Three years into the pandemic, Choson Exchange thrives with online programmes in North Korea
Last week, Andray wrote an opinion piece in Reuters that outlined why the stock market crash in China was the latest in a string of strains on North Korea's economy.
The first was the DPRK's ebola policy, which for nearly five months acted as an effective travel ban. This had clear effects on trade and tourism, as well as counteracted efforts by some agencies to improve perceptions of North Korea as an increasingly hospitable tourism and investment destination.
Recently, CE conducted a 2-day workshop with a dual purpose: firstly, to provide an introductory training program on micro and SME finance to 40-odd delegates; secondly, to assess the feasibility of establishing such a lending facility with the express purpose of supporting and growing small enterprises in the DPRK.
Last year, after a series of workshops on Special Economic Zone development, we realized that it might be more effective to pilot an extended consultation with one promising SEZ. After some exploration, we picked Unjong Park because of availability of infrastructure, stable management, and a commitment to innovation. Also, a commitment to only being 30 minutes drive from Pyongyang - it sits on the border of the capital and Pyongsong city.
Last week, Institutional Investor magazine published an interview with Geoffrey, with the least click-baity headline ever: Geoffrey See is Training North Koreans to Become Entrepreneurs. It is a thoughtful piece that begins by asking questions like "How do you explain concepts like transparency and corporate governance to the citizens of a famously secretive state?", then allows Geoffrey ample space to explain how we at CE think about some of these issues.
We've been busy packing in workshops since the end of the Ebola policy, running our Women in Business and Tech Entrepreneurship programs, as well as our Provincial Development Program. This has delayed publication of our annual report for 2014 slightly, but it is now available for your enjoyment here.
We're always pleased to find the availability and selection of our favorite beverages - coffee and beer - increasing in the DPRK. Sorry, did I say "always"? Because this new offering from the Rajin Beverage Company, "Triangle Beer" tasted like peanut shells and gasoline. It was probably the worst commercially produced bottle of beer I've ever had.
Here is one place to visit and three to skip next time you're in Yanji. Yanji, most travelers' gateway to Rason, in North Korea's far Northeast, is strange city. What other fourth tier Chinese city of less than 1 million people (equivalent to a 'city' of 50,000, if scaled to US relative importance) has its own international airport, world-class coffeeshops and at least 3 craft beer bars? Answer: none, probably.
Want to see the North Korean pavilion at the World Expo, but don’t want to make the trip to Milan? Here’s Choson Exchange’s review for you. North Korea’s flag flies prominently in the heart of Milan on a street paraded with the flags of participating countries. Depending on your point of view, its either the first flag on the street, or the very last.
The Wonsan Investment Seminar has gone ahead after a bit of springtime dithering. There were rumors of this last fall, then ebola "struck" and this compressed planning. In late March, the Wonsan folks couldn't even offer firm dates for a seminar "sometime near the end of May".
This left us to wonder (aloud): "Who would be able to attend an event that requires travel to North Korea with such short notice?"
The answer, it seems, is about 150 people.
About 150 people attending the Wosan Investment Seminar 2015년 원산-투자설명회 #DPRK #PaektuCulturalExchange #InvestDPRK pic.twitter.com/Jedkd8SiQH
— Michael (@mpspavor) May 25, 2015Micheal Spavor, a consultant who recently founded Paekdu Cultural Exchange, is on the trip and seems to be having a good time. Check out his twitter feed for the odd update.
We wanted to go and see how Wonsan's plans are shaping up, but everyone on the CE team already had travel commitments for end of May. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Rason Trade fair in 2013, to which we were invited with three weeks to spare.
One of the things that will have to change - people need more heads up for travel time.
That said, one of the takeaways we try to get our North Korean audiences to, um...take away is just how fast the business world moves these days - the expectation is that texts, emails, phone calls will all get near instant responses in today's wired world. (We're still saying 'wired', right?)
And now we're complaining that they're not going slow enough for us to plan. Oh well.