I’ve been at Colt for five years, mostly in my home country of Belgium. When the opportunity at Colt Hong Kong came up in 2017, I was really interested. I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to give my career a boost and learn about another part of the business, and learn about myself in the process too. Of course, I was scared – I had a comfortable life in Belgium, I was at the top of my game in the Sales team. I was scared to leave that behind. But chances like these don’t come around every day, and really, I had nothing to lose.
When I first arrived, it was totally overwhelming. It was humid, I was sweaty, the streets were so busy – I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing here?’. But slowly, I started discovering the city more, I saw how beautiful Hong Kong is. I got to a point about 10 months in where I finally felt like a local. It’s definitely taught me a lot and made me more open-minded. It’s a different way of doing business and communicating in Asia, which was a big challenge for a Belgian salesperson like me. You have to discover those differences and adapt yourself to a new society. It’s not always easy, but it’s always interesting.
Oscar Blanchaer | Account Director | Hong Kong
