FEBRUARY'S INDIVIDUAL IS TREA TIJMENS

Trea Tijmens is from the Netherlands and moved to Geneva seven years ago. Since then she has become one of the country's leading experts on matchmaking, especially within the international community. With Valentine's Day on our doorstep we discover more about her and what inspired her to set up her company, SuccessMatch. Interview by Jennifer Davies. Photograph by Cliffton Mandola.

Have you always been a romantic?
What's a romantic? I would describe myself more as very enthusiastic, optimistic, down to earth and with a big heart. I believe in love and think that to love and to be loved are the greatest and most important things in life.

What is your ideal way to spend Valentine's Day?
I have the fortune (or misfortune) to have my birthday 2 days before Valentine's Day, so often we 'kill 2 birds with 1 stone'. Isn't that terrible! My ideal way to spend Valentine's is at a cosy restaurant, with excellent food, Champagne, a thoughtful small gift and, last but not least, a wonderful partner.

Do more people join SuccessMatch (or do you get more enquiries) during the run-up to Valentine's Day?
Definitely! During the Christmas/New Year and Valentine's period people think about love and being loved even more than usual.

What it is about your job that you love?
Being a business owner is an enormous challenge. I can put all my energy, enthusiasm, ideas, experience and skills in my work. Making a difference is very rewarding. I literally have my heart in the job and the company.

Knowing the challenges of entrepreneurship, why did you decide to set up SuccessMatch?
I have an HR background and worked the years before I launched SuccessMatch as a head-hunter. I have always worked with the international professional community and saw that their need to address their private/personal life was as least as high as having a successful professional life.

Matching life partners has a lot of similarities with matching employers and employees. You look at whether a profile meets certain criteria but you also need to look at whether a person fits in the corporate culture, whether they have similar values, similar expectation and goals for the future. So, three years ago I decided to set up SuccessMatch and launch the only personalized and confidential dating and matchmaking service for English speaking professionals in Switzerland.

Do international people find it difficult to find love in Switzerland?
The international professionals here in Switzerland do not have their social network from back home to fall back on. They tend to work a lot and may be either too busy to go out to places where they could potentially meet a partner or they consciously have active social lives and meet more and more people but still find it difficult to meet a life partner among the many people they meet.

Do you believe it's more difficult these days to find love?
Society has changed a lot in one generation. Before people tended to spend their lives in one place and they would usually find a partner that they knew either because people went to the same school, grew up in the same village, or went to the same church, etc.  Now people tend to study longer, have a desire to travel/explore other countries, are more career oriented and in general the need to settle down and form families has been postponed. Finding love in a day and age where people are more educated, more mobile, busier and more demanding is a challenge.

What is the most romantic partnership you've helped to bring together at SuccessMatch?
Mmm, again how do you define romantic? One of the most rewarding matches was of a widower and a widow. They had both lost their partners to cancer and it is just wonderful to see that people can find love again.

Regarding romantic situations. We never give out names or contact details of clients so we coordinate all first dates. We try to pick a nice restaurant, where everything (food, service, and atmosphere) is just right to suit the particular couple?s tastes and preferences. Every first date is romantic. It is the first step of getting to know each other better, being curious and hopeful and having great things to look forward to

Can you ever envisage leaving Switzerland?
My husband has had a few opportunities for transfers that we have refused because SuccessMatch is here and I cannot leave. We love it here and I can not think of a better place to live for our family.

For more information about Trea and her work visit www.successmatch.ch