Last October 14th a nice article appeared in the newspaper "Dagblad van het Noorden " about Ronald van der Molen. With the title: Former inhabitant from Groningen detected/discovers Surinam as a low-wage country, by Bouke Nielsen.

Groningen/Paramaribo A niche in the market: Suriname as a Dutch speaking low-wage country. Former inhabitant of Groningen Ronald van der Molen has discovered this via/through his Surinamese wife. Van der Molen now resides in Surinam where he employs eight people who test new software for companies.

He did this earlier from Amersfoort (the Netherlands) where he started Misabi Testmanagement (pronounced Misabbi, Surinamese for “I know” or “my vision”).
I previously worked for Sogeti, where I was also involved with test management.
When Ronald met his wife he came up with the idea of starting something in Suriname.
With the choice of the name (Misabi) I kept in mind to go to Surinam one day, Ronald says
He started out as a freelancer after his Sogeti period from his home base Amersfoort, Ronald then experienced that there was a high demand for test professionals,
Ronald says although there was a high demand for test professionals the costs of testing were very expensive for companies.
Testing software can cost more than ten thousands of euros a month.
Due to this cause many ICT project are being outsourced and many test activities are being moved to India.
This is a great concept, but the language barrier requires translation of many project items to English .
During his first trip to Surinam Ronald noticed that the Dutch language is being spoken fluently in Suriname, it is with an accent, but nevertheless fluently.
Labor cost are also a lot lower in Suriname as in the Netherlands, due to these two factors Ronald took the logical decision to start Misabi Testmanagement in Surinam.
He now has eight employees who have been trained earlier this year.
Whether you have adequate staff in Surinam? Well let's put it this way they don't have101 educations at one school, they do have a higher education and a university available in Surinam.
What I look for in a employee is a certain analytical ability, which is fully present.
Ronald van der Molen is as far as he is aware of the only person who offers test management services in Suriname.
He has no trouble getting staff, Ronald says that even ICT professionals from Suriname who also wanted to start an own company in Surinam offer these services to Misabi Testmanagement
In Suriname Ronald had to get use to the way of labor; however his Surinam employees also had to get use to the way he worked.
Surinam companies are being directed differently than Dutch companies.
A Surinam manager is different then a manager from the Netherlands. There is a strong hierarchy and I think the manager does not like contradicts and he thinks he is always right. Ronald often tells his employees that that is not the way he want to lead this company. I am not a Surinam boss neither is this a Surinam company, it only has a Surinam name. I had to get use to them as they had to get use to me.

Writhen by: Bouke     Nielsen

Translated by: Misabi Testmanagement