He's everybody's business

With his finger in so many pies, it's hard to define what jean-michel floc'h does-but he's good at it

Jean-Michel Floc'h worked his way through the sea of suits at the Gabonese embassy event, pausing briefly now and then to pump the hand of a diplomat or to share a quiet word with a businessman. Relentless and methodical, he seemed to insinuate himself into conversations, sharing pleasantries and exchanging business cards, never staying more than a few minutes before moving on.

While others sought out a glass of wine, a friend to chat with or a bite to eat, Floc'h combed for opportunities, for entry points into new networks, for strands of casually dropped information that he can pull into the complex web of commercial interests he has built.

Floc'h, in his own words, is "a business enthusiast". In many ways, he's always working. He's lived in more than 14 countries, driven not so much by wanderlust, but by the thrill of chasing the local currency.

Ask him for a story about himself and he will begin rattling off details of lucrative mining ventures in Africa, or the push by Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises into Singapore, or the merits of investing in aged care facilities in several Chinese provinces.

The 65-year-old is not obfuscating. He is simply all business.

So when Floc'h talks about his time living and working in China over the past decade, the conversation reads less like a personal history, and more like a how-to guide for his unique style of doing business in the world's second-largest economy.

A Madagascar-born French citizen who grew up in central Africa and who now also holds an Australian passport, Floc'h's business in China is somehow convoluted but simple.

In practice, his business is a mish-mash of interests almost unbelievable in range and variety, but he says the common thread of what he does is knowing what people and companies want, finding it and delivering it to them.

Acquiring helicopters and unmanned aerial drones for use in crop spraying, sourcing electric-powered sports cars, buying up nanotechnology and gold mines, securing funding for resource projects, marketing sports tourism and finding investors for a huge network of aged care facilities are all on his current "to do" list.

Adam Dunnett, the secretary general of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, , says Floc'h's business covers an "amazing" number of areas.

"Jean-Michel is a rare commodity, and few people know rare commodities in China like Jean-Michel does," Dunnett says. "He frequently has interesting projects for investment that cover everything from chicken coops to yachts to real estate and mining. I know few people who are as connected and involved in the business community. Everyone knows Jean-Michel in Beijing."

Floc'h won't reveal who his clients are, opting instead to keep the Chinese board members and billionaires well away from the spotlight. But when it comes to the mechanics of doing business in China, and the reason why he has his fingers in so many pies, he's willing to share his hard-won experience.

"People ask me why I don't focus," says Floc'h. "China is the supermarket of the business world. If you focus too much, you run into problems and you close your business in one or two years."

Floc'h's mercurial business style arguably stems from a childhood growing up in Africa and later in French Polynesia. His father, the governor of what were then several French colonies on the continent, had a number of different postings. Floc'h, often the only student of European descent in each new classroom of each new country, learned the art of adapting. Change became a way of life.

He studied law and economics in France, international business and trade at Cambridge University in England, and went on to work as a banker; a career that saw him rise to seniority at BNP Paribas and Suez Group over 26 years.

The work took him to several Southeast Asian countries, but it was love as much as business that brought him to China. Having left the big banking institutions to strike out on his own, Floc'h was in Australia when he met a Chinese business student who would become his wife and the mother of two of his children.

"We met and married in Australia," he says, "I decided to move here to China."

From the very beginning, Floc'h said he realized the Chinese had already built the road to success in China. He just had to follow it.

"I do business like the Chinese do business. The Chinese say they are flexible like water. I am like a fish in the water."

His pitch is that he uses his experience in corporate banking, private investment, business development, and marketing to facilitate entry and investment into the Chinese market, and conversely, to help Chinese businesses invest abroad in a diverse range of areas through partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to running his own investment and advisory firm, he is a senior partner at Higgs Capital asset management company, and the head of Asia investments for Ottoman Group, an international wealth, assets and investment management organization.

In short, Floc'h says, it all comes back to giving people what they desire. So what does he think the Chinese want?

"You need something that performs following the government's five-year plan (2011-15), and the strategy they have for global acquisition. The tendency now is to acquire a company in America or Europe or Australia, a company that is already global, so suddenly the State-owned company becomes international by acquiring that company."

Many of his Chinese clients are also now interested in acquiring startups producing "next level" technology and products, such as carbon fiber, helicopters and drones.

In his experience, he says, the Chinese look for brand and expertise in foreign investments, with a view to moving at least part of the manufacturing process to China.

"They love to keep the brand, the product from a western country," Floc'h says. "Then they can bring that product back to China with its years of experience."

He cites one of his current projects, sourcing and acquiring a prestigious European sports car brand for a consortium of five Chinese investors, as an example.

"People in China want to have this brand from Europe, the expertise of the design, but with parts of it manufactured in China."

Floc'h says he cannot reveal who he is dealing with. Discretion and solid relationships are paramount when doing business in China.

"People always ask me to show them the billionaires," he says. "They are always very discreet. They run their business like a family business. They don't want to reveal their fortune. You need to become their mate to work with them."

Jay Liu, president of flat-pack housing franchise Metal China, says he has known Floc'h for about six years. He struggles to define the businessman.

"I think he's a liaison to help people do marketing," Liu says. "This is what I know. He developed good international clients for me. I think he's a very, very hardworking guy."

Floc'h, who turned 18 in Africa when the continent itself was coming of age, witnessed the transformation of many nations from colony to republic. It was sadly, he says, often accompanied by bloodshed and war.

Now, acting for Chinese clients, he often finds himself in Africa again, and the change he sees as a result of Chinese investment is a positive thing.

Floc'h may be all business, but when he talks about the development of Africa, there's a momentary glimpse of a heart on the sleeve of his designer suit.

"I consider Africans my friends, my brothers. I grew up with them. I went to school with them; we had a bond and friendship. The power and energy that I have comes from my African education, from rowing boats on the Congo river."

josephcatanzaro@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/11/2013 page29)