Belize City Council Helps More Micro Entrepreneurs

Marsha Gillette Rodriguez

The Belize City Council’s Accelerator Program is a few years old. It’s a social program that the Belize City Council has spearheaded to help micro businesses become independent and self sustainable. It does so through a partnership with BELTRAIDE to provide training on how to manage a business. Today, the Council handed out certificates to its latest cohort of micro entrepreneurs. Marsha Gillette Rodriguez is the proprietor of For You by Me Productions, a company that customizes items, including cups, pillows, and shirts. She said the business was hardly afloat until she got the help and then exposure and stability.

Marsha Gillette Rodriguez, Proprietor, For You by Me Productions

“I didn’t know anything about this. But I found out about it through Mr. Fonseca, um, Mr. Francis. And I applied for it and then I came here and everything has changed since then. Um, I have so many different opportunities now. I do stuff for NICH. I do stuff for like Fabro’s Glass Company, different big businesses found out about me, and it has been so good. They gave me the start. I didn’t have a sewing machine. So I used to sew pillows on hand. So I used to sew pillows by hand and then I got the machine and then I guess it’s just me coming up with different ideas and building myself over the years that I’m here now. But they gave me the start.”