The Dutch-speaking country of Suriname is a full member of many regional organisations in the Caribbean, but generally, very little is known about it. In this the second instalment of our Know your neighbours series, Vincentius Kenswil and Anuskha Sonai, of the Digital Talents Academy In Suriname, help us to have a better understanding of Suriname generally, and of course, from an ICT perspective.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!

Although the Caribbean region is made up of several countries, frequently, it is considered a homogenous space. That is not the case. Besides differences in culture and language, there are nuances and idiosyncrasies even among countries that have close similarities, which ought to be appreciated.

Following from our recent conversation, ICTP 058:  Exploring the Guadeloupe’s ICT/tech space, with Betty Fausta of Guadeloupetech, we are introducing a new series called ‘Know your neighbours’, with the purpose is of helping us better understand our sister countries in the Caribbean region, generally, and of course, from an ICT perspective. Today, our focus is on Suriname.

Suriname is considered part of the Dutch Caribbean, and is located in South America between Guyana and French Guyana. Although a former Dutch colony, Suriname is a full member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and so enjoys the benefits of trade, foreign policy harmonisation, technical policy development and coordination, to name a few.

Like virtually all countries in South America, Suriname is resource-rich, like gold, oil and bauxite. However, its economic development does appear to be as robust of other countries in Latin America and The Caribbean – in terms of metrics such as Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income, and even those frequently referenced for telecommunications and ICT.

Our guests today are both based in Suriname, and have numerous ICT-related achievements between them.  Vincentius (Vincent) Kenswil and Anuskha Sonai, are Co-Founders of Digital Talents Academy, a training institution that focuses on developing the technological and soft skills in today’s professionals.

Vincent is an architect by training, but he has been a long-time champion of ICT in Suriname, both through private businesses, and through special interest groups, such as the ICT Association of Suriname. Anuskha’s background is Electrical Engineering, and in addition to the Digital Talents Academy, she is also the Chief Executive Officer for Spang Makandra N.V., a digital marketing agency located in Suriname.

During our discussion with Vincent and Anuskha, we covered several topics, including the following:

  1. A quick overview of the Suriname
  2. An overview of telecommunications and ICT, how developed is it in Suriname
  3. Is telecommunications and ICT services affordable in Suriname? How is the quality of broadband service?
  4. What is Vincent’s and Anuskha’s background and their entrepreneurial journey?
  5. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Suriname ? How is the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  6. If someone outside Suriname wants to do business in Suriname, what key steps would Vincent and Anuskha recommend?
  7. What might be some of the idiosyncrasies of Suriname, and doing business in Suriname, that a foreigner might need to grapple with?
  8. What are some of the tech-related or tech business related-trends in the Suriname, or wider Dutch Caribbean, business community?
  9. What are some of the strengths of the ICT/tech space in Suriname?
  10. What are some of the challenges Suriname might have to be addressed to improve ICT there?

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Public_Domain_Photography (Pixabay);  JvL (flickr);  dennis22photos (Wikipedia Commons);  Mark Ahsmann (Wikipedia Commons);  V Kenswil;  A Sonai

Music credit:  Ray Holman