Bert van Hijfte

Bert van Hijfte studied Business Administration at Nyenrode Business University and Politics at the University of Amsterdam. Both studies proved to be very useful in his journalistic career. He wrote articles for national Dutch newspapers and magazines and made programme's for national public broadcasters VPRO and NOS.

Van Hijfte had been in Asia several times, but a visit to India in the mid-eighties of the last centuryt brought about a fascination that has never left him since. Many visits followed. He wrote a number of articles about this extremely varied and diverse country. In the late nineties van Hijfte realised he had to exploit his knowledge and experience. He started C Consultancy to advise the government and the corporate world on Asia's possibilities and impossibilities and those of India in particular. Since economic reforms are accelerating and papers have become increasingly enthousiastic about chances in India, many Dutch companies realise they cannot stay behind. India, together with China, is the fastest growing economy in the world with a well-educated, internationally orientated middle-class and an enormous market. But like China, India needs a special approach.

Except coaching managers how to do business in India, in a general sense and more specifically in the field of cross-cultural communication and management, van Hijfte organises workshops and training sessons and speaks at conferences about Asia and India and their fast changing relationship with Europe in a globalising and multicultural world. Van Hijfte combines his practical experience with profound knowledge. Currently he is writing a book about India.