In our January 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde of Blyce in Curaçao, and Niko Kluyver also of Curaçao and CyberVade, the panel discusses: the impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean; data residency in the Caribbean; and big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

Although we are just four weeks into 2025, it already seems that it will be a transformative year. However, whether the transformation will be good or bad remains to be seen. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, United States (US) stock markets had been experiencing some upheaval due to the recent launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Further, the incoming US administration has been changing several tech-related policies, the results of which are likely to be felt in the months and years to come.

Our first Community Chat discussion covers several areas, which to some degree, reflect not only the speed at which technology is evolving but, more importantly, the need for us to adapt and to be intentional in how we manage it.

 

Introducing our guest panellists

Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde

Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde is a global citizen who grew up in Suriname, pursued her higher education in Mathematics and Computer Science in the USA, was subsequently employed in the Netherlands, and since 2001 has been a resident of Curaçao. The common thread in her career has been the increase in business process efficiency mediated by technology, software, and data. She has done this by leading small and large teams in million-dollar projects in a wide range of industries and various cultural settings, varying from the airline industry, sports betting, telecommunications, emergency and disaster management, financial industry, tax administrations, and social security organisations.

Currently, Esmeralda is an Associate Director of Blyce, formerly known as BearingPoiint Caribbean, which specialises in the digitalisation of governments and offers online portals and other technology solutions that make public services better, faster, and smarter

Niko Kluyver

Niko Kluyver is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CyberVade, a cybersecurity, data privacy, AI and compliance services firm operating in the Caribbean, USA and Europe. Niko is also the CEO of the Caribbean Credit Bureau, operating in the Dutch Caribbean since 2003.

Niko started his career as a Certified Public Accountant from where he moved to the banking sector for ten years, after which he continued his journey as an entrepreneur and started several companies in various sectors.  He currently assists companies with cybersecurity and data privacy, and acts as a fractional Chief Information Systems Officer. He has served on several boards, including the Curaçao International Financial Services Association and the Curaçao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the International Factoring Association and Alacred.

 

The topics discussed

Among our guests, self-care seems to be a key focus for 2025, especially their physical and mental health. So, to kick off the first Community Chat of the year, our first topic was The impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean. In the region, mental health is still a taboo subject, but Caribbean studies are emerging on the amount of time individuals are spending on social media, which may not only have an impact on mental health but also productivity.

The discussion then shifted to the data protection frameworks in the region, which at best could be described as uneven – with some countries having more stringent measures than others. Hence, the topic, Data residency in the Caribbean, highlighted some of the challenges being experienced by international companies doing business in the region but are unable to store data in the region, although we have world-class data centres.

Finally, cognisant that Caribbean countries appear to be at the mercy of big tech, such as Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, to name a few, with respect to access to the services they provide, are rounded off the Community Chat by discussing, Big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

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Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  E Levens-Wijngaarde;  N Kluyver;  AzamKamolov (Pixabay); macrovector (Freepik);  Darby Browning (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez