'Whatever you need,
Raibo Can Do...'
16
talking heads
WHAT'S NewS Issue 1 January 1997
They pulled off what foreign banks in Brazil believed
was impossible - the Raibo Can Do team got us a
banking licence against all the odds and it took a
presidential decree to do it. But with a refreshing lack
of false modesty, Teun (or Tony, depending where you
live) de Boon says: we wanted it, so we went for it. A
remark that just about sums up the entrepreneur
turned banker on the spot in Sao Paulo.
Talking to Teun de Boon
exclusively about himself isn't
a particularly easy assignment.
Although he's certainly an easy
conversationalist, his talk
always seems to revert back to
his staff and the business of
banking in Brazil, even when
he's talking social activities.
He's justifiably proud of the
Can Do concept introduced
back when Sao Paulo was no
more than a rep office, the
people who make it work, and
their plans for the future -
which are as ambitious as ever.
So the 64-million-dollar
question can only be: is
everything you do work-
related. 'Absolutely not,' he
says emphatically, 'though
when your work is also your
hobby, then it's often difficult
to separate the two. But 1
suppose you'd be right in
thinking that much of Tineke
and I's social life does have a
work element. When you're
operating in a country like
Brazil, you often tend to
socialize with people you also
do business with.'
Both Tineke - his high-school
sweetheart and wife for more
than 30 years - and Teun have
a thing about Brazil. 'They say
anyone who has lived there for
longer than three years always
comes back,' he says. 'We were
here first in the late 1960s and
when the opportunity arose to
return, we jumped at the
chance. What appeals is that
this is a country with
unparalleled scope for anyone
with an entrepreneurial
mindset. I've worked in
Europe for long periods, but
there you work your head off
to avoid often inevitable
rationalizations. Here we're
tackling the problems of
almost unlimited growth.
You're operating in a
pioneering set of
circumstances. And if you
happen to a pioneering,
entrepreneurial type of person,
then you flourish in that
environment.'
De Boon is almost a text-book
example of an entrepreneur.
The eldest of seven children,
his father made it clear after
high school that a university
education was beyond the
family's means. 'So we
emigrated,' De Boon says. 'I'd
spent part of my military
service in the US and
discovered you could combine
work with study. Tineke and I
got married and headed west.'
But the emigration was short-
li ved. 'They were drafting
people like me for Vietnam,' he
says, 'so we turned round and
came home.' His subsequent
career in food and agribusiness
was more of a coincidence
than a conscious choice. 'I was
offered a great job in Germany,
and that was the start.' But the
idea of finishing his MBA and
going for a doctorate never left
him. 'We returned to the States
and by doing odd jobs,
including cleaning pools, and
later teaching while Tineke
worked as a secretary, we
made ends meet.' In 1974,
after having finished his
doctorate, the family then
moved to Portugal. 'And they
immediately had a revolution.
Nothing to do with our
arrival, of course,' he quips.
Later came the Netherlands,
and again the US - for the
third time. Then came Brazil.
'We loved it there, but at some
point we had to make a
decision. Our girls, Diona and
Anja, were at an age where
education becomes crucial.
The question was: Dad's career
or the girls' education. So we
moved back to Holland and I
joined Cebeco on the
Teun de Boon: 'We have to be hunters instead of fishermen'.
international side.' He claims
the reason the bank dÊ
approached him was 'because 1^
was their worst critic'. It is not
hard to believe. Outspoken
and direct, Teun de Boon pulls
no punches. 'As a cliënt, I had
very specific needs. At that
time, back in 1988, banks - all
banks - were still very static.
Generally speaking, bankers
were not trained or educated
to be entrepreneurs. It's getting
better, but if you look at senior
management in just about all
banks, they tend to have
grown up in that static
environment. Conservative -
rather like fishermen waiting
for a catch. We're certainly
trying to be more competitive
and proactive, to respond to
clients in a way that
corresponds to the reality of
the market. That's why we set
up the Can Do concept. We're
hunters, not fishermen.' See
how easy it is to end up talking
shop with Teun de Boon?
Yet if you dig a bit deeper,
there is very private side to
him that has little to do with
the time he spends playing
bridge ('it helps concentrate
the mind'), tennis, jogging and
reading. Although he says one
of the reasons he wanted to
leave the Netherlands in the
late 1970s was 'the socialistic
dominance in every area of
life', he and his wife are
committed to private social
work in the favellas, the
cardboard cities within Brazil's
massive cities. 'You should talk
to Tineke about that,' he says,
almost embarrassed, if that is
an adjective you can imagine
applying to him, 'she's the one
who does most in that area.'
(This writer rarely injects a
personal note into this series,
but I know they are involved
in this work because I saw it at
first hand while in Brazil - it is
not something they mention
voluntarily.) But clearly, while
Teun de Boon may thrive
personally in the challenging
environment that is Brazil, he
is equally aware of the other
side to this rapidly expanding
economy. 'That's all the more
reason to help it grow.'
