Nair: TOPEX a Must for CEOs, Managers
The annual 2018 Top Executive Conference (TOPEX) to be held next month should not be missed by private and public-sector executives. “The conference is a must for CEO’s and senior Fijian managers to attend,” one of the keynote speakers Vincent Nair said yesterday.
Hong Kong-based Mr Nair spearheads a list of overseas speakers invited to the 2018 TOPEX Conference. “As Fiji transforms from a negligible southern hemisphere minnow of the past to an international economic hub of the future, it is necessary for our business and public-sector leaders to be continuously exposed to international speakers who have walked the path with proven global organisations,” Mr Nair said.
“Sending our Government and business executives overseas for development and learning exposure is a costly exercise and seldom possible.
“Bringing experts to Fiji for en masse coaching and leadership training for our business community is critical to deliver rock solid outcomes to our developing nation.
“The idea is that sometimes you have to take a break from the ‘work’ of your work to sharpen your skills. A dull axe won’t cut a tree nearly as effectively as a sharp one.
“You will always return from a conference with new ideas and approaches that make you more effective and efficient at work. “Don’t be the wood-cutter hacking away at the tree with a dull axe while your competition cuts it down in half the time with a sharp one.”
Mr Nair left Fiji as a high school student in 1978 and went on to build an impressive international résumé. He attained positions as a managing director, chief executive officer and senior vice president with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies such as corporate giants like HP, WIPRO, Alcatel Lucent and Pitney Bowes over a 30-year professional career across USA, Canada, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. He is better known in Fiji for his work in being able to stage the internationally -enowned Fiji International Golf tournament staged annually under the PGA banner at the Natadola Golf Club.
Mr Nair will bring to TOPEX a wealth of knowledge in the areas of corporate governance and standards over multiple international jurisdictions from the best of breed companies.
He will also speak about the worldwide touchstones required from Fijian executives to deliver above expectations and the development, execution and delivery of transnational corporate strategy.
He was described by Steven Haggart, managing director Australis 2020, a leading Australian property development company, as being “the person who will overshadow what you may bring into the room and go home a changed corporate warrior.”
Mr Nair said he was thankful to Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation of Fiji for hosting the TOPEX Conference with international speakers.
He said Fiji needed to invest in its executives and managers to attend and optimise the occasion as they needed to compete with the best in the world.
“We will not know this unless we create opportunities to get wide ranging, collective Fijian industry leaders to come together and hear from those transcontinental speakers who have walked large-scale highways connecting international corporate empires,” Mr Nair said.