A look at zones of opportunity, brain drain and corporate citizenship in the Caribbean Netherlands
Representative, Gilbert Isabella, sits across the table with a smile and starts talking rather fast. He has a lot of ground to cover and knows how to optimize his time. A quick bit of background information and within minutes he arrives at his vision for the three islands that form the Caribbean Netherlands today.
Y’i Kòrsou
Gilbert Isabella starts off with a grin as he says: “I am a ‘y’i Kòrsou’ (child of Curacao). I was born on Curacao in 1961. My dad was from Curacao and my mom is Dutch. I was raised in The Netherlands. We moved there when I was three years old and I spent my childhood in Holland. That’s why I am a good ice-skater.” Isabella studied pedagogy and was a youth worker in the 1980’s. In the beginning of the 1990’s, he was active as a policy advisor for the municipality of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He reconnected with his Antillean “roots” in Dordrecht as Program Manager of the Antillean policy. Before his current position as Dutch Caribbean Kingdom Representative, he worked as a commissioner for the municipality of Utrecht for three years. He was a member of the Dutch labor party. “I’ve been on the islands for over a year now and I have a great team of people around me. It is different to be here. I am at the right place at the right moment and that means that I can improve the situation for the Caribbean Netherlands as well as be the voice of the islands in The Hague.” A Kingdom Representative is appointed for six years. Isabella knows that he needs to work hard for the next five years but “I am not here to sit back, I want to make positive contributions to the islands.”
Zones of Opportunity
The recently published 2015-2018 program for the Dutch Caribbean has some clear recommendations that Isabella embraces – among them sustainable economic development. “We have to look at what can be done on the islands economically.
It is beneficial to the island today to be part of the Caribbean Netherlands as it creates a positive investment climate. There is continuity today and it’s up to us to fully make use of that advantage. And of course we have to support the local government,” says Isabella. With the Dutch connection in place, it is possible to support local start-ups and entrepreneurs. An example is Qredits, a company willing to grant micro-credits to entrepreneurs on the islands. According to Isabella, the question is why we don’t create room for experiments. He elucidates, “Give the islands a special status so that we can try out certain options that might not initially work in The Netherlands, but could work perfectly well on a small scale like on the islands. Some of the rules and regulations are specifically written with The Netherlands in mind, but need to be adjusted before they can be used on the islands.” He cites an example: “By initiating a pilot with a predetermined beginning and end, we can take responsibility and push on. In Rotterdam they used certain zones of the city as ‘zones of opportunity (kansenzones).’ They would bend the rules slightly for these specific zones. As long as your arguments are clear and transparent, changes will make room for opportunities to arise.”According to the Kingdom Representative, one of the first things that need to be done is to create more job opportunities for the youth on the islands. The scale of the islands can be a limitation for entrepreneurship, so we seek opportunities to help free enterprise along. “Take Patrick, a young man who started his own carwash on Saba. He borrowed money to rent a piece of land and now needs good equipment. The first thing that comes to mind is how do we help innovative and inspired youth like Patrick to succeed?”
Isabella continues to states his case. “Or take the conch shell in Sint Eustatius. By cultivating the shell and getting certification in place so tourists can take them home, we create more job opportunities.
It is all about courage when it comes to entrepreneurship. That’s why I think it is important for businesses to unite so that they can stand strongly together. The government will help make improvements in all areas like education, legislation and much more. The circle is not yet closed and a lot remains to be done, but we need people with courage to start
innovative concepts.”
Brain Drain
Isabella shows a copy of the magazine he helped create called iLanders. It’s an inspirational publication to encourage island youth to return home and shows businesses, organizations and the government the advantages of having these children return. Isabella explains, “I think that it is very important to find a solution to the ‘brain drain’ problem of the islands. The idea is to stimulate the youth of the islands to come back by offering them an internship every year for a few years. That way they return to their home once a year to do an internship and keep the connection with their island alive. They will simultaneously secure a job opportunity back home when they graduate.” He looks at the magazine with pride and says, “This is something I really want to promote and we will start here at RCN (Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland).” It isn’t just a job the iLanders need when they return home, many of them are held back by the prices of real estate on the islands and a the lack of a competitive salary. But Isabella has a solution, “That means we also need to look at good starter homes.
These graduates come home and have been living on their own for the past four years so we need to provide for affordable housing, organize a place to come back to. This is something I am looking into.
We can even offer to pay back part of their study loan when things go well as an extra initiative to come back.”Gilbert Isabella is looking to innovate and stimulate creativity and continuity, embedded in an open and transparent structure and, according to him, that is also what investors are looking for. “If we don’t start changing things today, we won’t have anything done tomorrow.”
Corporate Citizenship
On a final note, Isabella mentions corporate citizenship. He is really looking for ways to promote it, because he wants people to know that RCN is not sitting in an ivory tower, that the Kingdom Government is part of the community and part of the islands. “Today we have even managed to create a small budget to sponsor good community initiatives, like getting Nadia Turner, a former American idol finalist, to motivate and speak to young girls in Saba and Sint Eustatius; sponsor t-shirts for junior walks or help out with the ‘Barí’ festival at Mangazina di Rei for example. The idea is to help each other, to connect and stand firmly next to each other, to look at the future and to take positive steps forward, together.”
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (RCN) is het centraal informatiepunt van de Rijksoverheid van Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba.
E-mail: info@RijksdienstCN.com
Internet: www.rijksdienstcn.com
Bonaire
Caribisch Nederland
Kaya International z/n Postbus 357,
Kralendijk Bonaire, Caribisch Nederland
Telefoon: + 599 715 83 33
Fax: +599 717 83 30
Sint-Eustatius
Caribisch Nederland
Mazinga Complex A, B,
Fort Oranjestraat Oranjestad, Sint-Eustatius, Caribisch Nederland
Telefoon: + 599 318 33 71 / 33 72
Saba
Caribisch Nederland
The Bottom Saba, Caribisch Nederland
Telefoon: + 599 416 39 34
Tekst: Sanny Ensing | Foto: creativEnvision