It all began in 1996 with mother Yvonne van Gom developing recipes in her kitchen. It was a conscious intent of her son Kenneth, then an employee at Surinam Airways, to start a business. “Since that time I used to dream of owning a company, especially after I had witnessed the potential of the export of tropical foodstuff through Surinam Airways. We started a tiny family-owned business in a small shed of 3 x 4 meters, set up as a production facility. Virtually everything was done in that space. Cooking and production of the sauces, manual filling and labeling of bottles, literally everything”, Kenneth says.

It was only natural that our product needed a name. In a unique and creative way we chose the first letters of the first three grandchildren of the family, who were toddlers at that time. So Sishado is derived from the names: Sinear, Shaquille and Donovan van Gom (Sishado).

The first years of Sishado were known as hard times in Suriname due to a scarcity of foreign currency, among other things. However the family persevered. In 1997 there was a modest launch (soft launch) of the sauce among family, acquaintances, friends and a small group of supermarkets who displayed their interest in the product. In 1998 the company registered with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In that same year a new corporate identity concept and a new label were introduced. The official introduction or the launch of Sishado sauces was shortly thereafter at the “Women Fair”.

Market research and exploration of expansion opportunities have been a constant challenge. The company first expanded with the construction of a storage space of 20 square meters. A larger production facility of 100 square meters, an office space and a storage facility of 50 square meters were later realized.