MEETING EXPATS

The internet connection was down, so I FINALLY got a chance to post. This past Friday, Fraser Place (the place I call my home away from home) decided to host a private happy hour meet and greet for some of the older residents to meet some of the newer people in the building. My first reaction was a bit unnerving. It's definitely not in my comfort zone to step into a room full of strangers and try and mingle - particulary when majority of them are middle aged. I knew I had to do it, and surprisingly, it turned out quite well.

The biggest difference in putting me at ease was made by the hosts of the event. They actively scanned for folks who had recently entered the room, and then engaged them in conversation. After figuring out what their interests were, they introduced them to residents who shared like interests. It was only after the fact that I realized they did this, and when I made that realization, I was surprised at how sophisticated it worked out. The thing this, I don't think they sat around before the event and discussed how they were going to go about creating a warm and inviting environment, rather I truly think it was just a byproduct of their cultural upbringing. I think the indian culture has some of this too. I’ve been to meet and greet functions (recruiting events, etc) where this is simply not the case and you’re left to fend for yourself, or form in clicks with people who most closely resemble you. Had I done that, I would have missed out on a lot!

The other thing that made this interesting is that majority of the residents had some connection to a NGO – two of the people marketing the event and the bistro it was held at were in their marketing professions only part time. The rest of their time was occupied by working with NGOs. It’s good to see the level of penetration and awareness that important causes are getting here.

Here are some of the personalities I met:

I met an investor who consistently outperformed the S&P for the last 15 years or so (this year he is up 39%). I informally quizzed him to see if his claim was bullshit. My assessment is that it is legit. Incidentally, he challenged my financial model and left me with some questions I couldn’t readily answer – hate the feeling of being undermined. For those savvy investors out there, he has 40% of his net worth in cash at the moment because he speculates the market is going down. I think about half of the mainsteam financial media is waiting for some correction, so this should not be earth shattering news. But, I digress...

I also met a miner from Australia. Being part of the Pacific Rim, The Philippines are rich in not only natural resources (in this case, they are exploring a site for coal and gold) but also have a tremendous biodiversity. This is of course in large part due to a violent history with the earth's crust (volcaono's in particular). This was by far the most interesting person I met in the Philippines so far (or perhaps all year). It was good to learn about the challenges they are facing with the local population – a considerable number of households (in the tens of thousands) currently occupy the site they are proposing to mine. The mining company is currently in talks with the government and environmental agencies to ensure that all the environmental considerations are understood before mining. This takes almost two years, which was his role to oversee. The local population also had some recent bad experiences with irresponsible mining companies (not this one) dumping toxic waste and polluting rivers beyond repair. The dynamics between unsettling people (willingly… they all will eventually accept the money), the environmental impact, and the idea of ownership (will the profits flow overseas?) makes it a pretty complicated situation. Incidentally, he is a sailor as well, and his stories re-affirmed my desire to cash in my “celebrating performance” points for sailing classes.

Lastly, there were a couple of health care professionals who were working with either the World Health Organization, or the CDC (both world authorities in health). Their role there was working with the Philippines Government to further their health objectives, part of which was training.

In all these cases, majority of the people at the happy hour have been living elsewhere for a number of years, they all excel in their professions, and they all are middle to executive management. Here’s the most interesting part: albeit long term, all of them occupied roles where they are training local Filipino people to give them the skills to continue the work after they leave. This last point is the most important and bears repeating: their work isn’t merely a means to an end, but rather a transfer of skills that creates value that is sustainable.

All in all, the happy hour lasted four and a half, and was a fun night!