On Friday March 16th, 2018, the second St. Maarten Young Professionals Mixer hosted by SHTA and ORCO Bank was held at St. Rose’s arcade.  The second edition of this successful event drew a crowd of 206; well attended by both young professionals and more seasoned young at heart professionals.  This year’s edition also provided the formal kick-off event for UNDP’s Small Islands Developing States BuildBackBetter week.

The goal for the now Annual Young Professional Mixer is for SHTA and ORCO to provide solid platform for the up and coming generation of Sint Maarten professionals, the idea was launched last year in order to support these budding business talents and to forge their personal networks, exchange knowledge, as well as ideas and to acknowledge their contribution to our society; to share challenges and turn them into opportunities.

As the kickoff event for BuildBackBetterWeekSXM, organized by UNDP’s Centre of Excellence for Small Island Developing States based on Aruba, in conjunction with SHTA member HBN Law and many other partners, it led another 20 business visitors from Aruba, Curacao and the Netherlands to join the networking. As UNDP’s manager of the Centre, Arno Boersma explained: “The event was a great starting point for us and a source of inspiration for the days of brainstorming still to come. We sincerely thank SHTA and ORCO Bank for organizing the event, and including our international guests as well. We hope we can jointly provide a forceful platform for innovative and out-of-the-box thinking for a more resilient future for Sint Maarten.”

Another notable group was the presence of 10 business students from the University of Sint Maarten; in an effort to get acquainted with companies they might work for in the future. USM student Shalewa said “It was my first time participating in such an event. Being nervous at first, but in the end it helped me realize what I would like to do with the rest of my life after speaking with 2 young female entrepreneurs”. Her mentor Cathy Burns (USM) took charge of introductions. “This was a great opportunity to meet fellow minded people in the community. It also helped advance and improve the students’ skills on networking”.

St. Rose’s Arcade assisted in creating a vibrant atmosphere, where DJ CD Rankin provided Sint Maarten sounds to the event; being sure to include hits popular on Aruba and Curacao in order to ensure our visiting delegation felt welcome.

SHTA and ORCO Bank would like to thank all attendees and all parties involved for making the second edition of its Young Professional mixer a resounding success. If you are interested in becoming a member of SHTA or participating in the next young professionals’ mixer please email info@shta.com.

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