Entering political risk fray with Warwick & Roger

The personal is political, goes the old adage. For entrepreneurs of the information age, the political becomes personal, whether they like it or not. “Business is embedded in politics,” says Robin Garcia, applied political scientist and PhD holder in Politics and International Relations. “Political events and decisions profoundly affect companies, especially in emerging markets.”

Examining this need, Garcia established Warwick & Roger, a risk assessment and management advisory firm based in Manila, in 2017.

Political risk assessment in the corporate setting is not new, with larger companies setting up in-house advisory staff. However, these efforts tend to be neither comprehensive, adequately trained, nor proactive.

Warwick & Roger fills this gap with political forecasting methods, enabling companies to be prepared, and ensuring informed decision-making.

“We had correctly predicted that a client would be implicated in an ongoing congressional hearing,” Garcia recalls.

“The company then had enough room to implement the strategies we had laid down for them and avoid being legislated against.”

The firm had also forecasted North Korea’s sudden accession to the peace and disarmament meeting with South Korea and the United States, which impacted companies involved in international trade and thus dependent on regional peace.

Warwick & Roger operates in Manila, Yangon, Ulaanbaatar and Brisbane, pursuing markets in financial technology, telecommunications, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical--the industries most affected by political dynamics anywhere in the world. As their ambition for service continues, the firm is set to move to China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Warwick & Roger is a Manila-based firm with expertise in political risk advisory and data-driven political sentiment analytics.

Its founder and CEO, Garcia, is trained in politics and international relations with experience in both government and private sectors. Warwick & Roger is a subsidiary of global holdings company Montgomery Fitch.