Business View Caribbean June 2023

41 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 6 TE ICHROEB & SONS, LTD. Fridays mean office work and payroll. No two days are alike. Every day is different.” Busy as ever, Peter suddenly had to field a business-related call on his cell ’phone. A moment later, he enthusiastically continued: “I just went back to the office to finish, and then I’ll be back out in the field again. I drive equipment. I do surveying. I do everything! “We’ve been in this company for almost 26 years now,” he continued. “We’re family- owned. And we’re the only family in Belize with that name, so people will know. We have to deliver a perfect job every time!” About that surname: Peter confirmed that “Teichroeb” is German. And his family actually has Canadian connections. His grandparents moved from the Great White North to Mexico, and then the family moved to Belize. Sandwiched between Mexico and Guatemala and boasting a beautiful Caribbean coast, Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, gained its independence in 1981, and it is today a part of the British Commonwealth. It is the only English-speaking country in Central America. English is the official language, and Spanish is also widely spoken. And thanks primarily to Mennonite immigration, more than five percent of Belize’s inhabitants (now 450,000 people, in a nation twice the size of Connecticut) speak German. Unglaublich und erstaunlich! Belize is a beautiful country, but the weather can be inclement at times. In the construction business, as with farming, climate change is a major challenge, as Peter will definitely tell you. “The weather is a major factor with significant implications in construction,” he observed. “You only have a certain amount of time in the year when you can work. But everything else is pretty good.” When not working, Peter enjoys his hobbies. Among them are fishing and ranching. His ranch is comprised of a whopping 870 acres, and it’s home to some 450 head of beef cattle, including new Brangus and Braford breeds introduced for the first time to Belize, utilizing embryos imported from Argentina. To visit the ranch on horseback, it takes about two hours to traverse from one end to the other. Still, he added with a chuckle that “It’s not that big!” More about Teichroeb & Sons The Teichroeb company performs mainly civil works, such as highway and bridge construction, usually financed by international financial institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the United Nations, the Caribbean Development Bank and the European Union. Teichroeb & Sons also does land development for large housing projects. What advice would Peter offer others looking to get into this noble trade?