Chin Tah is currently based in EDB's São Paulo Office as the Centre Director of EDB's first office in South America. Having to tackle the language barrier, learn a new culture and understand the operating and business environment in a relatively unfamiliar region of the world is no mean feat.

Read below to learn more about Chin Tah's thoughts on his current posting in EDB

Of Helicopter Rides and First Hand Senior Management Insights

It is a bit of a tired cliché but the time has really flown during my time at EDB. My four years have taken me many places, including the United States, Japan, India, and most recently to Latin America. The EDB office is in São Paulo, the industrial and commercial heart of Brazil, where I have been based for the past year.

The São Paulo Centre, EDB's newest global office, is intended to tap on the strong economic growth in South America. When I was tasked to establish a centre in a new city, armed only with a seven-week crash-course in Portuguese, I knew that the experience would be… interesting. There were certainly some teething issues - the telephone company took four months to set up my office telephone, and only after first installing the line in the upstairs neighbour's office! And the language barrier was, and still remains, daunting.

However, the people have been warm, helpful and remarkably patient as I go about the business of engaging companies about opportunities in Singapore, and how we can help them with their global business ambitions. While these are still very early days, I am encouraged by the strong interest displayed by some of Brazil's leading companies to internationalise and tap into burgeoning Asian markets.

I recently met with one of the largest banks in Brazil and the world. Their top management Executives shared their views on where the country was going and how this would affect the globalisation of Brazilian enterprises. As we took off in the helicopter they had chartered for us, I could hardly get over my good fortune to have heard first-hand the high-level perspectives of such a financial and business bellwether. The chopper ride was just the icing on the cake. The whole experience - foi uma beleza. It was beautiful.

Of course, not every day is Sunday or get-to-sit-in-a-helicopter day. There are always challenges around the corner, and work that remains to be done. This pushes me, and everyone in the EDB team, to work hard, smart and oftentimes to get really creative. It is this sense of there is more we can do, interspersed with the rare nirvanic moment, that fires my imagination and keeps me coming into work every day.