March 2017 | Business View Caribbean

80 81 Westrac Limited port for its John Deere tractors, it incorporated Autotrac, which is now the John Deere Service Department. In 2012,Westrac opened a new location in Belize City, the country’s largest mu- nicipality, and finally, in 2014 it opened another branch in Or- ange Walk in order to reach all of the country’s northern area farmers. Today, the Westrac Ltd. portfo- lio includes four automobile and tractor parts retail stores, one Midway gas station with a store and restaurant, a John Deere Service shop, and an automo- tive service shop. It currently employs around 200 workers and has plans to open two more branches –one on San Pedro Island and one more in the Placencia area on the country’s southern coast. “There’s a new cruise ship company that has opened,” Peter says. “And tourism brings the need for parts for all the taxis, buses, and vans.” Julian Thiessen, Peter’s son, is Westrac’s Managing Director. Along with the rest of Westrac’s executive team, he believes that the company’s success is largely attributable to “the process, the Peter Thiessen, Westrac’s CEO personnel, and the locations, and how they work together. It’s all very intricate and we put a lot of effort into it,” he asserts. “When there’s one location, it’s easier to keep the stock and match the demand. But once the scale becomes bigger, something we do really well is progress with the customer demand.We have forms available online to all sales representatives that are filled out at each request for a new item that is not stocked. This is auto- AT A GLANCE Westrac Limited WHAT: An automotive and agricultural supply company WHERE: Spanish Lookout, Belize WEBSITE: www.westrac belize.com The executive team