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- How did you know about general trading companies?
- After graduation I worked in Europe for five years. Since New Zealand is an isolated island country, many New Zealanders go from college to spend several years working and traveling abroad We call it ‘Overseas Experience’. In my case, partly because my family is Irish, I worked in Ireland as well as in the U.K. and Sweden. I worked for several smaller international trading companies that exported foodstuffs and cut flowers. After returning to New Zealand I worked for a fruit juice producer and it is here that I first came to know about Japanese general trading companies as several were customers of the juice company. A few years later I then joined Sumitomo Corporation.
We held an informal home barbeque with Auckland office staff and a staff visited from Tokyo
- Please tell us about your current office.
- The Auckland Office currently has four staff members, including myself. I handle a wide range of areas including export of processed foods, the import of oil and gas casing, and the local project management of geothermal power generation plant construction projects. Each of these businesses requires different capabilities, and when someone on the staff is away on a business trip or has a day off, someone else has to cover his/her job at the office, so we need the flexibility of dealing with a wide variety of matters.
This is the sight of Auckland city from Mt Eden. It is one of 60 volcanoes in the whole metropolis!
- When do you feel challenged and rewarded in your work?
- Since all the work has to be shared and done by the small team of staff, duties assigned to each staff member change significantly over time. Industries that we deal with and business models change, and there are even times when the positions of seller and buyer are reversed. This allows us to constantly experience new changes and meet new people. Adapting ourselves to new things is challenging, but very exciting.
There are so many beautiful sight in New Zealand. If you think this photo is upside down, you've got it wrong! It is a lake reflection. So it looks upside down.
- What is your future goal?
- My immediate goal is to complete the current geothermal generation plant project as planned. This will be the second completed power plant project within the last four years. My medium term goal over the next three years is to continue local leadership in developing, negotiating and then project managing at least another two (and upto four) new power plant construction projects. I also want to realize all the current plans for the development of and investment in new businesses.
(*1) oil and gas casing: Encasement pipe to protect oil tubular and gas pipe from getting damaged
