I was given a three month contract by the High Commissioner to coordinate the staff and contractors to try and finish – which we did.  Then on the 8 June 1992, we had the official opening the Deputy Prime Minister, Don McKinnon came up with a NZ delegation to officially open the High Commission, and I was given the task to help make this happen.

Unfortunately, the delegation did not heed our advice regarding eating seafood in June (there is an Indian saying that one should never eat fish in a month with an ‘r’ in it), and nearly everyone ate prawns that were served at the official banquet at the President’s reception.  About 80% of the delegation suffered food poisoning, making for some long trips in the plane back to NZ.

Attached is an article from a supplement in the Economic Times newspaper that was prepared for the event:

FITEC, were advertising for a newly created position of COO, and I found myself back in the forestry sector, albeit focussing on the training side of the industry.  It didn’t take me long to see that the job was essentially a turn around position (the organisation was spending more than it was earning) and we set about reducing costs and trying to develop new lines of revenue.  After three years the organisation returned to profitability, but bigger structural changes in the ITO sector driven by the Government caught up with it, and a timid board missed the opportunity to consolidate through acquisition.

Attached is a press release in the FITEC magazine shortly after my appointment:

Although barely out of start-up mode (and with only 1600 subscribers) I could see the potential for the business.  We struck up an arrangement with the CEO of Local Government Online (the amazing Jim Higgins – a true gentleman) and on the basis of a handshake and a revenue splitting deal, launched LG Tenders.

The New Plymouth District Council kindly offered to trial our new service (essentially a SaaS model with Councils able to post and manage their own tenders) for three months, but after six weeks rang to tell us that the trial was over and they were keeping the electronic tendering site.  I must mention Anthony Wilson, The General Manager of Community Assets – a true visionary (I am not sure New Plymouth ever truly appreciated how good he was), who was prepared to give us a go and then champion us to his colleagues in other Councils.

All this was made possible by the best software programmer I have ever encountered Stephen Pearson (aka Sippy).  Essentially I would meet with a Council, find out what functionality they wanted, and Sippy would have it built two days later.

Within a year we had doubled our subscriber numbers and had 20 Councils using the software.  Within 3 years we had 30,000 subscribers and 80% of the Councils in NZ and had launched in Australia.  Four years after that we sold to Fairfax we had 120,000 subscribers.

Attached is a press clipping from the early days in 2004.

Attached is a link for one of the press announcements when we sold the business:

http://www.odt.co.nz/140533/fairfax-takes-over-nz-tenders-business

I started as a Senior Consultant, moved on to become a Principal responsible for Key Clients, and eventually was made Regional Head and President of Asia Pacific.

Attached is a magazine article written in 1998 around the time of the Asian Crisis – a surprisingly accurate prediction of what was to come.

Attached is the press release announcing the new board.

About 9 months into the posting, the following article appeared in the Times of India.  Despite the uncanny likeness, the person in the photo was in fact an Israeli diplomat (and maybe a possible Mossad agent).  You have to admire the Israeli’s  – they had clearly prepared their cover story, and unfortunately I was it.

My first multi million dollar aid project and perhaps the most demanding project I ever managed (talk about deep end).

The aim of the project was to plant 14,000 ha of denuded land in a small industrial plantation.  As well as the obvious environmental benefits, the project was meant to create a sustainable wood resource to generate a wood processing industry, and provide significant employment opportunities to the locals.

Unfortunately, on the one side we had to deal with corrupt NRDC government officials who wanted to control the funds and take ownership of all the vehicles, and corrupt local politicians who organised squatters to try and undertake land grabs every time we opened up a road, and on the other, we found that the province we were planting was the rest and recreation area for the Communist insurgents, who were worried that our roads would enable the military to access and attack them.  The Communists whipped up support from NZ NGOs using native Lumad customary land as a smokescreen, and applied pressure on the NZ government to stop the project.

Fortunately, the project hung together due to tight cooperation between Warren Ellis and later Peter Clark as Project Managers for FORENCO, together with Warren Searell at the Embassy and myself in Wellington.

A TV documentary was produced named Babes in the Woods – which in retrospect despite our good intentions pretty aptly summed up the situation.

However, the fact that we planted the best part of 14,000 ha in forest on denuded hills made all the tough times worthwhile.

Clippings from the Dominion Sept 1991

Article in the Daily News Feb 1985 on awarding of a Massey Scholarship to myself and John.

Interview by my old mate Barry Easton from the Daily News when back in NZ on holiday from India in December 1993

I was fortunate to be introduced to John Gazzard, Taranaki’s leading farm consultant, who offered me to join his practice.

Attached is a small advert that appeared in the Daily News in March 1985, that launched the start of my career.