Belize pt. 2: Bootstrapping an economy into the 21st century
This is part two of my series on Belize. You can read part one here: Belize, the next Silicon Valley? As in the previous post, all figures are in USD.
As I detailed in my previous entry, Belize has a multitude of benefits to those looking for a tech start-up location. Little to no taxes, low cost of living, and cheap real estate. However, I deliberately neglected to touch on the negatives, as I think they're worthy of their own post.
The first big negative is expensive and outdated telecom infrastructure. BTL (Belize Telemedia Limited) has a monopoly on all things telecom and it shows. It's difficult to pin down the exact figures as they stand now (BTL's pricing on their site was last updated in 2003), but it looks like about $100/mo for 1.5Mbit DSL. That is simply abysmal, but it makes sense. You have one big telecom company with no competition, mostly poor residents, and tourists with cash.
The second big problem is a severe lack of higher education. I'm no fan of it in general (hard to be one when you never finished high school), but the effects are abundantly clear in Belize. Skilled workers in the tech industry are effectively non-existent. Of course, this makes sense, because Belize has no tech industry. Why teach something that students will generally have to leave the country to practice?
I'm certain there are many other big problems I'm missing, but I'll start with these. How do we solve them?
I think they can both be solved by one thing: start a tech industry. The benefits to startups are such that I'm most certainly going to be moving there myself, soon. If even a few startups spring up in Belize and succeed, the impact on the nation would be massive.
For the first problem, telecom infrastructure, it's a direct effect. Companies spring up requiring better telecom infrastructure, and either BTL adapts or someone else sweeps in and provides it. One thing is clear: there's no way these startups will be left in the dark. There's simply too much money to be made, and the telecoms damn sure aren't getting it from the masons and fisherman as it stands.
The problem of education would be solved more slowly, but it seems like it'd happen. If a decent number of medium-large tech companies pop up, they're going to need phone/email support staff, IT workers, programmers, electricians, salespeople, etc. In the early days of this bootstrapping process, they'll come from the US and other countries where it's easy to immigrate to Belize, but that's a highly inefficient way of expanding. Instead, I believe that higher learning establishments will either spring up anew or expand their existing programs. More and more often, these jobs will be filled by Belizeans.
If you sustain this process for long enough, eventually you'll hit a tipping point. Belizeans will start to build startups, staffed by other Belizeans, and the chain reaction will sustain itself. Of course, where there's money in one industry, other industries will follow. The quality of medical care will likely increase, you'll get better options for travel and lodging, etc. All of this adds up to the cost of living, the GDP (which was a mere $2.5B in 2008), and the average wage will increase. This is a Good Thing (TM).
I'm obviously biased towards the tech industry in general, but I really believe that the building of a tech industry in Belize could have a substantial positive impact on the country as a whole, over a short span of time, perhaps even as little as 10 or 15 years.
As I detailed in my previous entry, Belize has a multitude of benefits to those looking for a tech start-up location. Little to no taxes, low cost of living, and cheap real estate. However, I deliberately neglected to touch on the negatives, as I think they're worthy of their own post.
The first big negative is expensive and outdated telecom infrastructure. BTL (Belize Telemedia Limited) has a monopoly on all things telecom and it shows. It's difficult to pin down the exact figures as they stand now (BTL's pricing on their site was last updated in 2003), but it looks like about $100/mo for 1.5Mbit DSL. That is simply abysmal, but it makes sense. You have one big telecom company with no competition, mostly poor residents, and tourists with cash.
The second big problem is a severe lack of higher education. I'm no fan of it in general (hard to be one when you never finished high school), but the effects are abundantly clear in Belize. Skilled workers in the tech industry are effectively non-existent. Of course, this makes sense, because Belize has no tech industry. Why teach something that students will generally have to leave the country to practice?
I'm certain there are many other big problems I'm missing, but I'll start with these. How do we solve them?
I think they can both be solved by one thing: start a tech industry. The benefits to startups are such that I'm most certainly going to be moving there myself, soon. If even a few startups spring up in Belize and succeed, the impact on the nation would be massive.
For the first problem, telecom infrastructure, it's a direct effect. Companies spring up requiring better telecom infrastructure, and either BTL adapts or someone else sweeps in and provides it. One thing is clear: there's no way these startups will be left in the dark. There's simply too much money to be made, and the telecoms damn sure aren't getting it from the masons and fisherman as it stands.
The problem of education would be solved more slowly, but it seems like it'd happen. If a decent number of medium-large tech companies pop up, they're going to need phone/email support staff, IT workers, programmers, electricians, salespeople, etc. In the early days of this bootstrapping process, they'll come from the US and other countries where it's easy to immigrate to Belize, but that's a highly inefficient way of expanding. Instead, I believe that higher learning establishments will either spring up anew or expand their existing programs. More and more often, these jobs will be filled by Belizeans.
If you sustain this process for long enough, eventually you'll hit a tipping point. Belizeans will start to build startups, staffed by other Belizeans, and the chain reaction will sustain itself. Of course, where there's money in one industry, other industries will follow. The quality of medical care will likely increase, you'll get better options for travel and lodging, etc. All of this adds up to the cost of living, the GDP (which was a mere $2.5B in 2008), and the average wage will increase. This is a Good Thing (TM).
I'm obviously biased towards the tech industry in general, but I really believe that the building of a tech industry in Belize could have a substantial positive impact on the country as a whole, over a short span of time, perhaps even as little as 10 or 15 years.