The Winners of Guardian Group’s 9th Best in Business Awards

TEXT NEELAM MELWANI

ABOUT THE AWARDS
In 2016, Guardian Group, a financial planning and insurance company based in Curaçao, hosted its 9th annual ‘Best in Business Awards,’ an award developed to promote Curaçao’s lively entrepreneurial culture, and support the efforts of the best local entrepreneurs.

This year, over 50 entrepreneurs applied to win the “Best in Business Award.” The first place was 10.000 guilders cash, several hours of coaching and support, and other fun prizes. Second place prizes included tickets for a trip to Puerto Rico, as well as hours of coaching. Third place included one month of coaching and a breakfast at Santa Barbara, and other goodies.

Curaçao Business Magazine had the opportunity to interview the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners six months later, giving them a chance to reflect on what was for all of them, an important accomplishment in their entrepreneurial careers. The winners of the awards offered very different services, with very different products to diversified client bases. One thing that they could all agree on was how great the opportunity was to participate in the Best in Business Awards, and how much they took away from the experience.

From the 50 applicants, five companies were chosen to continue the ‘race’ to 1st place. This included advertisements for their companies with Guardian Group, as well as a radio interview and other press moments. From these encounters, and specifically based on the radio interview, Guardian Group selected the Top 3 companies to give a pitch. On their annual ‘Pensionendag,’ they announced the winners.

In this article, CBM will give you a better idea of what makes these motivated entrepreneurs tick, how their companies function, and their biggest takeaways from the ‘Best in Business Awards.’

1ST PLACE: URBAN CHASE
Co-Founder and (Creative) Director,
Ryan Navarro

“When we tell people we won the ‘Best in Business Award’ it makes us more credible. Because we’re already well-known on the island, people always think of us as rappers and film-makers – entertainers. By winning the ‘Best in Business Award’ for something completely different, we created a new name for ourselves, and a new credibility, that people remember.”

Urban Chase is a phone game app, where the user picks a character to explore the streets of Curaçao, picking up coins and prizes along the way. The idea behind the game was actually to create a platform where people could play, learn and win – connecting businesses in Curaçao to clients around the world in a unique way. Urban Chase is one of the many products offered by Ryan Navarro, also known as QD El Mago, and his business partners, Yasser Casseres and Xavier Navarro. They were famous on the island, as Area 51, a local urban music group before they developed their app. Their mission was to revolutionize the gaming industry, bringing people in Curaçao closer to local businesses in a time where the economy really needed the extra stimulus. Play the game, and win great prices – a win-win for users, companies, and Urban Chase.

Speaking with Navarro it was obvious that while him and his co-creators, who have equal shares in the company, knew that Urban Chase was an innovative idea, they got partners on board far earlier than they had expected.

According to Navarro, “We gave it our all – all our time, all our money, all our brains. We knew it would go somewhere. That’s the best way to build trust in your product – give it all you’ve got and don’t hold back. If you don’t believe in yourself, then you can’t expect anyone else to.”

Not only did they learn about themselves and their company during the experience, but they were able to spend time reflecting on their product and its growth. “We spent time working on our pitch – not really on the content side of it, that was second nature to us. We’ve given so many sales pitches, so it wasn’t about the pitch. We make movies, so we used our talents to create our presentation, an introductory movie, for our pitch. That worked out really well.”

This statement, was indeed justified because in their industry, projects can cost a lot of money. “We invested the 10.000 ANG prize money and additional funds to create a 3D version of Urban Chase Curaçao. This 3D version will be cooler than the previous one. We can’t wait for it to be ready.”

While a variety of Navarro and his partners clients are Curaçao-based, Navarro hopes that Urban Chase will reach the shores of the rest of the Dutch Caribbean and maybe the Netherlands. Urban Chase can be the future of advertising and branding, and Urban Chase is ahead of the game.

2ND PLACE: CAAG SOFTWARE
Founder and CEO, Ries van Lomwel

“Looking back, our biggest takeaway from the awards and the process to get there was not just the brand awareness and the credibility it created, but the fact that we really had to reflect on our product and our market when making our pitch.”

Caag Software is about four years old. It started off as a software solution for financial institutions to provide a more effective way to manage customer information. Eventually, because of market demand, Caag expanded to an enterprise platform solution (EPS), developing a broader application that focuses on making businesses more efficient by using innovative technology. Caag has built a range of EPS modules such as but not limited to inventory management (eCommerce), document management and reservations management. The main objective of Caag’s solutions is to allow a company’s management team to measure the operational performance indicators so that they can steer their company accordingly.

The development of a broader application meant the assistance of a bigger team, so Caag looked for developers – not just in Curaçao but in the region, and the team just kept growing to best serve their clients. “What makes the company unique is not just the fact that our team is based around the world, it’s how we’ve managed to pick the right people, and the way we continue to work together.” Van Lomwel explained that Caag has an innovative equity vesting structure, to ensure that everyone’s interests are aligned – so, when the company is successful, everyone’s shares increase in value – and although money isn’t their sole incentive, it does help in ensuring that they are all on the same page.

When we asked van Lomwel about the “Best in Business Awards,” his face automatically lit up as he said, “I enjoyed every bit of it.” During the time of the awards, van Lomwel mentioned that Caag had several meetings with possible clients.

Nevertheless, van Lomwel did mention that Caag, as many start-ups do, pivoted its strategy a lot in the beginning, redefining its interests and services to best meet the market.

“Building a business and selling a product is all about storytelling. The ‘Best in Business Awards’ helped us reflect on our story, especially because we were competing with people from such different industries. It really did come down to the quality of the story we told. Participating helped us learn how to adapt our story for possible customers, and also gave us a new opportunity to reflect on what the key elements of our story needs to be.”

3RD PLACE: NOOSH
Founder and CEO, Qiomy Neuman

“The idea of winning or losing doesn’t exist when you participate in the Best in Business Awards. If you win, you get 10.000 ANG, which you can then invest in your company. If you lose, you get some of the best people in Curaçao’s business world analyzing your company. Noosh had nothing to lose, and I came out a lot stronger than I went in.”

Noosh is about two years old. Its focus lies on changing the way that people look at foods, linking nutritious to delicious. They focus on creating, making and distributing fresh coldpressed juices and superfoods in Curaçao. Their products are available in various locations, from supermarkets to gyms and wellness centers, across the island.

While the island is full of food choices and delicious cuisine, Qiomy Neuman noted that it was difficult to find options that were genuinely healthy, especially when she was on-the-go. That’s how Noosh was born. She teamed up with nutritionists, and built a company focused on providing healthy options, to meet the needs of a small but growing market. “Technology really helped us in developing our product. I initially worked with a nutritionist based out of LA. She would send me recipes, I would test them out and send back suggestions, until they were what we wanted.”

To her, the “Best in Business Awards” were a rewarding experience. Much like what other contestants had said, Neuman agrees that entrepreneurs need to be flexible and adapt their idea to the market. “I think my biggest takeaway from ‘Best in Business’ is that of rethinking. If I look back to when Noosh started, and compare that to where we are now, I wouldn’t have ever expected it.”

What she found remarkable is how open the jury was to discussing Noosh’s challenges with her and giving her advice plainly and openly. Noosh hopes to reach expand to other markets in the coming five years. “In five years, I want to be working in the region, I want to be bigger than Curaçao, and I will be. To be able to expand, I know I need to spend more time focusing my product and looking for ways to promote Noosh internationally, making it a staple in households in Curaçao and abroad.”