A Market Expo Showcases Ingenuity and Creativity of UB Students
More than twenty booths were set up inside the Ramada Belize City Princess today where marketing students of the University of Belize showcased products and services they developed as part of their course curriculum. The displays were varied but they showed the creativity and ingenuity of the students. Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The University of Belize today held its eighth annual Marketing Expo at the King’s Room of the Ramada Belize City Princess. The expo is the culmination of months of planning and honing the entrepreneurial skills of the students. Innovation, creativity and overall presentation at the booths were the criteria on which they were judged. According to Eda Arzu, the products must meet the demands of the economy and regional representation.
Eda Arzu
Eda Arzu, Marketing and Small Business Lecturer, UB
“It’s an initiative where we have been having students develop marketing proposals for the entire semester and it involves an intense curriculum where the students in the end must conclude with a marketing project that is worth fifty percent of their grade. So the project is where the students come up with that project that was first created in the classroom and then it evolved to an expo, an exhibition like this. It started as a concept and it has evolved where the students look at a potential market, they look at a need, they look at how they can differentiate with what exists and then they put forth a product out there. And so you can find some very creative booths where you will have facial products, you will also find dispensers, you will find services like BZHOOPS and there are several others that you should enjoy ice cream, D-Loop ice cream, etc.”
Over twenty-one different booths were set up inside the hall offering a variety of products and services to those in attendance. Twelve of the booths were of the marketing class while nine were from small business development class. From nachos to ice cream, facials to checking blood pressure…there was something for everyone.
Irisha Smith
Irisha Smith, Pretty Addies Décor
“We created the pad dispenser ourselves; it is all handmade. We did two types of wood, the plywood and the zericote wood and different prices of course—sixty-five dollars and thirty-five dollars. And it actually took some couple of hours to complete them but it is in a very professional way whereby when you go into your bathroom, you don’t have to see your pad all over the place. So we created the pad dispenser in a unique distinct kind of way and they just pop out.”
Kayla Tingling
Kayla Tingling, PR Representative, Innovative Creation
“We are an event planning service. today at the Marketing Expo, we have chosen to specialize in weddings, however, we do all events—sweet sixteens, birthday parties, baby showers, just to name a few. Our slogan is “We Build Your Dreams Around You.”
The country has become technologically advanced over the years and one group created a movie app, named ZetFlix, a video on demand service for the entire family.
Nisa August
Nisa August, ZetFlix
“You can broadcast it from your TV or from your device and the videos are on demand so you don’t really have to wait for regular broadcasting time that you would have from your regular cable television service. we have different genres of movies for your kids, for the family, for romance…all types of movies we have up there.”
Duane Moody
“Tell us about coming up with this concept. What triggered you guys to go in this direction?”
Nisa August
“Basically we are doing this for the younger generation who are accustomed to technology. But what we did was to offer it in the homes that will also target the family.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
