'Fm fascinated by the
Chinese spirit of
ENTERPRISE...'
16
talking heads
WHAT'S NewS Issue 12 December 1996
Our regional general manager
for Greater China is not only
fascinated by the
entrepreneurial spirit of the
largest population in the world,
he is also intrigued by this
ancient culture. Following an
initial career in industry which
included a period in Taiwan for
Philips, he moved to banking
because 'bankers work in all
industries'. That move was
probably his first mid-life crisis
- although he was far from
middle-aged at the time. What's
NewS asks Sjouke Postma
about his second.
'You probably mean my
Harley-Davidson.' When
Sjouke Postma laughs his very
piercing blue eyes twinkle and
crinkle. The business suit set
off by one of now extensive
range of Rabobank ties is
fairly uniform. Maybe the only
hint of unconventionality is his
hair. He wears his
distinguished white locks
rather longer than a typical
banker, perhaps. But then
Postma isn't your typical
banker - especially when he
has to change from his leather
motor cycle kit into a suit for a
business meeting. Again, he
laughs heartily at the image.
'The importer told me that 75
percent of his buyers are men
between 45 and 50. That's why
I call the Dynawide Glide bike
my second mid-life crisis.'
Going back to his first, he says
that his time with Philips was a
real experience. 'I'd joined
Philips because when I finished
my MBA at Groningen
University I did what all
graduates did; wrote
application letters to all the big
companies - Shell, Unilever
and Philips, of course. I'd like
to teil you that I made a real
career choice for Philips, but
the reality is that they offered
the best salary. It was
something negligible, maybe
NLG 200 a year. But I was
married and already had kids,
so I took the highest offer.'
Postma's first job with Philips
was planning and logistics for
the coordination of production
plants and commercial outlets.
This ultimately led to a new
challenge - developing the
first-ever strategie plan for the
electronics giant. 'We'd just
finished the plan when I got a
call from one of the
international guys who said:
would you like to go to
Taiwan? I said: can I discuss it
with my wife? He said sure, so
I picked up his phone and
called Elly. "Would you like to
go to Taiwan?" I asked. "Of
course," she replied. "Where is
it?" You see, it was called
Formosa in those days.
Two assignments in Taiwan
gave the Postmas a taste for
the Far East. When Philips
brought him back to the
Netherlands, he worked in
Groningen once again. 'But I
think I'd already decided it
was time to move on. I spent a
year thinking about it and
finally came to the conclusion
that I wanted to work in a
bank.' Only problem, of
course, was that Postma was in
Sjouke Postma - our man in China
his mid-thirties and had no
banking experience. 'I started
looking around and saw a
piece in a financial newspaper
about Rabobank opening an
office in New York. The report
said that the bank was
planning more international
activities and I got to thinking
that if they went to the Far
East, they would need
someone with experience in
the region. I liked that idea.
But I needed banking
experience first.'
The solution came when he
was offered a job reorganizing
a local member bank.
'Reorganizing and
restructuring the organization
didn't require specific banking
experience, but it did mean I
could gain that experience
along the way. By this time,
the bank was ready to move to
the Far East in a strong way. I
wrote a letter to the
international department and a
few days later I was hired for
Hong Kong.' The rest, as the
say, is history - Sjouke Postma
was a prime mover behind the
development of the Hong
Kong operations into one of
the bank's strongest branches.
But the story doesn't end there.
'I had worked in Taiwan and
Hong Kong and had become
fascinated by the pure
entrepreneurship of the
Chinese, wherever they live.
The notion of developing
business in the PRC for the
bank truly appealed to me.'
But Postma wouldn't be Postma
if it was as straightforward as
that. 'I find I can identify with
the Chinese way of doing
business,' he says. 'But I'm also
intrigued by ancient cultures.'
More specifically, Postma is
intrigued by why they fall
apart. 'Whenever I'm in Beijing,
and that's quite often as I divide
my time between Hong Kong
and the mainland, I try to get to
the Palace Museum. What truly
fascinates me is how the
emperors managed to mobilize
a country of that size without
the kind of Communications we
have today. Just look at the (fl
Great Wall - it was built as a
protection, but it never kept
anyone out. And the terracotta
warriors. I mean just think
about how much these projects
must have cost - financially, in
human resources - and what
were they for? It never ceases to
amaze me.'
Postma makes no apology for a
lack of esthetic interest in the
treasures of ancient China. Tm
a commercial animal,' he says.
Tm truly interested in the
artifacts because they give you
some insight into how people
think and how they place value
on things. My study of this
culture, also the business and
commercial side, leads me to
believe that history will
continue to repeat itself here.
By that I mean that China has
rarely feit the need to admit
outside influences. In the past,
the only time the Chinese
allowed foreigners in was when
they needed new inspiration or
technology. I think they are
undergoing a period of need at
present. So it is important for
us to understand that if we are
to succeed here in China, we
have to be a Chinese enterprise.
That is why we're working so
hard in both Shanghai and
Beijing to build the bank as a
local operation. Than, if ChinM
closes here doors once again,
and I think that is likely, we
will be ideally placed to
continue growing our business
here. Time will teil.'
