In the first half of the 1990’s, over 200 Eastern European managers participated in a management program in Denmark – the Visiting Managers Programme (VMP). The programme was established by Erhvervsfremmestyrelsen (National Agency of Industry & Trade Denmark) and carried out by PA Consulting Group under my management. In October 2003 I met up with three of the VMP participants in Bulgaria – via old contact lists (I became detective in order to reconnect with them, however through the Internet and emails I finally succeeded in making contact). During our meetings I realised that they also lost contact with their VMP team members from other countries – and similarly they had none or a little knowledge of the other team members outside their own team i.e. one out of nine teams. We jointly devised the idea of re-creating the network, this could be easily managed through the creation of an email network (assuming that today, most members would have Internet access).
I am currently sending out a circular to the 20 or so email addresses that I possess, asking for it to be forwarded to other VMP members whom they may still be in contact with – hoping for a chain reaction to take effect.
Everyone is asked to send me their contact details and CV in a set format (including their story to date). As details are received they will be published on the site, for everyone to access and possibly seek to renew contact.
It is my hope that both VMP members and their Danish host companies (who in most cases are still working together), will benefit from this exposure to others in the network – not least in the light of today’s situation where the old Eastern European countries are moving closer to membership status within the EU. A multi-international network becomes a good source to draw from – for Danish companies it will prove interesting and valuable to make contact with well-qualified and experienced managers from Eastern Europe.
The three managers I met had definitely done well for themselves and their Danish companies.
Look forward to meeting them and many more on the site
Hans Bodilsen
December 2003
DK-8400 Ebeltoft
© Hans Bodilsen, Denmark, 2003
Staff meeting in february 2003 – from left to right: Mogens Stiller, Gunnar Jensen, Mogens Bruun, Henry Kromann, Hans Bodilsen, Steen Thomsen, Lars Thomsen. Henrik Mahler and Klaus Bertelsen were absent
VMP lunch in Sofia October 2003
Dimitar Petrov(FLS), Nickolai Zhechkov(Brunata) and me
Brunata, Bulgaria - brand new premises
Brunata offices – Nickolai and Dimitar
HYDRO-X and Jordan Popov, Plovdiv
With Jordan Popov at his factory