Suriname Study Tour Day 3

Everyone was excited today as we were able to get more sleep than the previous days. Today started just as usual with a delicious breakfast. We enjoyed a variety of breads with smoked meat, peas and carrots and curried shrimp. As we finished breakfast, everyone, dressed in full business attire, boarded the bus, looking like a group of leaders headed for a high-level conference on world security. Our Dutch counterparts, Peter and Farida, as well as Winston from the Suriname Business Development Centre, also joined us as we headed to the Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Rachel Perri presented the functions and purpose of the Chamber of Commerce. The presentation was truly engaging as we were taught about how the Chamber was created by an act of Cabinet and its main activities include registration of companies and dissemination of information about doing business in Suriname.  After the presentation, she invited questions concerning the Chamber’s purpose and provided adequate responses to supplement our required information needs. After the session, we were offered some light refreshments - soft drinks and snacks which we all enjoyed. Calva, however, enjoyed the snacks a little more than the rest of us and was therefore given the extras left from our meeting.

  

Vote of thanks to Suriname Chamber of Commerce 

Entrepreneurship was on the lips of all the representatives of the Suriname Chamber of Commerce (KKF). The Chamber of Commerce is actively supporting entrepreneurship by providing technical assistance such as individual coaching, market information and teaching individuals how to develop a business plan. This has the effect of increasing the chances of obtaining funding. The success of this can be seen in the statistics with 1809 businesses being registered in 2010 compared to 2556 being registered for the following year. This is a notable difference however that same period corresponded to 586 businesses closures. There needs to be some analytical work to discover why this is because fostering sustainable entrepreneurship in Suriname is a twofold process. The first step is increasing the number of entrepreneurs; the second is providing the right skill sets and support to reduce the risk of businesses closures. This support can be sourced from the Suriname Manufacturers Association (ASFA) for businesses that fall within that branch the Chamber of Commerce and the University. 

The visit to the Chamber of Commerce went over time, prompting Rahim, one of the two team leaders, to remind the team of the importance of time management. He also encouraged us to keep our questions to a minimum, asking only those that were pertinent. The next stop was the Associative Van Surinaamse Fabickten [Manufacturing Association of Suriname] (ASFA). We were warmly greeted and escorted to the conference room where we were shown a 5-minute video clip of the activities of ASFA from some of its member representatives. The Surinamese manufacturing sector is made up primarily of small to medium companies who are heavily concentrated in food, beverage and chemicals.  

IIEM Staff and students with ASFA representatives

This association is very alive when it comes to entrepreneurship with its aim of instilling pride in promoting the brand “Made in Suriname”. There are approximately 600 manufacturers in Suriname but only 110 are members of the Manufacturing Association. Due to traditionally low volumes of manufacturing, the industry has not ventured to export their goods internationally. Just about 10% to 15% of the members export their goods; however, there is a move to begin exporting throughout the region. The association is also promoting the export of value-added goods as opposed to solely exporting raw materials.

Additionally, the ASFA gives a voice to a range of local manufacturing companies - from wine distilleries to powdered soap manufacturing; currently, they are the representatives for 18.3% of all local manufacturing companies. Based on what was shown to our group during the meeting on the current technology, we saw several opportunities for Suriname to become more versed in their manufacturing sector. This included areas such as:

·      Becoming more innovative in small-scale designs with respect to agricultural and alcohol downstream industries

·        Possibility of assimilating all manufacturing companies into the ASFA.

The presenters made it very clear of their future prospects of entering the CARICOM market, but readily identified their current problem which was a lack of human resource to supply the required needs.  At the end of our presentation, the ASFA members thanked us for our interest in Suriname and they encouraged our participation in their economic development.

Our third stop for the day was the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. A very informative presentation was done by Mr. Saboerali about the history and the current operations of the University, which was established in November 1968. It was named after Anton de Kom, a freedom fighter who was exiled from Suriname because of his revolutionary thinking and later died in a concentration camp. The university has three faculties: Technology, Social Sciences and Medical. Each of these faculties greatly impact upon the needs of the country, as the university is mainly government funded.  

Anton de Kom

To prevent the development of the manufacturing sector from outpacing the development of a skilled labour force, the Aton de Kom University of Suriname was established with the core objective of supporting national development. Ever forward thinking, the University also provides a range of higher degrees specifically focusing on sustainable development. Their solutions-oriented research feeds back into national development policies which ensure the ability of the Surinamese people to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

Here, we learnt that the University has an active science and technology section who were engaged in venture capitalism. Telesur Multimedia Instructional Lab (TMIL) helps companies develop businesses related software and, if successful, the company would pay a percentage to the University for use of the facility.

Also, the University is currently investigating ways to properly manage its country’s vast natural resources. It is currently engaged in projects to investigate the ways in which the University’s design projects can be used to fulfil the country’s sustainability needs. We discovered that research was being focused on:

• Hydroponics
• Computer Programming
• Physical and Chemical testing

The University has international partners in Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Cuba, the United States of America, Belgium and the Netherlands. There are few foreign students as a result of the Bachelor programmes being taught completely in Dutch. The University undertakes student foreign exchange programmes with partnering universities.

The University was highly interested in our IIEM program and was engaging in serious discussions about adopting the IIEM program for their needs. At this point, our tour guide, “Ben”, treated us to a tour of the campus. Ben explained the location of each faculty and the major projects undertaken by each and how it operates. They seek to develop quality education with the hope that it would result in a better quality of life for Surinamese people.

After leaving the University campus, to Rahim’s utter dismay, Dr. Persadie announced that we would be having lunch at his rival, Roopram’s Roti Shop. We were all amazed by the level of development that this roti shop had in Suriname as opposed to Trinidad. We were ecstatic to have lunch be a familiar food with a slight difference in taste and presentation. Our group leader, Rahim, however, was very critical of this roti and compared the small details to our roti back home. Our friend, Peter, from the Netherlands found it very awkward to eat the roti using his fingers. In the end, he got used to it and became an expert “roti eater”.  As we returned to the bus, we were told that our visit to the Suriname Business Development Center was postponed, so we headed to our hotel to prepare for dinner at Sarinah, an Indonesian restaurant.

Sarinah was a memorable experience from the food to the décor, the highlight of the latter being the pond filled with exotic fishes, complete with a bridge over the pond. The menu card included the English translation and this was a welcomed surprise. The food surpassed our expectations in quality and, more so, quantity. Everyone was amazed by the sheer volume of food the order turned out to be and most people had to get “doggy bags”. Also available were souvenir items which some persons purchased from the restaurant, inclusive of hand carved bowls and an instrument that seemed to be made of bamboo.

It was an exhausting day and most people retired to bed on arrival at the hotel. Tomorrow, our journey continues as we head to the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education. We will also be visiting a banana plantation. Join us again as we walk you through our experiences.