BigCreekGroup_web

Caribbean Development Bank, Barclays Bank International, and Fyffes, and incorporated Ba- nana Enterprises Limited, a change that would, today, see the once fragile industry of 1,200 acres grow to 7,000 acres, with a production of 6,000,000 boxes annually, and the manual operations at a makeshift port, transformed into a full deep water port terminal facility, the Port of Big Creek. “A majority of the founding shareholders of Banana Enterprises Limited could not see the vision and sold out their positions in the early years. Zaid Flores, an accountant and practicing auditor for Price Waterhouse Coopers, along with Duncker and Zabaneh, saw the vision, grasped it, and made it their own. Mike and Tony were already shareholders, so Zaid se- cured a loan through one of the local banks and bought the shares being sold. The Company is now owed by these three in equal propor- tions.” Today, the Big Creek Group employs 250 people and is the driving force for economic THE BIG CREEK GROUP activity in southern Belize. There are multiple buildings on the Big Creek property, includ- ing offices, employee housing, equipment and maintenance sheds, and inventory ware- houses. In addition, the Group has allotted a portion of the land adjacent to the Port for the storage and export of crude oil coming in from the current oil production facility in Span- ish Lookout. A tank farm with six tanks, with a capacity of 60,000 barrels, was recently erected. The current footprint of the Port is 75 acres with ample room for expansion since the Group owns 420 acres of surrounding land. Flores reports that the Group is currently undertaking the development and expansion of the Port, a BZ$30M investment. This includes the construction of modern offices, deepening of the entry channel, the construction of a large steel deck barge, the acquisition of an addition- al tug boat and other miscellaneous heavy duty equipment, and the construction of a third berth- ing facility.He would like to see other changes, as well, including the construction of grain silos and the establishment of an EPZ (Export Processing Zone) within the Port to attract light manufac- turing and other industries.He would also like to establish alliances with strategic carrier partners to im- prove Port traffic.He hopes that, along with these improvements,