Business Bureau presents award

The chairperson of Helpage Belize, Maria Elena Sylvestre, is the sixth woman to receive the Dr. Marla Holder Achievement Award. This afternoon, the Belize Business Bureau held a luncheon ceremony at the Smokey Mermaid Restaurant to honour her. The award is given each year to a woman who has contributed significantly to society, particularly in the business sector.

Dr. Cardo Martinez, President, Belize Business Bureau

“There is a committee that is set up, and the members are asked to send in names. The criteria is how long you’ve been in business, what business you’ve been involved with, how much employment you have contributed to create, what areas of new business you have opened up for the country, and if you’re still in the area of business. And those are primarily the criteria that are used.”

Maria Elena Sylvestre, Recipient, Dr. Marla Holder Award

“Oh when I heard I had been nominated, I said, absolutely I’m not going to get it. And then when I heard that I had gotten it, it was a shock, total and complete shock. But I’m very happy, and I feel that it’s not only my award, it’s the award of all the people that have worked along with me in the work of Helpage and all the other projects and work that I have done, including my family of course.”

Dr. Marla Holder was the first female agronomist in Belize. She was a former director of Central Farm and up until the time of her death in 1998, she was the manager of Barton Creek Farms in the Cayo District. On January eighteenth of that year, she drowned while trying to save the life of a child.