David Thomas is one of the few Western strategists genuinely embedded in emerging Asia not flying in with a briefing pack, but living and working on the ground in the Philippines, with over 30 years of experience spanning Hong Kong, London, Sydney and across the ASEAN region. He travels from Asia.
He lived in Hong Kong through the 1980s and 1990s, running his own wealth management firm while watching the Sino-British handover negotiations unfold at close quarters. His first visit to Beijing was in 1989 – the year that showed the world how power actually works in China. Over the following 29 years in Australia, he became one of the country’s most recognised voices on business and investment between China and Australia – co-founding the BRIC+ Program in 2006, among the first in the world to run investment study tours into all four BRIC markets. Today, he is based in Cebu, active in ASEAN business circles, and reading the signals before they become headlines.
A Cyberport Global Ambassador (Australia) and author of ten books on doing business in Asia, David’s signature work, Three Cups of Tea distils his philosophy into a simple framework: in Asian markets, you begin as a Stranger, become a Friend, and eventually – if you stay, show up, and invest in the relationship rather than rushing to the transaction – you become Family.
Only then does the real business begin. It is a philosophy he has lived, not invented. From the moment he steps on stage, David does something most speakers cannot – he makes geopolitics personal. His audiences leave not with a sense of the world’s complexity, but with a clearer understanding of what it means for them, and what to do about it.
