Rudie Chin Jen Sem graduated in Tropical Plant Agronomy from Wageningen University in 1989. He subsequently served as Head of Agricultural Affairs at Landbouw Maatschappij Patamacca and as business manager at Landbouw Maatschappij Phedra.

Since 1992, he has been a director and shareholder of Surinam Plastics Manufacturing N.V., a market leader in flexible packaging in Suriname.

From 2000 to 2015, he was involved in the supervision of Surland N.V., the restart of SBBS (Foundation for the Preservation of the Banana Sector in Suriname), and the privatization of FAI N.V. (Food and Agriculture Industries).