by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
When Abubakar Adam Ibrahim was 18 years old, he got into a memorable spat with his older brother, who insisted Ibrahim enter a BBC contest for aspiring playwrights. But the young, hesitant writer refused. “When I said ‘no’ to the contest, he stopped talking to...
by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
When Somini Sengupta was eight years old in 1975, her parents decided to emigrate from their Calcutta home for an uncertain future in a new world. She remembers an odd detail: Her mother left behind some green dessert custard cups and a stack of saris. “I think...
by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
When Basil El Baz graduated from Harvard University in 1997, he seemingly had it made. The son of a prominent diplomat in Egypt, he was in prime position to slip into an investment banking job in New York or London, or perhaps go to law school before returning...
by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
If the consulting world had a hall of fame, Kito de Boer would occupy a central place. Bringing McKinsey to India in 1992, when the country was on the cusp of a nationwide economic transformation, he helped build a thriving practice that today is one of the...
by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
Al Ain is not the sort of place you would associate with a high-tech manufacturing revolution, but something akin to that is taking place in the modestly-sized Emirati city best known for its lush greenery and date palm oases. Tucked away in an aerospace...
by Afshin Molavi | Dec 5, 2018 | Interviews
It was 1992 when Gideon Rachman got what he calls his first “proper job as a foreign correspondent”, after The Economist sent him to Bangkok to cover Asia. The timing was good: Asia was rising. China had unshackled its economy more than a decade earlier,...
