Sonja Velthuizen, Executive Director of the Aruba Chamber of Commerce.
Mission
Sonja Velthuizens’ mission is to provide the best customer service possible by introducing a new client friendly registration system, maintaining the Chambers great team and trying to create less bureaucracy.
History
Sonja Velthuizen was born in Holland. After her study at the age of 25 she moved to Aruba and worked in the Hospitality Industry. She fell completely in love with the island.
Nonetheless, she had to move back to Holland after a year for family reasons. Back in Holland she started her own company in the field of marketing & promotion, event organizing and interim management. But as she always missed Aruba, she didn’t hesitate to return when they offered her a job as a director of an educational institution on Aruba in 2005. At the institute she worked for more than six years until she started at the Aruba Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the Head of the department Business Information & Support in 2011. Sonja Velthuizen became the new interim director in 2015 when the former director of the Chamber retired. In May 2016 the interim director was officially appointed as the Executive Director & Secretary of the Aruba Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She is very happy to be living in Aruba together with her partner and her son of nine years old.
Future
The Executive Director has many plans. Together with her team she will strive for the development of an incubator for start-ups, more in-depth advises, the launch of a new registration system with a 24/7 service, the provision of more data (statistics), the reduction of red tape to start a business, the continuation of tailor made education in order to prepare future entrepreneurs even better, the promotion of e-commerce activities, more collaboration in the region and trade between the different islands.
Name: Sonja Velthuizen
Company: Aruba Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Function: Executive Director / Secretary
Date of birth and place: The Netherlands, 1969
Goal: Personal: To be happy, to think positive, and to keep on learning Business: To foster an attractive and successful investment and business climate in Aruba
Passion: Her family, horseback riding and travelling
Books: Novels, entrepreneurship and science books
Movie: The Notebook, Silence of the lambs
Music: Classics like: Prince, Chaka Khan, Earth Wind & Fire, and Salsa