Only in his twenties, and already owning his own business abroad. Brothers Sam (21), Jelle (22) and their nephew Julian Wijers (20) from Breda succeeded. They emigrated to Curaçao to sell beds. And if it’s up to them, the whole island will soon be sleeping like a baby.
But how did three young people in their twenties end up in Curaçao? “The idea arose with my aunt Marieke,” explains Jelle in Brabant Today. Together with her brother, the father of Sam and Jelle, she has been running a bed shop in Breda for years. “And coincidentally she really likes to come here on the island. Only after a while she found out that there were actually no good beds to be had here.”
Soon the entrepreneurial blood crept where it could not go. But moving to the other side of the world for a while was not an option for Marieke. So she carefully probed her son. “She texted me if I didn’t want to do it with my cousins,” Julian says. Well, that seemed like something to him. “And the other guys were immediately enthusiastic.”
Less than six months later, the trio is on the sun-drenched island, all ready to open their business. Easy peasy lemon squeezy? “Well, I had a big crash course before I left for Curaçao”, Julian laughs. “In the past I did have some experience with maintaining customer contacts. But for actually keeping a store running, we have been brushed up quite a bit.”
Is it just hard work then? “Of course partying is also part of such an island,” admits Jelle. “But we take it super seriously. We want to make this a success for our parents.” And the pressure is high, because the boys have a good stick behind the door. “If this doesn’t work, of course we just have to go back to the Netherlands.”
The boys are not yet afraid that they will miss the Netherlands. Julian: “You have to be open to new adventures. And look at today’s world: within one click you call your parents and friends. Curaçao sounds very far, but in that way it is reasonably close.” The tropical bedding store should officially open later this month.
This is what the store looks like inside.