Photo: Katia Montenegro-Hoare, president of Network Internacional de Mujeres Empresarias in Guatemala

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Dec. 9, 2022

A gathering of the Network Internacional de Mujeres Empresarias (NIME), which, when translated into English, is known as the International Network of Women in Business, was held in Belize City on Friday, December 9.

Formally registered in September, the organization has encouraged businesswomen from throughout the entire country to participate in the launching of NIME in collaboration with the Chamber of Businesswomen and Entrepreneurs of Guatemala with the goal of creating a system that allows female entrepreneurs from both countries networking opportunities and enables business growth.

“What objectives we want to achieve with NIME is to be part of the region, to create more opportunities for growth, empowerment, and definitely for societal change. We want to be actors that contribute to the community and improvement of Belize as well,” president of NIME, Katia Montenegro-Hoare, said.

“The work started years and years ago. I was a working mom, like many of the women there. NIME is exactly that. NIME is not myself, it is the ladies that are in there with the vision to also empower other women … even though the association became formal two months ago, we started working years ago, connecting with people, finding the right persons, aligning with women that have the same vision and passion,” she added.

Hon. Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries, was present at the NIME launching and stated that as the Minister of New Growth Industries, he needs to support the female entrepreneurs

“These women have done something extremely innovative and creative and passionately, so they’ve actually formed an association of all very talented, brilliant, and, like I said, passionate women, who have a unique skill in whatever craft that they are doing or coming up with, and they don’t want to just limit that to Belize. As you know, we have a very small population, and so they are breaking boundaries and going across borders – not just to Guatemala, but looking beyond – expanding their tentacles across the world. As Minister of New Growth Industries, I have to do my part. I have to stand beside them to help them – whether it is to establish incentives and policies that could help them to get their products outside, to make sure that they have representation on trade committees, because as you know whenever the trade committees between countries, bilateral trade committees come together it is always to discuss the big products, but we are not looking at these very unique products that our women are producing,” he said.

Eight countries have been registered in the organization, including the Dominican Republic.