Dutch

A series of articles about some of the countries where I have worked, lived or in which I have a special interest in. A thirty year long business trip around the world - exciting but above all educational.

• Aruba & Bonaire, first oil, then tourism; what about the future? 

• Bangladesh, a tortured land of extremes with "a bright future behind it".

• East Africa, once an impressive trade block

• Ukraïne; the name means borderland for good reason

• Statia & Saba, a story of past trade winds and present headwinds

• In "Trade, not aid"  the political context of that work and how results are measured

• In "ValueMagics" our approach to bring companies to international markets.

It was a special journey.

In those 20 years, I have worked with enthusiastic entrepreneurs who were eager to do business across borders. It was an incredible experience and it taught me a lot about doing business in adverse conditions

Working with governments and private organizations was a different challenge. There were countries where we achieved little or nothing, such as Mozambique, Bangladesh and Honduras, but on the other hand there were solid results in India, Colombia and East- and South Africa.

A special experience was Caribbean Netherlands. It included working with the ministries in The Hague, where I found that speed and political intrigue keep pace with those of governments in developing countries.

I learned so much from other cultures and made a lot of friends, but there was no time for tourism: the first time I saw the Taj Mahal was years after I did my last project in India.