Text and image Euritha Tjan A Way
PARAMARIBO — Staatsolie no longer suffers from brain drain, at least not from operators who leave for the Netherlands. This is what director Annand Jagesar says in response to questions from the True Time. “There was a company in the Netherlands that had plans to produce hydrogen from green energy and we have a hydrogen factory in Suriname. So all our trained executives were aggressively recruited by this company to work in the Netherlands.”
Jagesar is referring to the company Tata Steel, a major steel producer in the Netherlands. In 2023, this company took the initiative to switch to the ‘Direct Reduced Iron’ technology (DRI), which runs on gas and in a later phase also on hydrogen, under pressure from the new environmental standards for steel production.
“People now realize that working and living in the Netherlands can be disappointing”
The first step towards green steel was the Heracless-Green Steel project. This project had to be completed before 2030. A combination of DRI technology with electric pig iron furnaces would produce gas-based steel to replace steel production in traditional coal-based blast furnaces. “That company is now less aggressive, because the plan has been delayed,” reports Jagesar.
That appears to be correct, because Tata Steel’s plans to start this project have been postponed to early 2027 and perhaps even later. This would have consequences for the migration of crucial personnel to the Netherlands. “We are different in Suriname. While we would do our best to keep the people, the Netherlands is tough. People now realize that working and living in the Netherlands can be disappointing. It seems as if you earn twice as much, but a small rental house there already costs a thousand euros per month, so the money is quickly spent again,” says Jagesar. “Many of the people who have left therefore want to return and we are happy to welcome them with open arms.”
More security
Jagesar emphasizes that it is not just the prospects of working at Tata Steel and other companies that make people leave. “Many of them had and have young children and the state of education as well as health care worried them. People were looking for more security.”
Staatsolie, together with more than fifteen other leading companies such as Fernandes, Baitali, Kersten and Assuria, participated in the national career fair in the Netherlands in May. The companies are setting up their own ‘Working in Suriname’ pavilion in the ‘Working in the Caribbean’ section. The companies were mainly looking for diaspora interested in working in Suriname, but others were also welcome.
