science to provide optimal hair care.

The line quickly won favour with customers, whose support provided the impetus for growth. Kapril Industrial has since expanded from five products under the Kapril brand to over 90 products under four separate brands – Kapril, Lisanel, Herbafreh and Afro-kerly.

Kapril continues to cater primarily to salons and hair care professionals. Lisanel products are treatment focused and have a base of argan, keratin and coconut. The Herbafresh line is formulated with herbs and extracts believed to contribute to hair growth. And the newest addition is Afro-kerly, a line formulated for those with naturally textured, afro hair.

The products are hugely popular in the Dominica Republic, and Kapril Industrial is continuing to expand its product lines to meet demand.

“In the medium and long term, we want to capture the hotel market, increase our sales in the retail sales establishments in the Dominican Republic, and expand our market internationally,” Jimenez said.

Kapril, which currently exports to Cuba, Curacao, Haiti and Puerto Rico, plans to increase its presence in the Caribbean, and is working to enter markets in Europe and North America.

“We will achieve this with support from Caribbean Export,” Jimenez said.

Caribbean Export, the only regional trade and investment promotion agency in the African, Caribbean and Pacific group in 2018 founded the Women Empowered Through Export (WE-Xport) programme, designed to support women in business to start exporting or to increase the exports of their products and services.

In addition to WE-Xport, Jimenez credits her husband, business partner Figuereo, and her own stick-to-itiveness with Kapril’s success.

“You must be enthusiastic about, and maintain a level of dynamism if you’re going to succeed as an entrepreneur, Jimenez said. “If you are in pursuit of your dreams, you can’t afford to deterred by obstacles, and you must be determined to never let surrender be an option.”

Visit the WE-Xport booth at BMEX in Barbados from June 7-10, 2019 to view the Kapril brands.

Find out more about Kapril Industrial by visiting their website: https://www.kaprilindustrial.com/ and on Facebook @kaprilindustrialrd and Instagram @kaprilindustrial.

When Hurricane Maria, a deadly Category Five hurricane, devastated Dominica in 2017, the island coined a phrase Dominicans were determined to achieve – “Build Back Better”, and it’s at the heart of the “Dominica Tours” story.

In 1970, Yvonne Armour Hill’s parents, recognized as pioneers in Dominica’s tourism industry, founded Anchorage Limited, a tourism business which included a hotel, a land-based tour company, and a whale watching and dive centre.

Dominica Tours, the tour operation division of Anchorage Ltd which Armour Hill served as Managing Director/CEO, coordinated the experiences of their guests among the sister properties. But the hurricane destroyed three properties under the Dominica Tours umbrella, making the tour company virtually obsolete.

Armour Hill, however, is not a quitter, and motivated by a desire to contribute to the island’s rebuilding efforts, and to help get the tourism industry back on its feet, decided to rebrand and redevelop Dominica Tours.

“Instead of continuing to focus mainly on our sister properties, we are now working on offering a level of quality support to hoteliers and other stakeholders in the tourism industry to enhance the integrity of their products and services,” she said. “And our focus is on Authenticating the Nature Island experience.”

Even after a natural disaster as destructive as Hurricane Maria was, Yvonne’s plan works, because visitors to Dominica aren’t there merely for the hotels.

“We’re the Nature Isle of the Caribbean,” Yvonne said. “Our very discerning visitors come here to hike, dive, enjoy our natural spas, go whale watching in the Caribbean’s whale watching capital, experience the world’s only indigenous Kalinago Territory, home to our region’s indigenous people. We attract the fit and energetic, people who want adventure and off the beaten track experiences in one of the Caribbean’s most authentic destinations and best kept secrets,” she said. “As well as those in search of peace and tranquility in beautiful ‘eco’ spaces… So, we still have a lot to offer.”

As a tourism and hospitality consultant, Yvonne is well placed to provide management support and training to hoteliers and tourism stakeholders on the island. She’s been in the industry for over 35 years, and has worked in the tourism/hospitality and education sectors locally, regionally and internationally, including as a Consultant with the Caribbean Tourism Organization, and presently as the Tourism HRD Specialist with the consulting firm that won the bid to review and update Dominica’s National Tourism Policy, Tourism Master Plan and its DDA Corporate Strategy.

She combined her industry knowledge and expertise with support from the Caribbean Export Development Agency. Through their new Women Empowered Through Export (WE-Xport) programme, which is designed to support Caribbean women in business to start exporting, or increase the exports of their products and services, Yvonne, one experience at a time, is working to ensure Dominica is the number one choice for nature lovers.  With a firm reach in the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and in France, she is focused on significantly increasing the export of her services to Europe, North America and the African Continent.  And one untapped market she’s also focused on bringing in is the diaspora – Dominicans living abroad.

“This isn’t country specific,” she said, “But it’s definitely a market we should be more actively pursuing.  We want them to revisit the natural beauty of their homeland.”

Armour Hill is undoubtedly brimming over with ideas to help rebuild and expand Dominica’s tourism industry, but its long-term success will be dependent on creating a model that is sustainable. To achieve this, she has established Ayahora Foundation, a registered non-profit, designed to support and facilitate the development of Inspirational Leadership Institutes, which are focused on pre-primary, Montessori education and adult skills training. The foundation promotes sustainable development principles and practices through the delivery and support of quality, environmentally sensitive, culturally relevant educational programmes and initiatives.

“Ayahora’s work will support the development of the tourism industry by helping to mold responsible, thoughtful, good-spirited, productive global citizens,” Armour Hill shared. So the foundation really is looking to address the needs of the industry in terms of building capacity, and in trying to inculcate from a very early age, sustainable development principles and practices, so that in 15, 20 years, we can envisage a work force that is more eco and culturally-sensitive and better equipped to contribute in real ways to the responsible development of our beautiful Nature Isle… first and foremost for us Dominicans, as well as for our visitors.”

Yvonne’s plans for Dominica Tours, and Ayahora exemplify Dominica’s determination to build back better, and are a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit.

“When you suffer such devastation and loss, you have to ask yourself what’s the lesson to be learned; how can I turn this to my advantage,” Armour Hill said. “You have a choice. You can either wallow and not move on, or you can make a choice for survival.”

Visit the WE-Xport booth at BMEX in Barbados from June 7-10, 2019 to learn more about Dominica Tours.

Find out more about Dominica Tours and Yvonne’s work by visiting: http://bit.ly/DominicaTours

When Wilana Oldham, a third generation Belizean living in Texas, met Howard in the nineties, he’d already fallen in love with her homeland seven years before, and after tying the knot, he convinced her to leave the Lone Star State for Belize.

He was an American investor.  Her family possessed a generations old secret recipe.  And together, they launched Hot Mama’s Belize , an agro processing company specializing in the production of high quality, premium habanero pepper products made with fresh vegetables, and without the use of artificial additives and chemicals.

The family recipe that inspired the business was a habanero pepper jelly, but while preparing to launch it, Wilana learned about a market trend in the food industry, and pivoted to capitalize on it.

The trend was for spicy foods, and while we moved to Belize with the intention of making the jelly, back in the US, everyone was asking us about the variety of peppers we were using, Wilana said.  So we did a little research and I ended up talking to a food broker in Miami who needed fresh peppers.  We started shipments into the US and eventually into Canada.

How Life’s Challenges Led Back to the Original Dream

Within a couple of years, the Oldhams were shipping a quarter million pounds of fresh  red habanero peppers out of Belize.

Unfortunately, two separate cancer scares forced Wilana’s return to the US for treatment, but after receiving the all-clear, she returned to Belize, this time determined to revive the original plan.  It was mango season, and the perfect time to get started with perfecting Manganero, the name they coined years before, when they first birthed the vision of producing the spicy-sweet mango and habanero pepper sauce.

It’s a particular variety of mangoes that we use, and the sauce is so delicious, Wilana shared.  It’s one of those unique sauces that is perfect from breakfast to dessert and everything in between.  You can put it on anything, she said. 

And she really does mean anything.  While the multi award-winning sauce really excels with seafood, Wilana shared that customers enjoy it on eggs, potatoes, rice, salads, even cheese cake.  And Wilana herself makes ice cream with it.  You just need to put it on whatever you are eating and it just makes it that much more delicious, she said.

The Product Failure that Birthed a Huge Success

Manganero’s success inspired Wilana to test another idea she had, but panic set in, when the double batch she created didn’t do what it was supposed to.

But her husband was the voice of reason, and his suggestion led to Hot Mama’s Belize number one selling product.

He stood there listening to me crying the blues for a while, and afterwards said are you finished?  I said yeah.  And he said what are you going to do.  I said I don’t know.  And he said well here’s what you need to do.  You need to put it into a bottle, call it sweet pepper sauce and I  think you are going to do very well.

Uplifting the Community is Foundational to this Social Enterprise

Hot and gourmet sauces, gift sets, jellies and specialty items, Hot Mama’s Belize growing product line is extensive, and as Wilana shares, the real success story here is not in how many award-winning products they have produced, or even how much they are earning in profits.  For Wilana and Howard, true success, happiness and motivation come from the people they are able to help.

People often say to me, Wilana, how come you don’t have your own pepper fields?  And I always respond the same way, because I believe in spreading the wealth, she said.  If I can get one farmer in a village to grow and produce for me, it not only affects him, but his family and his neighbours who become involved, because he need to hire people to assist with the harvesting. And so, that starts the rippling effects.

Future Plans for Hot Mama’s Belize

With over a decade of experience in manufacturing and producing finished foods, and even longer selling fresh, Wilana’s attention is now focused on expansion through export, including greater penetration into the US and entering European markets.

They are doing this with support from Women Empowered Through Export (WE-Xport) , a programme designed by the Caribbean Export Development Agency to support Caribbean women in business to start exporting or increase exports of their products and services.

Having a lab on site to do our own testing, aids in improving the quality which is further assisted by implementing [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Procedures] HACCP throughout the facility.  The application has been made and approval received for [Export Processing Zone] EPZ status, which allows for the import of supplies at a reduced rate. This is necessary to be more competitive for the export markets Wilana said.  It’s all falling into place now, and that’s due in part to the support we’ve received through WE-Xport.

View the Hot Mama’s Belize range at the We-Xport booth at Bmex in June 2019.

Find out more about Hot Mama’s and follow their journey toward realising their vision of becoming the world’s favourite pepper sauce, by following them on Instagram @hot_mamas_belize, Facebook @hotmamasbelize and visit their website at: https://www.hotmamasbelize.com/