Out of the Blue
The
southern Caribbean island of Curaçao may be little known in India. But a feisty
community of entrepreneurs of Indian origin is making its presence felt there
Harish Rao, a chartered accountant
from Chennai, hadn’t even heard about the Caribbean island of Curaçao, before a
job offer took him there in the late 1990s. But today he has settled in well on
the island and runs his own financial services firm. Set up in 2001 as Rao
& Co, last year it successfully acquired a Dutch accounting company and is
now called Abaque Financial Solutions.
Curaçao, an island off the coast of Venezuela, is an autonomous region under the Netherlands. Unlike some of the English-speaking Caribbean countries such as Trinidad & Tobago; Curaçao doesn’t have a very large population of Indian origin. The 2,000-strong Indian community comprises mostly businesspersons. There are others such as Rao, who came to the island with jobs, and some turned into entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial Adventures
“Setting up a company in Curaçao was challenging since though the local people were friendly, we were still considered foreigners,” says Rao. Today he is far more confident.
“Currently, most of our business is from Curaçao and other Caribbean islands. This is a business hub with a large export and free zone operations and we have been achieving around 100% annual growth,” says Rao. The merger in Holland will help the company to take its global growth plans forward.
While setting up the company proved a challenge, the lifestyle in the island was comfortable right from the start. “Though this is not an English speaking region, language was never a big problem. People are very comfortable with English and always help foreigners,” says Rao’s wife Poornima. She moved to Curaçao in 1996 with her husband and is now fluent with the local language Papiamentu. While Spanish is the other important language, English is also widely used.
“We chose to send out daughter, who is nine, to a Dutch school instead of an American one. She is now very fluent with Dutch,” she adds. Indians in the island celebrate Diwali and other festivals with a lot of enthusiasm. “There’s a large Hindu temple here in Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, and a few Indians restaurants as well. In the last ten years, Indian grocery stores have also come up,” adds Poornima Rao.
Retail Kings
Boolchand’s is a prominent retail chain in the Caribbean region with its headquarters in Curaçao. Besides multiple outlets in the island, the group runs stores in US Virgin Islands; St Maarten; St Thomas, St Kitts & Aruba. Ram Boolchand, who currently heads the group, is a leading businessman in the region and India’s honorary consul to the Dutch territories in the Caribbean Sea.
“My grandfather came to Curaçao in 1930 and set up a small retail business here. Over the years our business has grown and we are retailers and distributors in consumer electronics, photographic and digital equipment. While Curaçao still remains our headquarters, we have become a trusted retail brand in the larger Caribbean region,” Ram Boolchand told ET Magazine. “The Curaçao government encourages bonafide foreign investors and we have full support from the authorities,” he adds. Mr Boolchand has friends and family members in India and visits every year. “The Hindu temple was built in 2004 and we celebrate our festivals there. The Indian Merchants Association of the Netherlands Antilles and Indian Cultural Association are two important organisations,” he says.
First-generation Business
While many of the 200 Indian-origin business families have been in Curaçao for a few generations, there are others such as Anil Samtani who came to the island from his home in Hyderabad to work and later set up a business. “I came in 1989, after graduating. I was recruited by an Indian owned firm as sales manager. I set up my own company in 2000 and today we employ 30 people, 8 of whom are Indians,” Samtani says.
The Sindhi community is the most visible among PIOs. “There are the retailers who operate businesses in downtown Curaçao and also wholesalers who operate in the freezone ,” he adds. His company Shivas Freezone is a distributor and exporter of fashion garments in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Samtani is now a citizen of the Netherlands but visits his parents in India at least three to four times a year. “For me Curaçao is home, it’s a small island but offers big opportunities for Indians. There are absolutely no hurdles on account of us being from India,” he adds.
Curaçao
Where: An island in the southern Caribbean Sea
Capital: Willemstad
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Indian people: There are 2,000 NRIs/PIOs in Curacao. Majority of the businesses in free trade zones are owned by PIOs
Population: 145,619 (2011). The island is visibly multi-ethnic and multicultural. There is an Afro-Caribbean majority
Immigration: An employer has to stand guarantee for a work permit. These have to be renewed every two years. It has to be proved that the immigrant possesses skills not available in the local market
After 10 years
Work permit holders are eligible for Dutch citizenship.
Curaçao, an island off the coast of Venezuela, is an autonomous region under the Netherlands. Unlike some of the English-speaking Caribbean countries such as Trinidad & Tobago; Curaçao doesn’t have a very large population of Indian origin. The 2,000-strong Indian community comprises mostly businesspersons. There are others such as Rao, who came to the island with jobs, and some turned into entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial Adventures
“Setting up a company in Curaçao was challenging since though the local people were friendly, we were still considered foreigners,” says Rao. Today he is far more confident.
“Currently, most of our business is from Curaçao and other Caribbean islands. This is a business hub with a large export and free zone operations and we have been achieving around 100% annual growth,” says Rao. The merger in Holland will help the company to take its global growth plans forward.
While setting up the company proved a challenge, the lifestyle in the island was comfortable right from the start. “Though this is not an English speaking region, language was never a big problem. People are very comfortable with English and always help foreigners,” says Rao’s wife Poornima. She moved to Curaçao in 1996 with her husband and is now fluent with the local language Papiamentu. While Spanish is the other important language, English is also widely used.
“We chose to send out daughter, who is nine, to a Dutch school instead of an American one. She is now very fluent with Dutch,” she adds. Indians in the island celebrate Diwali and other festivals with a lot of enthusiasm. “There’s a large Hindu temple here in Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, and a few Indians restaurants as well. In the last ten years, Indian grocery stores have also come up,” adds Poornima Rao.
Retail Kings
Boolchand’s is a prominent retail chain in the Caribbean region with its headquarters in Curaçao. Besides multiple outlets in the island, the group runs stores in US Virgin Islands; St Maarten; St Thomas, St Kitts & Aruba. Ram Boolchand, who currently heads the group, is a leading businessman in the region and India’s honorary consul to the Dutch territories in the Caribbean Sea.
“My grandfather came to Curaçao in 1930 and set up a small retail business here. Over the years our business has grown and we are retailers and distributors in consumer electronics, photographic and digital equipment. While Curaçao still remains our headquarters, we have become a trusted retail brand in the larger Caribbean region,” Ram Boolchand told ET Magazine. “The Curaçao government encourages bonafide foreign investors and we have full support from the authorities,” he adds. Mr Boolchand has friends and family members in India and visits every year. “The Hindu temple was built in 2004 and we celebrate our festivals there. The Indian Merchants Association of the Netherlands Antilles and Indian Cultural Association are two important organisations,” he says.
First-generation Business
While many of the 200 Indian-origin business families have been in Curaçao for a few generations, there are others such as Anil Samtani who came to the island from his home in Hyderabad to work and later set up a business. “I came in 1989, after graduating. I was recruited by an Indian owned firm as sales manager. I set up my own company in 2000 and today we employ 30 people, 8 of whom are Indians,” Samtani says.
The Sindhi community is the most visible among PIOs. “There are the retailers who operate businesses in downtown Curaçao and also wholesalers who operate in the freezone ,” he adds. His company Shivas Freezone is a distributor and exporter of fashion garments in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Samtani is now a citizen of the Netherlands but visits his parents in India at least three to four times a year. “For me Curaçao is home, it’s a small island but offers big opportunities for Indians. There are absolutely no hurdles on account of us being from India,” he adds.
Curaçao
Where: An island in the southern Caribbean Sea
Capital: Willemstad
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Indian people: There are 2,000 NRIs/PIOs in Curacao. Majority of the businesses in free trade zones are owned by PIOs
Population: 145,619 (2011). The island is visibly multi-ethnic and multicultural. There is an Afro-Caribbean majority
Immigration: An employer has to stand guarantee for a work permit. These have to be renewed every two years. It has to be proved that the immigrant possesses skills not available in the local market
After 10 years
Work permit holders are eligible for Dutch citizenship.
Ishani
Duttagupta ETM130203
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