Ruud Souverein comes from the Netherlands, but has had a keen interest in Suriname for over 30 years, not in the least because he is married to a Surinamese. He started working as an urban planner, but has since 1989 been active in the field of market research and corporate-, business-, marketing- and communications consultancy. At first as a consultant, later as the managing director of various companies. In that capacity he guided large organizations in establishing (regional) development plans, business plans, marketing concepts, quality projects and implementing marketing and planning strategies.
Since 1993 he has been active as an entrepreneur and has set up a number of businesses. After selling a large consulting firm in 2000 he started a new ICT- and employment and staffing agency (Co-Operit). The merging of this agency in 2008 lead to Ruud laying down his positions and he migrated to Suriname.
Since 2011 very active in the agricultural sector and the sector of agro processing. Has developed a business model called ‘sustainable agricultural development with family farmers’ and has made a significant contribution with regard to the vision on the development of the agricultural sector (export, quality, certification, process improvement, etc.). And lately he developed a concept “Agro Business Park”, the ultimate value chain in Suriname.
