Expo Belize Market Place 2024
Save the date, September 14th and 15th, 2024
This year marks our 28th year since the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has been organizing the Expo Belize Market Place. Join the BCCI team and all your favorite businesses on September 14th and 15th, 2024 back at the Marion Jones Stadium, on Princess Margaret Drive in Belize City.
Exhibitors’ Testimonials:
“Participating in the Belize Chamber of Commerce Expo was an incredible opportunity for Little Ceramic Painters. The event allowed us to showcase our creativity, connect with customers, and expand our reach to new markets. Winning the Best Up & Coming Entrepreneur Award after just 9 months of operating was an incredible honor that validated our hard work and passion. We are truly grateful to the Chamber for creating such a platform that highlights and supports small businesses like ours!”
–Little Ceramic Painters, Winner of the 2024 “Most Outstanding Up & Coming Entrepreneur” Award
“Becoming a member of the Chamber undoubtedly was one of the best business decisions made for HEYABBZ. There is a heightened sense of professional care offered by the Chamber that has allowed us to grow strategically. Our first participation in an event held by the BCCI was the Expo Belize Market Place 2022. We took our notes and came back the following year 2023 with a different and more elevated presentation, which ultimately awarded us Best Youth Entrepreneur. This year, we also received the award of Best Micro Booth 2024. These accolades have added immense credibility to our name, opened many doors of opportunities and have allowed us to expand in the MSME realm.”
–HEYABBZ, Winner of the 2024 “Best Micro Booth” Award
“A huge thank you to all our customers, collaborators and ambassadors who visited our booth at this year’s BCCI Expo! Your support and enthusiasm made all the difference. Looking forward to seeing you again next year and continuing to keep you connected.”
–Smart Belize, Winner of the 2024 “Best Overall Booth” Award
About Expo Belize Market Place
In a Planning Committee of the Festival Grand Market, the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) was offered a proposal to develop a consumer trade show, since the Festival Grand Market, the country’s largest consumer show up to that point had run its course. The BCCI took the proposal to our Executive Council and membership.
The very first EXPO was held in 1996 and was started with 66 booths situated immediately outside the St. John’s College Gymnasium. The Chamber’s staff recalled that one year, incessant rains and fierce winds blew down tents, created mud pits and a myriad of difficulties for those working to bring the show to life that year. But, the show did go on! Needless to say, the show was such a success that it eventually moved inside the gymnasium and consumed the entire area around the SJC Gymnasium!
Over the years, the “Expo” evolved into the Expo Belize Marketplace, the largest consumer trade show in the country and a welcomed addition to the September celebrations calendar. In 2010, the Expo had outgrown the St. John’s College venue and was moved to the ITVET Grounds on Freetown Road in Belize City. This new venue would also engage the Chamber in a new partnership with vocational students of the ITVET. Students in both the construction and electrical programmes of the ITVET, Belize City are supervised and utilized to help setup the Expo booths each year.
On September 14th & 15th, 2019 for the 23rd consecutive year, the BCCI held its renowned EXPO Belize Market Place, at a new venue, the Marion Jones Sport Complex on Princess Margaret Drive in Belize City. The Expo attracted a little over 14,000 visitors to the grounds, and people were able to appreciate arts, entertainment and various displays from the Commerce, Industry, Manufacturing, and Services sectors. Additionally, even more Micro businesses were able to display their locally made products and services.
We are grateful to our sponsors, exhibitors, visitors and friends who have supported us over the past years and been at the helm of Expo Belize. We look forward to continued support as we do it all again in 2025!
ABOUT EXPO BELIZE MARKET PLACE
The Organizer
EXPO Belize Market Place ’24 is organized by the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) located on 4792 Coney Drive, 1st Floor WithField Tower, Belize City, Belize.
The EXPO Belize Market Place will be held on 14th and 15th September 2024 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (entrance gates close at 5 p.m.) at the Marion Jones Sports Complex on Princess Margaret Drive, Belize City.
Applications for any Expo booth should be made by completing and submitting the online application form. The Organizer shall review your application and reserves the right to decline your application. The Exhibitor will receive full confirmation of the booth request via an email with the invoice attached. The reservation of booth(s) are done on a first-come basis and on the mandatory payment deposit.
The Exhibitor is held liable to clearly indicate on their application form what will be exhibited in their booth space. No illegitimate business transactions shall be allowed. The Organizer shall have the right to shut down any Exhibitor with suspicious illegitimate business activities. All rights of the Exhibitor hereunder shall cease and terminate.
- Thursday, Sept. 14th – Friday, Sept. 15th: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Booths are available for viewing. You are allowed to leave items in your booth ONLY on Friday, Sept 15th starting at 4:00 p.m. when the security officers will be available. Please refer to the Security Rules below.
- Friday, Sept. 15th – 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – An Exhibitor who has requested for the installation of electrical line(s) at their booth and is also responsible to provide the tent(s) at their respective booth is required to have the tent set up on the grounds by no later than 10:00 a.m. This will accommodate for the electrical wiring to be completed.
- Saturday, Sept. 16th – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon – Opening Ceremonies
- Saturday, Sept. 16th – 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Exhibition opens to the public (Entrance gates close at 5:00 p.m.)
- Sunday, Sept. 17th – 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Exhibition opens to the public (Entrance gates close at 5:00 p.m.)
- Monday, Sept. 18th – 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon – Exhibitor SHALL remove all materials from the Expo Grounds by 12 noon. Any items not removed within the time frame, the Organizer shall not be held liable. Exhibitors will be billed for any additional hours that the security guard must wait on you to hand over your items.
Please NOTE: Exhibition timetable is subject to alteration.
All exhibits must be fully set up by 7:30 a.m. on Saturday September 16th, 2023, and all exhibits must be open for business during the exhibition hours. If any exhibitor needs to dismantle the booth before the closing time of the expo, that is, on Sunday September 17th at 6:00 p.m., the exhibitor must advise the organizer. Cooperation on this point from all exhibitors is requested. The Exhibitor has an obligation to ensure that these terms are not violated.
Gate Prizes
September 17, 2022
Booth Competition
September 17, 2022
Opening Ceremony Agenda
September 17, 2022
Marketing Your Business at the Expo
Want to gain an edge on your competition? Seize this marketing opportunity and advertise your booth at the EXPO Belize Market Place 2023 using signs, banners, or posters.
Cost to rent a banner space to be hang on the fence of Marion Jones Sports Complex on the week of the EXPO Belize Market Place:
- A banner measuring 10′ (width) by 4′ (height) is $150 (GST Included)
- A banner measuring 12′ (width) by 4′ (height) is $200 (GST Included)
- A vertical banner measuring 3′(width) by 8′ (height) is $150.00 (GST Included)
Please contact Mr. Kory Leslie at mprm@belize.org or WhatsApp 614-3138 or 223-5330 for more information.
Sales Promotion Tips:
- Start a raffle two months before EXPO and encourage your customers to visit your booth at the EXPO where they will get a chance to win special prizes with the raffle tickets they filled out.
- Offer special discounts on the days of the expo that are good for one week after the event.
Personal-Selling Tips:
- Always smile and be personable with your customers.
- Revisit the importance of “hospitality” with your employees and dealing with difficult customers.
- Have a chair available for old customers who may want to sit down while pondering their purchase.
- Make sure your employees are well versed with product attributes. This will enable them to secure the sale.
General Tips:
- Have a mascot to attract customers to your booth.
- Print business cards for customers who may not be ready to purchase now, but will consider your business later.
- Create a data base for your customers, and email them reminders that you will be at the EXPO – send them flyers for your promotions.
- Arrange with the local radio stations to do a live raffle draw at your booth during the EXPO or arrange with them to interview your sales representatives live during the event – talking about what you offer etc.
- Stand out by having an attractive neat uniform.
- Have brochures available that gives customers information about your business – pictures of products or description of services.
- If you have commercials, bring a TV and show them to your customers.
- If your business has won awards, create wall paper out of them and hang them in your booth
- Print company name and logo on hand-held fans to give to customers. They will use it at the EXPO, and this will further advertise your business.
Sponsors
Contacts
+501-614-3138