About SuriMarine

Suriname's opportunity should build Suriname's people.

We bring in international companies that share that view, and we help them succeed here.

Our story

In Suriname, trust comes before the contract.

When a good company looks at Suriname, it sees the opportunity clearly. What it doesn't see yet is that Suriname can't see it.

That part never makes it into the feasibility study. Here, work goes to people others already know. A strong record somewhere else gets you a meeting, not a contract. So companies do what they've always done. They send their best engineers. They fly in and out. They pick a local partner who looks solid from a distance. Months pass, costs climb, and back at head office the person who argued for Suriname starts to wonder whether they got it wrong.

Some push through. Many quietly go home. When they do, Suriname loses too: the jobs, the skills, and the local businesses that would have grown alongside them.

We've seen this from both sides of the table. One of us spent years taking companies into new countries and kept running into the same wall. The other spent years in Suriname watching capable firms arrive with confidence and leave without a contract. We met on one of those entries and realised we were describing the same problem.

So we built the thing we wished those companies had. A trusted partner who will tell you honestly what the opportunity is worth, put you in the right rooms, and find you a Surinamese partner who is real, not just a name on paper. And we stay on the ground when you fly home.

We've watched other countries grow the wrong way, with outside firms taking the work and local companies there only for show. Suriname can do better. The companies that last here build with Suriname, not around it. They win more, spend less, and are still here for the second contract.

Those are the companies we work for. If that sounds like you, let's talk.

Photo: Paramaribo from the airAerial view of Paramaribo with the cathedral and the bridge over the Suriname River

Who leads SuriMarine

Our senior management team.

Ricardo, Kevin and Laquisha lead SuriMarine. Between them they cover market entry, in-country operations, and local content and training.

  • Photo: Ricardo PadillaRicardo Padilla

    Ricardo Padilla

    Founder / Managing Member

    Ricardo has spent his career helping companies win work in places where nobody knew their name yet. He learned it the hard way: long trips, cold introductions, and partners who looked good on paper until they didn't. Along the way he worked out that most entries don't fail on the work itself. They fail on the months spent getting in the door. That's why he co-founded SuriMarine, so good companies spend that time winning work instead of waiting.

  • Photo: Kevin JulenKevin Julen

    Kevin Julen

    Founder / Country Manager

    Kevin has spent eight years running in-country logistics for offshore drilling campaigns in Suriname, working with Shell, Tullow, Petronas, Kosmos and Staatsolie. He's seen what happens when international companies get it right: local people hired, local firms growing, everyone better off. He's also seen what happens when they don't. That's why he co-founded SuriMarine. For our clients, it means a trusted partner on the ground.

  • Photo: Laquisha LontLaquisha Lont

    Laquisha Lont

    Head of Local Content and Training

    Laquisha builds Surinamese capacity. As founder of the consultancy L4 Inc. she has coached more than 50 Surinamese entrepreneurs, and she organised the country's largest oil and gas seminar for young professionals, with over 200 attendees. She knows what it takes for a local content plan to hold up: real suppliers, trained people, and reporting that stands up to audit. She is Board Secretary of VSB Young Management, has presented at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit (SEOGS), and in 2026 took part in the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. At SuriMarine she leads local content and training, from community baselines and supplier development to certified training programmes.

What we commit to

Good for your company. Good for Suriname.

  1. We work with companies committed to real local participation.
  2. Local partners are chosen for capability and given a fair stake.
  3. Every local content plan is measurable.
  4. We report openly to the client, the operator and any agency that asks.
  5. We help Surinamese businesses get ready.
  6. We are a Surinamese company, here to stay.

Talk to us

Either way, it starts with a conversation.

Looking at Suriname? Looking for the right international partner?