No products in the cart.
Existing simultaneously with under nutrition, obesity is one of the world’s unconcealed yet ignored problems. This international epidemic of overweight and obesity – referred to by the World Health Organization as ‘globesity’ has found its way, along with all of its terrible effects, to a small island in the Caribbean Sea, Curaçao. Like with any other escalating trend, the unhealthy trend and its side effects has made way for a new market in Curaçao. The island is home to a growing ‘health-olution’ and leading this wind of change is a small but actively growing community of young local entrepreneurs.
TEXT TAHNEE M. BRUIN
While Curaçao, an eclectic island with a culinary fusion of Dutch, South American, Afro-Caribbean, Portuguese, Indian, Spanish and other Caribbean influences, has plenty of options that can provide a nutritional balance, the presence of physical activity still remains questionable. Although, like most Caribbean islands, Curaçao has plenty of outdoor activities on land or in its crystal clear waters to promote a healthy lifestyle, and yet, more than 50% of the population is estimated to be obese, and statistics indicate a steady rise in the presence of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in children. The figures are all quite alarming, and have given birth to a new trend, that is slowly but surely on the rise. It might even be the right industry for your next investment.
The Fast-paced Island Life
Many could argue that over the past 50 years, islanders turned their backs on traditional diets made readily available by local produce and replaced these with highly processed and energy-dense foods imported from other countries. These new foods, that are often sold at a cheaper price, because they are produced in bulk then become the new normal. The question though is, if we go back to the basics – what were these creole food diets like prior to globalization?
Creole food is rich. For generations, the local diet in Curaçao included a hearty stew or soup, with a small portion of vegetables, a side of rice of polenta, also known as ‘funchi’, and lots of deliciously fried goodness. Despite its deliciousness though, the foods, regardless of their freshness have always been high in calories and fats. While they are part of culture and tradition, as lifestyles change, perhaps diets needed to as well.
Curaçao has also undergone an urbanization of its culture. Sedentary office cultures, the convenience of traveling by car and parking directly in front of your destination, and the decrease in price of unhealthy meal options has further aided the rise in obesity rates.
While healthy options did not exist fifty years ago either, life has become increasingly ‘busy’ and faster which means that parents get home later from work, and quick meal options become the ‘go-to’ choice, and there are few genuinely healthy fast food options in Curaçao.
The Juicy Game-changers
Recently, a new generation of passionate and innovative local entrepreneurs are leading a revolution to create awareness, promote a healthy lifestyle, and remind the inhabitants of Curaçao that they can a different choice. A choice to not only live healthy and actively but to purchase local produce and support the local community contributing to Curaçao’s local economy. Farmer’s markets and Wellfests are just the beginning but surely a place to begin in promoting a healthy lifestyle in Curaçao.
Noosh -a local company that offers nutritionist- developed cold pressed juices, salads and superfoods – participate actively in these markets and festivals. Since their inception nearly two years ago, there have been about five events through which they’ve further promoted their project. According to Qiomy Neuman, founder of Noosh says: “Health events are very important for the success of Noosh. They let us connect to our market segment, targeting specifically health conscious individuals and others who are exploring a healthy lifestyle.” Noosh also does a variety of different events, including supermarket tastings. According to Neuman, a variety of different marketing events is actually what Noosh needs to promote its products – supermarkets stands offer a random flow of people who are not specifically interested in the product or the market niche allowing you to possibly extend market share, whereas health events allow companies to develop a stronger relationship with the market segment.
According to Neuman, “Wellness events are beneficial for Curaçao because they help make the community of Curaçao more aware of what is available on the island. A lot of people might want to commit to eating healthy and living an active healthy lifestyle but they don’t know what is available on the island. The truth is that the industry is vibrant – there are several little companies that many haven’t heard of before. By organizing these events you can make people aware of the options available, and give the companies the exposure they need.”
A New Fitness Craze
CrossFit 5 Triple 9, a crossfit gym, called a ‘box,’ established almost three years ago based in the heart of Otrabanda, was also present at a recent wellness event. This box has 47% female and 53% male members and has recently launched CrossFit Kids. While most athletes at this box are between the ages of 24 and 44, CrossFit 5 Triple 9 has 11 athletes under the age of 17, 5 athletes between 55 and 64, and 24 athletes between 45 and 54. Ivan de Windt, coach at and co-founder of CrossFit 5 Triple 9, emphasized that their team attends as many wellness events as they can, after carefully learning about what the event could mean for their box and its members.
According to de Windt, “Building a strong relationship with people with the same interests as us, and who want to make our society more health conscious is imperative. Striving to collaborate with local companies is the best way to align with the right people to create more interest for CrossFit as an industry and as a professional sport.” De Windt continued, “For us, it is a matter of getting our name out there and our style of training known because a lot of people still don’t know what CrossFit is.”
Participating in Wellfest gave CrossFit 5 Triple 9 a new edge – introducing more people to the sport, while their gym has actually reached its current capacity. The fact that this is the case emphasizes the growing demand for a new way of living – where working out and going to the gym regularly is central. CrossFit 5 Triple 9 is looking to relocate to continue to serve its growing membership to promote a healthy lifestyle in Curaçao. “It’s our duty to make a difference in our community, and in people’s lives on the island. We want to make people more conscious of their health, and what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. For change to come, we need to work together to organize more wellness events that reach broader audiences.” –
Curaçao’s Fresh Produce
Fuik Microgreens was a founded in early 2016 by local young entrepreneurs to produce organic non-GMO microgreens, and to teach locals about micro-greens and organic produce and encouraging them to appreciate and stimulate their sustainable local agriculture.
As Eduardo Goncalves de Andrade, one of the co-founders of the company, explains, “One of the best ways we can realize our mission is to participate in as many wellness event on the island. These events, and farmers’ markets are perfect places to introduce our products to the public, and give consumers the chance to learn more about what it is we do and why we do it.”
Fuik Microgreens could stock up a supermarket with microgreens, make them available to wholesalers, but the chances that the product would sell without creative marketing is doubtful, because people in Curaçao generally do not know what microgreens are and why they are so important. Therefore, Fuik Microgreens sees wellness events as an opportunity to make customers more aware of the potential of microgreens and why their product is so important, creating a need some didn’t even know existed. “People understand our product when they can actually see it up close and speak to us about our passion,” claims Goncalves de Andrade, “This way we increase our market share but we also stimulate them to grow and eat their own produce rather than buying store-bought products that might be contain ingredients they would not want to consume.”
Consumers enjoy interacting with producers and learning about what makes their product unique – especially if they don’t know what the product is.
The Wellness Industry is on the Rise
Three very different companies founded by young entrepreneurs with a very similar mission: making people healthier and giving them the possibility to make healthier life decisions, to cope with the increasingly fast-paced island life and increasing expenses.
Eating healthy, being healthy and living active lifestyles are beneficial to Curaçao’s people, as well as its economy. These three companies are definitely pioneers but they are not alone – and they’ve created a new niche that is constantly growing, allowing their companies to focus, customize their product for the market and consistently expand to meet the growing demand.
It is becoming more and more obvious that a healthy, happy workforce contributes to economic growth and readily stimulates the economy, creating a win-win situation even though production prices for some of these products might seem steep. In so many ways, demand continues to increase and wellness events are organized regularly to serve the growing market, giving these companies the exposure that they require to be successful. Curaçao’s wellness industry is bound to keep flourishing, and both the benefits for its citizens and for its growing economy. The sector is continuously growing and the opportunities to invest are endless.
