MY PROFILE

As you can see my name is Ole Casthoej. I am from Denmark,  was born in 1937 and  consequently I have lived a long life that has offered me a world rich on events and experiences on all fronts. Having visited more than 40 countries and worked in 20+ I have been gifted with insights in various lifestyles, different religions, social structures and cultures,  all of them  contributing to my personal development and to whom I am today; a globetrotter with roots from a small but significant country, which carries a lot of weight on the international stage. Some would name me a cultural gypsy. I am not the only one from my family, who choose to spend a life outside of Denmark. Many of my uncles did so and my father lived 35 years in Germany but before settling down there he sailed all 7 seas. My daughters and their families choose for some years to follow my footsteps giving them and their children a deep insight in other lifestyles and cultures. My interests apart from business are classical music, religions, philosophy and writing.

On the business side I have gained a considerable amount of how to do international business based on actual education, sometimes the hard way and not based on lessons from professors, who in theory know a lot but having limited clue about the realities. I have thus today under my belt business experience from Europe, The Middle East and from many Asian Pacific countries. I moved from Singapore to Thailand in 1996 and have now lived here for close to 13 years being active in the consulting business services mainly focused on the Hotel and Service Industries and my wife has her own company exporting Thai products to Europe. On this blog I intent to write articles about how to do business in Thailand, about how to work with the Thais, general information about the country, the political situation and also include some remarks about tea monies and corruption, issues that are often misunderstood unless you are familiar with the Eastern cultural rules. If you are interested you may visit this website www.chaipongproducts.com if interested in Thai products or this site www.occo.asia if interested in business issues.

During my business career I have hold top positions as either CFO or CEO in large internationally oriented companies and I found that maybe one of the most important issues for top executives is to have a solid knowledge about the society in which his company is operating. The knowledge must comprise actual laws, traditions and cultural environment and focus on the expected development of same, since they have a heavy impact on the circumstances under which his business functions.

This is the reason that my blogs are divided into two groups; blogs telling about my daily life in Thailand, including a lot of private observations and then blogs about the Thai Business Environment. Without a solid knowledge about Thailand’s culture and traditions you cannot expect to do business here.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you find some of my “essays” useful.