Rotarian/ Entrepreneur Seema Mirchandani- Vaswani as our guest speaker.
On Tuesday January 11th, we had Rotarian/ Entrepreneur Seema Mirchandani- Vaswani as our guest speaker. Seema shared about her vocation as Entrepreneur. Seema Mirchandani was born in India. At the age of 26, she came to St. Maarten in January 2001.
Seema worked in a jewelry factory in India, although she had a degree in psychology. Four months after arrival she started with a small costume jewelry store in Speentjes Alley, which grew rapidly. She put Bollywood type jewelry on display at the store. She sent some money to her mother, who was in India and she sent her custom jewelry to Saint-Martin. Glamorous pieces often seen in Indian movies have become very popular with cruise ship crew members. In no time, Seema and her husband Naresh made enough money to pay the store's deposit and we were already thinking about expanding. The following year Seema went to Hong Kong to buy silver jewelry and we opened a bigger store on the same alley near the Boardwalk.
In support of her dream to become a business woman, Naresh opened a coffee lounge on the Front Street. For the love of coffee, Seema went abroad to learn how to roast coffee beans and become a barista. “I wanted to be the first to roast coffee locally in Saint-Martin. I think if you really dedicate yourself to something with good intentions, you can achieve anything”. Seema’s intention is to share with the community. This is why she hires young people, and teach them what she learned. This way they can support themselves and save money so they can leave the island and study abroad. “Those who know me will tell you that I do this with my heart and soul”.
Today, Seema is the proud owner of Coffee Lounge and Coffee Lounge 2.0.
It was a very interesting and inspiring presentation. At the end Rotarian/Entrepreneur Seema was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation.
