Alain Haillant delivering his speech at the medal ceremony on Friday. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT--President and Founder of telecommunications company Dauphin Telecom, Alain Haillant, received the Knight of the Order of National Merit from Préfet Cyrille Le Vély at a ceremony in the Dauphin Telecom headquarters on Rue de La République on Friday afternoon.
It was a special celebratory occasion for the visionary businessman who created the office furniture business Cariburo and the newsletter Fax Info among other ventures. He was joined by wife Roberta, family members, close friends, business associates, Dauphin Telecom Director General Eve Riboud and other management and staff members of the company.
Among the notable guests were Député MP of St. Martin and St. Barthélemy Frantz Gumbs, former Senator Guillaume Arnell who serves as President of the National Order of Merit Association, President of Fédération Inter Professionnelle de la Collectivité de St. Martin FIPCOM and Mouvement des Entreprises de France MEDEF, Michel Vogel, President of Conseil Économique, Social et Environnemental CESE, Ida Zin-Ka-Ieu, one of her predecessors Georges Gumbs, and Dutch-side businessman Michael Ferrier.
Several veteran football players were also present, a nod back to Haillant’s footballing days with Junior Stars Club.
Following the introduction by Préfet Le Vély, Haillant thanked President Emmanuel Macron for nominating him for the decoration, signing the decree on May 15, 2025, noting by coincidence that it was exactly 40 years to the day when he arrived on the island on May 15, 1985.
“When I arrived I was a young 24-year-old computer scientist with a laptop under my arm... and no dollars in my pocket... just a few hundred francs,” he recalled. “At that time, there was still a lot of development to be done in this field, as in many others.
“It all started very simply, with a small business: Caraïbes Computer, located on Rue de Hollande, in the premises of the Le Crayon stationery shop. My equipment needs led me to expand my business: first office furniture, then telephone systems – which would serve me well later, and finally photocopiers.
“This first venture was later renamed Cariburo, which marked the real starting point of my entrepreneurial journey. Over the years, Fax Info, Normedia and BSS Canon were born, and finally Dauphin Telecom in 1998, always with the same ambition: to bring innovation and the best technology to St. Martin, surrounding myself with talented people.
“Thanks to Mr. Léon Inchauspé, the banker who believed in me and my project, which some considered a little crazy, Dauphin Telecom was able to get started.
“Eve (Riboud) was the catalyst, then Philippe, Armando, Florence, Frédérique, Daniel, Jean-Claude, Richeline, Gabriel, Luis and many others such as Delphine, Axel and Romain joined us to build the company you know today. Some of them are now shareholders, demonstrating their confidence in the company.”
He described how he played for 15 years in the St. Martin Championship, mainly for the Junior Stars Club and how he had the honour of wearing the St. Martin national team jersey several times as a defender.
“As a defender I didn’t get many red cards. My tackles were very clean,” he joked.
He talked of the difficult times during Hurricanes Luis, Lenny and especially Irma.
“With our Dauphin teams we restored the networks under extreme conditions. We worked day and night, often without electricity, with little sleep and army rations, with a single goal: to enable the emergency services and the population to communicate as quickly as possible and to speed up the recovery.”
At Fax Info, with Alexandra, Adrien, Arnaud, Chris, Marie-Ange and the others, publication resumed after 10 days as soon as power was restored in Bellevue, in order to inform and boost the morale of the population.
At Cariburo he credited Jean-Luc, Martine, Sylvie, Jean-Paul, Ostal, Damien, Yannick, as well as at Normedia and BSS Canon with Serge, Jean-Claude, Fabienne, Audrey, Tracia, commending all the courageous women and men who restarted operations to re-equip businesses and help them get back on their feet.
“These moments brought out the best in everyone. It is also for them that I receive this medal. Through this distinction, it is also the resilience of St. Martin that the State is honouring today. Here, more than anywhere else, success is built together.
“I receive this medal thinking of all those who have accompanied me, supported me, and... put up with me – in every sense of the word – over the past 40 years. I cannot name them all, the list would be too long, but I am thinking in particular of my managers and staff members, past and present, whose loyalty and commitment have made this success possible.
“I am also thinking of my family, my parents, my children, and my two grandchildren, who are here today and were born in St. Martin, and who, in my eyes, are the most beautiful proof of my roots in this territory. And thank you to my wife Roberta, who is always there to support me.”
