Barry Bowen

Sir Barry Manfield Bowen KCMG (September 19, 1945 – February 26, 2010) was a Belizean bottling magnate, politician and entrepreneur. His business interests included Bowen and Bowen, Ltd which bottles Coca-Cola products in Belize, and the Belize Brewing Company, which brews Belikin Beer. Bowen also served as a Senator in the National Assembly of Belize and the financier of the People's United Party. In December 2007, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Bowen as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. Bowen was the second wealthiest citizen of Belize at the time of his death.

A seventh-generation Belizean, Bowen was born to Eric William Manfield Bowen, OBE, JP and Emilie Josephine Bowen, in Belize City in what was then called British Honduras on September 19, 1945. Eric Bowen, originally from San Ignacio, Cayo District, founded Bowen & Bowen, Ltd, a general trading company, in 1932 with his brother. Bowen & Bowen would eventually grow into Belize's largest bottler under his son, Barry.

Bowen completed high school at Brooks School and went on to attend Cornell University and Bucknell University before returning to work with his father in 1965. Bowen became the General Managing Director of the company in 1968 and oversaw its growth into Belize’s largest bottler.

Bowen believed there was a market in Belize for locally produced beer, and in the late 1960s he commissioned a feasibility study. Despite the study’s determination that the Belizean market was too small to support its own brewery, he persuaded his father it would be a good investment. After 15 months of negotiating a Development Concession, Belize Brewing Company was established in 1969, and Barry and Eric partnered with Cerveceria Hondureña S.A. (CHSA). Two years later Belikin Beer was introduced to the market. The partnership with CHSA lasted a decade thereafter Bowen & Bowen acquired full control of the company on December 20, 1980.

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