What it Takes to Run a Business on Social Platforms and Inter-branding

A Hidden Gem: Indonesian Restaurant “Batik Asli”

Tucked away in the Eden Shoppers Paradise is the “Batik Asli” restaurant, a hidden gem that takes you across the oceans to experience the authentic flavors of Indonesia. With a loyal clientele for over 2 years, patrons have kept returning to dine at Batik Asli, and it seems as though the restaurant’s reputa tion for tasty Indonesian cuisine has steadily spread via word of mouth.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Marco and Johan Dreijerink, who have been household names in Curaçao since 1969 after having lived in Indonesia for quite some time. With the support of Edu Lembekker, former chef and operator of “The Wajang Doll” restaurant in St. Maarten, the dynamic trio strive to deliver an extensive menu of traditional Indonesian gastronomy.

Some of the highlights on the menu include: a Tiki rijsttafel (served at lunch), the Orang Belanda rijst tafel (served at dinner), as well as popular dishes like Babi Panggang, Nasi Rames or Ikan Bumbu Bali as well as various other Indian dishes. Take out service is available, including their rijsttafel specialties.

The restaurant has a cozy atmosphere and diners can also choose to sit on the terrace in the beauti fully landscaped garden with water feature.

We are open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 2:00pm and from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. The address is Caracasbaaiweg 280/5 nst. BK Tel. 843-0003. Reservations are recommended,

never out of reach. Naturally it’s not all workrelated, but screens are the last thing I see before going to sleep at night and the first thing I reach for when I wake up in the morning. L: There was a time when I was so caught up with all the engagement of social media on my phone. Good thing I realized that I, as a human being, was not benefitting from this in any way. I now start my day with a little stroll in my garden, playing with the dogs and listening to the birds and eventually get to my emails and social media over breakfast. K&F: We’re living in an era and a society in which it is almost inevitable to not be addicted to your smartphone or other electronic device. It doesn’t come as a surprise that we spend a great amount of time on our phones, as our business is promoted solely on social media.

Q. What does it mean to be a thought leader or an influencer within your industry?

G: In my opinion, you are a thought leader or influencer when business is good and you continue to bring in work and/or projects even in a downturn. From my experience that position generally goes to someone who is always anticipating the future and rolling out innovative ways to give clients what they want while continuing to set the bar high and remaining consistent at all costs, no matter the effort or time it takes. It also means not being afraid to make mistakes and applying what you learned on your next attempt towards achieving a result of which you can be proud. L: Posting about life, yoga and happiness. All challenges that come my way and sharing how I deal with them. Influencing through social media, by posting things that I believe in and hopefully influence others to do the same.

K&F: We have noticed that a lot of people approach us saying ‘that’s so Flea Finds!’ So, we have already succeeded in establishing a brand with a clear style and identity. We think it’s important in our line of work to keep up with changes in trends and lifestyles in order for us to regularly adjust or renew our products and so further evolve our brand. We must continue telling a story in new and interesting ways and keep attracting followers.

Q. How are your brands different from each other and how do you manage this?

G: While more people associate me with the Sand and Stilettos brand, it is actually a branch that falls under my consultancy, the HQ27 Group LLC, (B.V. in Dutch). Officially Sand and Stilettos is me as an experience curator (tailor-made trips, itinerary creation, etc.) and HQ27 is me as a copywriter, consultant and landlord - but these days they are often used interchangeably and people can find me either way. L: I am currently managing 3 different business and that does bring its challenges. Number Ten is a new joint startup which requires a whole new audience group and niche. We’re still figuring out how we want to talk to our audience to receive the best engagement. With Dushi SUP and Liberty Yoga it’s a bit easier since we’ve been doing this for quite a while now. Creating content for Dushi SUP is the easiest out of all 3, since the setting is always perfect: turquoise water, happy people and a blue sky!

Digital Transformation & The Generational Gap

The media is full of Millennialism’s. We see how different Millennials are as entrepreneurs in comparison to previous generations, (Baby Boomers and Generation X) …and it would seem that Millennials (or Next Gen), have an edge.

TEXT BY: VANESSA VROLIJK

Why would Millennials have an edge over previous generations? Do we actually have proof to substantiate this claim? To try and answer these questions, we need to first look at the definition of an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, (www. entrepeneur.com), an “entrepreneur” is defined as: “A person who starts a business and is will ing to risk loss in order to make money,” or “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” Note the common keywords business and risk. If there’s no real business or risk, you’re not an entrepreneur. A similar definition is found in Forbes Magazine (www.forbes.com): “Entrepreneurs, in the purest sense, are those who identify a need---any need- --and fill it. It’s a primordial urge, independent of product, service, industry or market.” The main reason behind this idea that Millennials are driving the entrepreneur ship movement has mostly to do with Digital Transformation and less with business skills as such. Digital Transformation refers to the way in which technology has been changing how business is conducted. This includes, but is not limited to, the Millennial’s favorite platforms of social media. Social media’s role has become fundamental to the ‘new’ ways of doing business, which might lead one to conclude that without integrating social media into your business model, you have essen tially made your company obsolete. Now, it is a pervasive cliché that only Millennials ‘get’ social media and use it to their (busi ness) profit as opposed to other generations. But social media has become instrumental in starting many new businesses as it is no longer necessary to have a ‘brick and mortar’ location or even actual merchandise other than content or knowledge. Another new facet in entrepreneurship, is the growing number of ways to raise capital or fund a project, start-up or campaign. This is where ‘crowd-funding’ comes in to focus as well as Initial Coin Offering, (also commonly referred to as an ICO), which is a fundraising mechanism in which new projects sell their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for bitcoin and ether. It’s somewhat similar to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in which inves tors purchase shares of a company. There is ample research on Digital Transformation and its impact on businesses throughout the world. Curious to find out about the effect it is having on local entrepreneurs, especially Curaçao’s Millenials, we organized a roundtable discussion with the members of Boss & Co., a local all-female entrepreneur’s initiative, whose primary goal is to help foster female entrepreneurship in Curaçao. During this roundtable discussion it became

clear that Digital Transformation, and in particular social media, is a key factor in the way businesses are started and conducted. Some prime examples of these new business models already exist within the Boss & Co. group. It would seem that this generation, apart from embracing these emerging technologies, approaches the other critical success factors the same as would any other business run ‘tradi tionally’. Qualities like perseverance, staying on course and just plain working hard are still core values and skills that will get any busi ness through. Thus the biggest difference with Millenials seems to be that they are fully engag ing new technologies and all the benefits they offer, especially those offered by social media. The effects of Digital Transformation on how the world does business, goes far beyond digitizing processes or creating brand identity through Social Media. Digital Transformation is about utilizing, as well as leveraging, ana lytics and artificial intelligence, especially in the ways we perceive, anticipate and redefine customer experiences. It is also about dealing with disruptive technology such as Blockchain and its legal and regulatory consequences. Digital Transformation leads to the reinvention of industries, processes and the management of information. As a direct result, regulatory issues such as the management of privacy (custom ers, civilians) also inevitably come into play as well. Today’s business owners need to firstly understand and secondly embrace and integrate the useful and necessary elements of Digital Transformation into their business models. Not only to survive but to gain that illusive com petitive edge, to get the absolute most out of all that technology has to offer. Yet still, today’s entrepreneur needs to remain grounded in the fact that technology is never ever an objec tive onto itself, it remains a tool that can and should be used to make improvements on core competences. Technology being a tool should be wielded, just like any other tool, with proper knowledge and expertise and guidance if nec essary.

Digital Transformation has been and will for ever be redefining the way we do everything: the way our children learn, the way we think, the way we live and ultimately the way we work as well. It is about change and how we can implement this change in a way that benefits all strata of society. Laws and legislation are struggling to keep up but in no way will Digital Transformation stop or even slow down as it continues to define our era at breakneck speed. The sky is the limit and so are business oppor tunities for those, Millennials or not, who are willing to take the plunge.