Careers

Milan, Istanbul, Stockholm, Tokyo - name a city and 44-year-old Frank Rønsholt has been there. There will most likely also to be a good story associated with it. It can be a breathless tale of an unforeseen problem that is solved in the eleventh hour. Or it could be the story of how wide the time indication, such as Thursday morning at 09:00 a.m. can be interpreted depending on the latitude we find ourselves in - and how fatal it can be if the interpretation of a local external supplier is "just before the weekend".

Being prepared for anything

Frank often doesn’t know what issue he’ll face until he arrives to solve it. But far from presenting a problem, it is this very unpredictability that he relishes. He says: "If everything just plays – then yes, you have done the job very well. But it really gets exciting those times when you stand on-site and must find a solution straight away, because we know that if we do not find the solution, we might as well go home again - so when things succeed, it is really great."

The fact that Frank succeeds is due to a good mix of stubbornness, overview and a sharp sense of where an error has occurred. To this is added the respect and understanding of the diversity of colleagues across borders.

Frank is a familiar face in the Atradius Group. The IT specialist from Copenhagen is well received and he will be offered coffee from automat machines from all around the world. Where is the coffee best? There is no doubt:  according to Frank: “the espresso from the machine in Milan tastes of real coffee”.

“It’s not just the diversity of the businesses I work with”, she adds. “I get to talk to international customers and work with colleagues from around the world on a daily basis."

“As Senior Sales Manager,  my job involves talking to prospective customers and working out how we can structure specific programmes for their businesses that help them  minimise risk and maximise trading opportunities. It’s all about finding business solutions that work the world over. For example, we might need to structure a policy that works in Hong Kong, Italy and the US.” Our strength lies in maintaining the local characteristics while creating a global contract, which also allows me to learn a lot about local cultures and traditions.”

Global by name, global by nature

Yoselien’s position working with the Global team at Atradius is echoed by her own experience. A Dutch native, her first overseas experience took her to Kansas, USA, with a high school exchange programme, followed by an experience in Montreal, where she studied at McGill University as part of a university exchange programme. Upon graduation, she completed her internship for Atradius in Baltimore, before working first in Amsterdam and then in Paris.

Most recently, Yoselien has found herself back in Baltimore, where she delights in educating her US colleagues on the finer points of football (soccer to them and always a great international talking point during the World Cup).

Although her office can clearly be described as more multinational than many in Baltimore, language still has the ability to confuse and bemuse. As Yoselien describes, “on one occasion I was speaking in Dutch on a call to a colleague in the Netherlands. We discussed the business issue first and then I asked, ‘and how are you?’, everyone around me burst out laughing. To them the Dutch ‘hoe is het?’ sounded like ‘who is it?’ They thought I’d been chatting to someone for a while and then had to ask them who they were!”

Living a dream and travelling the world

For someone who wasn’t keen on languages at school, Bart Poublon’s linguistic capabilities are impressive. He speaks English, French, Dutch, German and some Japanese. Ask him about language, however, and he just shrugs modestly - the languages are incidental to something more important: travel.

“My first job was as an accountant near my home in Belgium. But after a while, I realised this wasn’t something I wanted to do until I was 65. I wanted to travel,” he admits.

After quitting accountancy, Bart joined the Risk Services team at Atradius and took up a position in Paris. He’s been with Atradius ever since, in a career that has so far taken him to France, the UK, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong.

Learning respect in Japan: Asia-Pacific Risk Team

Today Bart is based in Hong Kong and is Executive Manager for the Risk Team in Asia Pacific. He looks after about 60 credit analysts across the region, from Shanghai to Sydney. “I steer the team in making good, prompt, risk decisions for customers, while also remaining in control of risk for Atradius”, he explains.

He adds: “I oversee the high value cases that are put by the team to me for sign off. I also chair the Asia Pacific, Africa, India, and Middle East Local Credit Committee and the Atradius Country Committee that sets the country underwriting guidelines for each market we underwrite.”

Now that he has lived in so many countries, does he have a favourite? “I do love Japan”, he confesses, “It has mystique. It is very traditional but in other ways ultra-modern, it has taught me a lot about respect and it is where I met my wife.

“I first worked in Japan as a senior underwriter during the height of the financial crisis. We needed to reduce a credit limit on a particular account, so I visited in person to explain the position. The following week I was asked to return, as the customer had not accepted my explanation. This happened for three weeks in a row. On the fourth week, my boss came with me. Although he didn’t have anything new to add, his explanation was accepted. “A bit of grey hair made all the difference, my customer just needed to hear the news from someone more senior. A respect for hierarchy was a good lesson for a cocky young man to learn!”