Chef Helmi Smeulders has been awarded Best Caribbean Cookbook in the World 2025 at the Gourmand Awards, for My Curaçao, A Culinary Road Trip.
Helmi was one of the first entrepreneurs, back in 2016, to trust CX Pay for her online book sales. At the time the goal was simple and not at all glamorous. She needed to be able to take payment, and being able to reach readers anywhere was treated as a cost of doing business rather than an ambition.
Why this one matters to us
A cookbook about Curaçao, sold from Curaçao, judged the best in the Caribbean. On the face of it that is not a payments story. It becomes one the moment you ask how a reader in Rotterdam or Toronto was supposed to buy it in 2016 from a small island publisher.
Closing that gap is what we are for. Online payment is not interesting in itself. Without it, a good idea stays local whether it deserves to or not.
10 years on
Helmi's dedication has taken Curaçao to the world stage. We are proud to have supported her from the very beginning, and glad the setup that mattered in 2016 is still quietly doing its job.
Congratulations, Helmi. Your success continues to inspire Caribbean creators and businesses.