THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS– On Tuesday November the 30th 2018, UPG’s Chairman Carlvin Brooks had the honour of being one the presenters at “At the Cabinet After 5” event. This was the first event in a series of discussions that cater to students and (young) professionals living in The Netherlands.The series are being arranged by The Cabinet of the St. Maarten Minister Plenipotentiary.
The theme of the event was “Will I stay, or will I go?”. What was meant with this question is whether the presenter is planning on staying in The Netherlands or returning to Sint Maarten.
There were two presenters at the event. Carlvin Brooks of Unleashed Potential Group (UPG) and finance professional and Treasurer of the board of Unified Sint Maarten Connection(USC), Duane Meade. (See related story in the Daily Herald)
Carlvin Brooks discussed that his intention is to stay and his reason for doing this is, he believes that he can better give back to Sint Maarten by further developing the foundation of UPG. He also took time to explain in his presentation the vision of UPG.
“At UPG we don’t believe that people don’t want to return to Sint Maarten, we believe that they do not know how to” mentioned Brooks. There are many factors that has to be considered before returning to Sint Maarten.
When returning home, Sint Maarteners deal with the saying that they are overqualified. They enter the situation in which, they are qualified but do not have job experience for the job they want, but they need the job to gain job experience.
There are also the questions that need to be answered such as: Where will I stay? What arrangements needs to be made before returning to Sint Maarten? How much will it cost to return? Where will I work?
There are no easy answers to these questions. Especially, when it is considered that Sint Maarten is currently recovering from Hurricane Irma (2017), that devastated the infrastructure as well as the economy.” UPG is the bridge that Sint Maarteners can use to find a way back home”.
Target group
The target group of UPG are students who are in their 3rd school year and above and (young) professionals
UPG seeks to give students the opportunity to gain job experience with projects relating to Sint Maarten. This way they get the chance to apply the knowledge they are learning to real situations that will benefit them and the island of Sint Maarten.
When it comes to the (young) professionals they have already gained work experience. Due to this, we look for ways to use the knowledge and experience that they already have and connect them with the right companies on the island that can use their expertise. In order to do this, we map out what they want to do and the party or parties that they need to work with to achieve it.
Strategic Map
After his presentation, Brooks made use of the opportunity to hand over a document called “Expanding the foundation of Sint Maarten’s Economy”. The document outlines a project that UPG has created to help diversify Sint Maarten’s economy. It is the hope that this project can be transformed into an international start-up company that can create jobs and help Sint Maarten to rebuild. The document is also part of a strategic map that UPG created to help (young) professionals return home.
