Sébastien Thiam (E99), adviser on high-risk markets: "Economic reconstruction is critical to the resolution of armed conflicts"

Whether sailing around the globe as officer in the French Navy or seeking to attract investors in conflict zones, Sébastien Thiam (E99) stays on course: striving for peace and stability in an increasingly complex and volatile world. 

ESSEC Alumni: You served in the French Navy for three years. What were your missions?

Sébastien Thiam: Upon graduating from Ecole navale, France’s Naval Academy, I boarded former training cruiser Jeanne d’Arc for a four-month application tour with calls in about ten countries, up to the Makassar Strait in Asia. For three years, I then sailed the Mediterranean Sea as watch officer and head of operational units on offshore patrol ships and on a nuclear-powered attack submarine. Missions included enforcing sea embargo in former Yugoslavia, intelligence, assistance at sea, or representation in the Levant.

EA: Why then leaving the French Navy for strategy consulting ?

S. Thiam: My myopia had evolved in a way that it would be a major hurdle for a command appointment. Hence, I turned this challenge into an opportunity by joining ESSEC Business School and its Junior Enterprise to concentrate on strategic intelligence.

EA: Any similarities between your military skills and those needed in consulting ?

S. Thiam: Undoubtedly, with regard to: organizational skills, problem solving, resilience, nimbleness and rigor.

EA: You joined global strategy consulting firm Mars & Co. However, you left upon completing one assignment…

S. Thiam: Thanks to my MBA and MSc. in Engineering, I was hired as consultant. I worked within a small team on an M&A case in an industrial sector. I viewed it as a thought-provoking experience. But I was rapidly drawn to entrepreneurship. After a complementary experience in digital strategy consulting, I headed West for California to meet the founders of a global network of street fashion photojournalists. We sought to create a multimedia service on Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo’s i-mode platform. Thus, I took on strategic planning. But the burst of the 2000 Internet bubble triggered a refocusing of our activities. The company has since been serving leading Chinese media with in-house, premium photo editorial content (celebrity cover stories, global fashion and lifestyle features…). 

EA: Hence, you chose to come back to the military…

S. Thiam: Indeed, simultaneously I joined the pool of the Special Forces’ operational reserve. SF conduct sensitive operations with high strategic value. The Special Operations Command deployed me for several overseas operations, in the Balkans and in Afghanistan. I was then recruited by the Ministry of Defense in its pool of political advisers – Polad, to serve in Kosovo during the international negotiations on its political status. I offered to broaden my mission to economic reconstruction, which is a critical pillar of armed conflict resolution.

EA: How did you foster economic development in Kosovo? 

S. Thiam: The Polad is a civil expert who provides the Commander in the theatre of military operations with an appreciation of the complex and moving environment in which the Force evolves, and decision-making tools. In addition to preparing the General for his political engagements, I was involved in the facilitation of international investments, in priority sectors such as Energy and Mines, with local companies and ministers and the international community. My ad hoc initiative complemented the work of Foreign Affairs advisers, in the fields of strategic intelligence advisory and corporate diplomacy, and civil-military operations and development aid, both of which focused on smaller projects. My asset: a comprehensive access to the market.

EA: Can you provide an example of your accomplishments?

S. Thiam: Upon contacting the executive management of French utility EDF in 2006, I assisted and advised for 9 months, up to its pre-qualification, the German-American consortium led by its subsidiary EnBW, for a tender for coal mines and a 2,500 MW power plant. Had it been successfully implemented this project would have made Kosovo a regional electricity producer. However, it was abandoned due to political instability. Re-scaled to 500 MW, a new tender was awarded to GE… in May 2019.  

EA: Two years later, you were deployed to Afghanistan. What were the similarities and the differences between these two assignments? 

S. Thiam: Goals were similar. However, each theatre exposes general officers I was tasked to advise, to a genuinely new situation and a new set of circumstances. Kosovo hosted a peacekeeping mission. The primary objective of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan was “to enable the Afghan government to provide effective security across the country and develop new Afghan security forces”. There were international geo-strategic stakes. ISAF fought an “asymmetrical” war with insurgents. It is “NATO’s most challenging mission to date”. From my deployment in 2009 with the beginning of the “surge”, to my departure in July 2011 as responsibility for security was gradually transitioned to Afghan forces, the coalition grew from 58,000 to over 130,000-strong, representing 51 nations involved ; and the Polad Office of the ISAF Commander, a US General, that I was a part of, from 3 to 12 advisers.

EA: What are your most vivid memories of these times ?

S. Thiam: I am particularly proud to have earned the trust of General Stanley McChrystal and General David Petraeus, to prepare and assist them for their engagements on a near daily basis with Ministers, Members of Parliament and Chiefs of General Staff of about fifteen coalition countries, including France. I could not have hoped for a better way to learn about leadership. Other notable experience: the Afghan Minister of Mines, also Head of the Economic and Infrastructure Development cluster, asked me to work with his cabinet advisers, and to advise and assist him for his road shows in the Middle East, in Europe, and on-site in Afghanistan.

EA: What was the outcome of that?

S. Thiam: The most noteworthy example: a tender launched in 2010 for an iron ore deposit with record-high reserves estimated to be worth $350 billion, was awarded end 2011 to an Indian consortium. AFISCO aimed to invest about $11 billion over a decade. The consortium eventually pulled out in 2015, shortly after the ISAF mission was completed… This mega-project had the unique potential to revive an aid-dependent Afghan economy. There is little doubt that it would have contributed to the stabilization and security effort. It should be noted that Afghanistan’s GDP grew from $4 billion in 2002, the year following the start of the US-led intervention, to about $18 billion in 2011, comparable to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s, and hovering around 19.5 since 2012. 

EA: Back to Europe, you shifted your focus to sports diplomacy in the context of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, as chief of staff of the President of the World Olympians Association (WOA) and of Peace and Sport…  

S. Thiam: I coordinated the WOA Executive Committee’s actions to the benefit of its 100,000-strong alumni network, for Public Relations during the Games, and for its Strategic Plan 2012-16, which was presented to the IOC Director. The ExCo is made up of Olympians from all continents. Simultaneously, at Peace and Sport, I was involved in initiatives to help build a lasting peace in fragile or crisis-affected states by leveraging the neutrality of sport. This complementary approach to international crisis resolution led me to visit Iran three years before the 2015 nuclear agreement was announced to engage with several ministers, and authorities in sports and Olympism.   

EA: You are the founding president of Makassar Partners, which advises companies and investors focused on frontier markets. What services do you offer ?

S. Thiam: We specialize in high-risk markets. Working with a relevant and effective network, we bring our clients (investment funds, SMEs and blue chip companies) with decision-making tools (strategic and operational market research, high added-value analysis, local assistance, C-suite coaching) for their growth plans in sensitive areas, which tend to mushroom in an increasingly uncertain world.  
As an example, on the Iranian market during the sanctions easing phase, we carried out hundreds of due diligence assignments alone in a wide array of industries: automotive, oil and gas, metals and mining, telecommunications, logistics and transport, agribusiness, retail, trading, pharmaceuticals, financial services and private equity.

EA: Did launching your company mark a fundamental shift after working for state and international organizations?

S. Thiam: There is a common thread : from an early stage, I was keen to explore international crisis resolution through a global approach involving security, governance, and economic and social development. By nature, this approach is complex to implement, and most importantly fragile. It is worth mentioning that it was largely shaped by the research works of David Galula, a French military officer who significantly inspired American military thinking regarding counterinsurgency.

EA: What advice would you give an organization targeting a high-risk market?

S. Thiam: Grasp and map the risks at the strategic and operational level, at the soonest, to reduce unnecessary exposure, to maximize growth potential and to protect your interests. Update your knowledge on a regular basis to mitigate the impact of a rapidly changing business environment.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni

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