Consulting

I’ve provided consulting services since 2004, in areas ranging from tourism and NGO branding to political risk, due diligence and corporate investigations. Through research and writing, I provide lucid and actionable solutions.

Working in a freelance and contract capacity, I’ve performed these projects for boutique and mid-sized UK and EU consultancies, as well as international development institutions. Although standard industry practices require confidentiality in terms of clients and projects in the vast majority of cases, the below (very general) description of some examples of these projects will help.

Example 1: A Tentative Acquisition in the East of Europe

-An international firm, considering the acquisition of a large metals company in an Eastern European country, hires a boutique consulting firm to perform Due Diligence on two major businessmen involved in the target company. Sub-contracted to look into the matter, I not only resolved the reputational issues in question, but also investigated additional questions that emerged from one of the individuals (previously unknown to the client) influence in the national strategic transport network. My final report  helped the prospective investors make their decision.

Example 2: Highlighting the Work of a UN Agency for a Marginalized Balkan Community

-A UN aide agency hired me to help conduct interviews and take photographs for internal agency publications, to highlight their efforts nationally to assist the country’s marginalized Roma community. This effort, which involved visiting different settlements around the country and speaking with community members, successfully highlighted the steps that the UN agency was taking with its national program, while also spreading awareness about the hardships faced by the community at the time. The project thus elicited a favorable result for both the UN agency’s best-practices and fundraising pursuits, while also raising awareness about a generally under-reported human-rights issue.

Example 3: The Industry-Environment Connection

-A significant EU consulting firm hired me to explore the possible connections between environmental protests over Eastern European mining operations, with an eye to both network mapping and strategic analysis of different scenarios valuable to the investor. These included investigating the potential for surreptitious interference from commercial rivals, local political/business rivals, and even the state interests of international powers. The successful completion of the project gave the client an enhanced understanding, both of the local realities affecting its investment risk and the likelihood of future scenarios.

Example 4: Explicating a National Security Architecture

-A major UK security specialist consultancy tasked me with conducting detailed research, based on open sources and expert interviews, to compile a private report on the national security council of a major European NATO power. Along with the history and description of the NSC over time and its various structures, particular attention was requested to be given to the leadership executives of the relevant NSC and their relationship to the national leadership. In this successful consulting project, I was able to deliver on short notice a highly unique, detailed and otherwise unavailable report on a very important, but little-known security structure.

Examples 5 and 6: Banking on Exclusive Information

-In the first example, a major global financial firm wishing to acquire an Eastern European bank approached an established a British consulting firm, to conduct due diligence concerning alleged corrupt practices, unclear foreign influence, and key officers. In the second, similar example, another UK consultancy was approached to look into specific leadership issues at a regional bank chain. In both cases, I provided exclusive insights through local investigation, records checks and interviews with experts in the international and regional financial sector. My tailored reports helped the relevant clients to make more informed investment decisions and mitigate risk.

Example 7: Geopolitical Risk Assessment

-A boutique EU consultancy hired me to investigate political risk factors and general security scenarios for a specific Balkan country. In the investigation, which was carried out using a combination of open-sources research, interviews with informed officials and diplomats, and my own contextual knowledge, requested risk scenarios were analyzed; these included potential Russian and Chinese influence in the target country, the potential for inter-ethnic violence, migration pressures, organized crime and corruption risks, and diplomatic outcomes. The comprehensive report allowed the client to acquire a more nuanced view of the national security situation and likely future political and diplomatic outcomes.

Example 8: Putting a Country on the Digital Map

-Working at the request of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), I provided editorial and creative consulting services to complement the efforts of a team of digital contractors, with the common purpose of creating the very first national tourism portal of Republic of Macedonia (ExploringMacedonia.com). In this effort, I was responsible for creating the initial structure of content, researching and writing informative texts about the history, culture and touristic destinations of the country, all in a manner that would make a relatively unknown Balkan state recovering from a recent war seem appealing, safe and desirable for foreign travelers- all at a time of immense change in the early Internet. The result of the project was an enduring website that remains today under administration of a local IT leader in cooperation with the relevant promotional authorities.

Example 9: Road-testing Branded Luggage for LP

-In what must’ve been the easiest and most fun kind of consulting I can recall, I road-tested several types of suitcases ans new seasonal bags for Lonely Planet, at a time when the travel publisher was thinking of branching out into branded apparel. the luggage (which I still have) turned out to be durable, cleverly-designed and strong.