THE HAGUE--Frustrated with the lack of action from the side of the St. Maarten government, Unleashed Potential Group (UPG) Chairman and founder Raimond Nicodem has decided to step down. He will pass the stick to Carlvin Brooks.
Nicodem started UPG almost two years ago with a group of young St. Maarten professionals with the aim to give back to St. Maarten by offering assistance in, for example, projects that benefit the island socially and economically.
“The reason for the change is the numerous appeals that our foundation has made to the St. Maarten government to help boost the island’s social-economic climate and to create a bridge to train and motivate educated St. Maarteners to return to their island,” stated the organisation on Friday.
“To date, despite our enormous efforts, the analyses and concrete plans that we drafted to get the island back on its feet since (and before) Hurricane Irma, the talks with and offers made to the government, government has taken no decision to make use of our own young professionals.
“Our efforts were applauded by the government, but it never came to the point of filling the desires of the island’s recovery projects, project management, and planning. In February this year, our group built an entire project management structure and designed how it should be staffed. It was ready to go. It was built to manage the recovery projects. Unfortunately, government bounced this initiative.”
The UPG group has arrived at the conclusion that the island is not able to absorb UPG’s strategic vision and related actions. This vision and these actions are desperately needed, but not well understood, according to the organisation.
UPG Foundation was started by young professional St. Maarteners for St. Maarten. They came together to work as a team and to learn by doing, to gain experience and give back to their island with the ultimate goal to boost the economy and social welfare and get young St. Maarteners back on the island. The reverse migration issue, also called brain drain, is a serious concern and needs to be addressed to safeguard St. Maarten’s future.
In an effort to muster support, UPG has decided to have the entire organisation run by St. Maarteners. “This has been the goal and purpose from day one, but it will be put in effect earlier to overcome possible barriers. The group hopes that St. Maarten is ready to understand what the UPG stands for and to use the group as a resource.” UPG’s goals will not be changed, only the type of effort and the structure will be amended.
Nicodem said he had decided to leave with a heavy heart. “It has been almost a full-time job. We had talks and meetings with the interim government, the current government, the Governor, and many others. Unfortunately, St. Maarten does not seem to be accepting the seriousness of our intentions and has difficulties to absorb the level of our ability and power.”
He said the group had hoped to deliver a possibly atypical, but nevertheless ethical and serious form of assistance to the St. Maarten government, under government’s supervision. “The new UPG board will hopefully succeed in balancing this and be able to reach the noble goals we have started out with.”
Brooks thanked Nicodem for his tireless efforts. “His efforts will not be in vain and we look forward to continuing our work together within the new structure. This is an exciting time that we as UPG are entering into. It is a compliment that we have made it this far and that we have been trusted to continue this vision,” he said.
According to Brooks, the new structure will give the board a chance to take a more dominant role in UPG.
“It will push us to do new things to accomplish the vision that we have for St. Maarten. We need each other and all the ideas we can think of to be a success. It will be a time of uncertainty because now we have to make UPG work or it will not be successful. However, the uncertainty has always been there. Raimond helped with guiding us through this uncertainty. But it has always been and will always be our job to find our own way through this uncertainty. The good thing is that we are more than capable of doing it,” said Brooks.
For more information about UPG go to
https://www.unleashedpotentialgroup.com/
