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Beverages and coatings
Karl H. Menzies Company Limited
Karl H.
Menzies
Company Limited
K
arl H. Menzies Company Limited was founded in 1969, in Belize by Karl
and Dorothy Menzies. “My dad had been working for British Honduras
Distributors and he had almost singlehandedly put Heineken (beer) into
the market,” says Kay Menzies, the company’s current Managing Director.
“On hearing he was leaving his job for another position, Heineken said to him, ‘If
you want to start up your own business, we will be your brand.’ It was an opportu-
nity he couldn’t say ‘No’ to. So, he started the business with a six thousand
dollar credit line and an old truck. He started as the Heineken distrib-
utor and picked up other agencies along the way. Belize, being a very
small market at that time, it was a matter of what you could sell. So,