Management Korea Business Consultants Building Your Success

Roger Anthony BARRETT - Biography. 1st June 2005

Roger Barrett is the Managing Director and founder of Korea Business Consultants (KBC) a company totally focussed on the facilitation of successful business, trade and investment with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or N. Korea). The company started in 1998, initially as the Foreign Business Development Association (FBDA), which was a group of companies interested in helping each other by having a forum for lunches, meetings and sharing information.

A newsletter developed from that and KBC’s ‘DPRK Business News Bulletin’ continues as the only such periodical focused on providing business related news on the DPRKorea.

KBC aims to serve our customers with a full range of market-entry services, providing everything from information, through introductions and arranging missions and customised visits to Pyongyang, to a full range of investment protection measures and practical ways to maximise success.

Roger Barrett is also a Director (Deputy Managing Director), of Kumsan JV Company, which was formed in 1998 to develop a range of gold mining opportunities in the DPRK. This Pyongyang based and registered JV is 50% owned by the Hungsong Economic Group (HEG), a mining, manufacturing and trading group from Pyongyang, and 50% by a group of Singapore led investors using Australian mining plant and technology.

Currently much of the activity of KBC, and its extensive network of partners and connections, is coordinated from it’s Beijing office, where pre-arranged visas can be collected from the nearby DPRK embassy (there are regular flights to Pyongyang from Beijing).

Mr. Barrett has lived in Beijing for six years, and continuously in Asia for 14 years.

Previously Mr. Barrett worked for Hongkong Telecom / Cable & Wireless as Sales Director then Business Development Director. He made his first trip to Pyongyang in January 1994 for Hong Kong Telecom as a telecommunications industry representative to help plan the set up of the ‘Rajin-Sonbong Economic & Trade Zone’. After several visits to Pyongyang for Hongkong Telecom, he became familiar with Korean culture and regular visits and success on more projects since then, lead to the interest in setting up a business to help develop business between Korea Asia, Europe and the world.

Mr. Barrett lived 5 years in Hong Kong and 2 years in Singapore (working for Pacific Century, in their early stage of business development). He first worked in China in 1983, and managed the set up of Exhibitions and Trade fairs in China in the 1980’s, experience which enables him to compare the economic reforms and positive changes he sees taking place in the DPRK with what he experienced in China in the 1980’s and in Vietnam in the 1990’s and since.

Mr. Barrett is a Yorkshireman, aged 50, who enjoys developing business in emerging markets (has done project work in over 30 countries), and who loves sport (a member of the Seoul Survivors Rugby Club, and ran several marathons & half marathons including Pyongyang 2001) and travel (has visited 98 countries). He is still single.