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#4 DECEMBER 2011 - FEBRUARY 2012 € 5,99
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EXLUSIVE
DASHING THROUGH
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A CITY ON ITS OWN
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WHICH SCHOOL?
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the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT 11
LIKE A VIRGIN:
BUSINESS IN THE TIME
OF THE CRISIS
Richard Branson’s rise to stardom as a pioneer of
business is well known. Above all, he used to say,
business must be fun. If you, as an entrepreneur,
are enjoying what you’re doing, your employees
will catch that spirit and so will your customers.
And profits will follow. We, at the International
Correspondent, have hitched our own wagon
to that star. We have immense fun making this
magazine and hope our readers enjoy it to the
same extent. We’re looking forward to some profit
someday.
But Branson has now changed his tune. His bestselling autobiography was called ‘Screw it, let’s do
it’. A couple of weeks ago, he published an update:
‘Screw business as usual’. Entrepreneurs mustn’t only create fun, he says, but must do good in
the world, take responsibility in this time of crisis.
We believe he’s right. Power brings responsibility. Globalisation has sucked power away from
governments. The current economic soap-opera
illustrates that. Governments are running scared
of the financial markets that have demonstrated
their power to intervene in politics in Greece and
Rome. Civilisation once spread north from those
regions. Will breakdown follow the same pattern?
In this mess, the business community has to
take up the responsibility to restore order, or be
consumed by disorder. The most farsighted of
them are already doing so. Warren Buffet has led
the call for the wealthy in the west to contribute
more to government revenues. Hans Wijers, CEO
of one of The Netherlands’ largest multinationals,
Akzo Nobel, has called on the Dutch government
to address the drain on the treasury that is created
by our mortgage relief system.
We need to be creative. Branson’s latest venture,
Virgin Gallactic, points the way. It aims to put many
people into space, creating a cleaner, more sustainable and efficient form of long-distance travel.
We give his ideas our space in this issue of the
International Correspondent, which is devoted to
the theme Travel. It’s a big step for mankind that
Branson is proposing. But big steps are necessary
now. Standard & Poor’s is threatening to down-grade blue-chip countries in Europe if governments
don’t act decisively to deal with the financial crisis.
The Netherlands is one of those blue chip countries. We have assets enough, as our Rotterdam
harbour story demonstrates. Despite the crisis,
Rotterdam is transhipping more goods today than
it did last year. Groningen has huge supplies of
natural gas still. Our universities have achieved
prominence in international ratings by taking a
leap of faith no other country in Europe did and
switching to English as a language of instruction. They’re attracting foreign students by the
thousands. Our school system is in the top 10
internationally, despite what the education minister
says. We have the basis for a modern knowledgebased economy if we manage these assets right.
There’s no reason for us to withdraw behind the
dykes, as our business leaders point out in their
rare letter to the government. We’ve made our
bed in the big wide world, with our harbour, our
European hub of an airport, our reputation as an
open, forward thinking nation. This country has, in
the past, gone boldly where no-one went before.
Screw it, let’s do it again.
With best wishes for a Merry Christmas &
a Prosperous New Year,
Floris Müller
Publisher
THE INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
Dutch Business in Global Perspective
www.theinternationalcorrespondent.nl
EDITION December 2011 – February 2012 Edition 4
PUBLISHER & EDITOR Floris Müller
floris.muller@theinternationalcorrespondent.nl
ADJUNCT EDITOR Niala Maharaj
niala.maharaj@theinternationalcorrespondent.nl
CONTRIBUTORS Thomas Dieben, Fenna Ferwerda,
Martin van Geest, Jeroen Jansen, Joost van Kleef, David
Lemereis, Matt Luna, Mark Maathuis, Paul Rodenburg,
Sanjay Sharma,Pete Thomas, Marco de Vries
SPECIAL INTEREST CONTRIBUTORS Wouter ter
Keurs,Paul Oom, Matthijs van Unen, Joanne Wienen
DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION Pascal Bier
PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten Bezem, Pascal Bier,
Arno de Jong (assistant), Donald van Opzeeland
VIDEO Jos Mitsunaga
SPECIAL THANKS TO Rafael Anton (clothing), Wendy
van Bavel, Alvie Bhailal, Peter Paul Blommers (advisor)
Jeroen van Evert, Ramon Groen, George Heidweiller, Ronald Heister, Marjolein Hof, ISTA The Hague,
Leonoor Korevaar, Olof Lakmaker, Ranga Rajan, Dennis
Roelofsen Sebastiaan Rorije, Emiel de Sevren Jacquet,
Marjan Tiller, Andrew van der Ven, Sabine Woelfel
WEB DEVELOPMENT Pascal Bier
SALES & MARKETING Gideon Krebs
Gideon.krebs@correspondentmedia.nl
ACCOUNTANT IUS Statutory Audits
MAIN PRINTING Westdeutsche Verlagsund Druckerei GmbH
DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Reinout van der Meer
DISTRIBUTION Van Gelderen/ Van Gelderen Inflight
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24 the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT 25
Q&A
SPACE TRAVEL
TO REPLACE
LONG DISTANCE
FLIGHTS
By Floris Müller
Pascal Bier
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Sir Richard Branson plans to
celebrate Christmas 2012 with
his two children in outer space.
They will be dashing through
the galaxy on Virgin Galactic’s
first commercial space flight.
After that ordinary people can
breach the final frontier.
Branson, who boldly went
where no man had gone before
with Virgin Atlantic, Virgin
Trains and Virgin music, was in
The Netherlands in November,
He met with his sales agent,
Ronald Heister, chair of the
space travel organisation ISTA,
and Sergei Zhukov, former
cosmonaut and head of the
Russian commercial space
programme. And with
The International
Correspondent.
Q&A
the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT 27
26 the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
THE ELITE
MUST HAVE A
SENSE OF THE
LOCAL CULTURE
AND HISTORY.
YOU CAN ONLY
DEVELOP AN
ECONOMY IF
YOU HAVE MADE
NATIONAL
VALUES YOUR
OWN
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF YOUR MEETING?
Ronald Heister: Mainly to increase cooperation and share expertise. Meetings like these
are the start of the development of commercial
space travel. The 20th century was the century
of air travel; the next hundred years must be
that of our industry.
WHY DO SUCH MEETINGS TAKE PLACE IN
THE NETHERLANDS?
Sergei Zhukov: There’s a lot of experience
here, although there’s less money. And this
country is known for its flexible business climate. The Dutch manage to bring diverse parties together despite national and cultural difference.
Heister: The European space centre Estec is
based in The Netherlands, so a lot of space
businesses have been set up here.
Sir Richard Branson: I’ve been coming here for
years. People are very open and liberal here,
more than elsewhere in the world. We can
hope this doesn’t change because of the crisis.
COMMERCIAL SPACE TRAVEL SOUNDS LIKE
SOMETHING FOR THE FUTURE.
Heister: No way. In a year, the first commercial
space flight will take place. My daughter, my
son and I are going to be on it. Virgin Galactic
has its own space ship and launching pad. We
are now testing that everything is ready for our
first flight next Christmas.
WHO ARE THE SPACE TRAVELLERS?
Branson: My kids and myself, to start with.
We’ve sold 500 tickets for the flights that will
follow. Virgin Galactic will put more people in
space in its first year than the Russians and
Americans in the 60 years before that.
“AIR TRAVEL WILL BE FOR
SHORT DISTANCES.
SPACE FOR QUICK LONGDISTANCE TRAVEL.”
HOW MUCH ARE THEY PAYING?
Branson: About 200,000 dollars. After that I
expect the price to fall drastically, hopefully to
a level where it will be possible for hundreds of
thousands of people to make a space flight. We
won’t be able to get the price down as low as
we want right away, but probably low enough
so people can choose between a long flight to
another continent or a couple hours in space.
SO IT WILL BE A MILLIONAIRE’S HOBBY FOR
THE TIME BEING?
Branson: For the time being. It’s costly to
launch this project. The first transatlantic
flights were also expensive. You need finance
to develop the industry and after that to get
prices down.
Heister: But the costs are lower that what
governments spend to put people into space.
We’re doing well.
PEOPLE SEE YOU, RICHARD BRANSON,
AS AN EXTRAVAGANT ADVENTURER.
THAT IMAGE WON’T PREVENT THE
ORDINARY JOE FROM GETTING INVOLVED
IN SPACE TRAVEL?
Branson: I don’t think so.
Heister: You need front-runners to create
a new industry. Like Richard Branson here.
WHAT ABOUT SAFETY?
Heister: That’s a crucial issue. If there’s an accident at this early stage, that’s the end of the
industry. Happily, Virgin Galactic has a lot of
experience.
YOU SEE A FUTURE FOR SPACE TRAVEL AS
A FORM OF TRANSPORT. IS IT TO REPLACE
COMMERCIAL FLYING?
Heister: No. I think there’s a role for both. Air
travel will be for short distances. Space for
quick long-distance travel. It’s both faster and
more sustainable. Commercial spacecraft use
bio-fuel. It will use a lot less than an intercontinental flight. After 90 seconds, the shuttle
will be out of the earth’s gravitational pull and
you don’t need any more energy.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET PUBLIC
ACCEPTANCE OF SPACE TRAVEL?
Branson: Virgin Galactic has been in space
three times. We have the technology necessary. We are a real space travel business. Once
people see is in space in a year’s time, they’ll
be convinced a new era has begun, and that
space travel would be nice to experience.
WHY ARE YOU SO ATTRACTED TO
TRAVELLING IN SPACE?
Branson: I’m drawn by the unknown. I’ve always wanted to do it. I used to think NASA and
the Russians would offer space travel to ordinary people at some point. Turned out to be a
vain hope. So individuals have to make space
travel accessible.
HOW COME YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE
THIS A COMMERCIAL SUCCESS?
Branson: With everything I’ve done, I had the
idea I could do it better than the rest. I started Virgin Atlantic with one plane. Now it’s an
adult business with a complete fleet. I have
the same plans for commercial space travel.
IN THE PAST, YOU GOT INVOLVED IN EXISTING MARKETS. NOW YOU’RE INVESTING IN
A WHILE NEW INDUSTRY.
Branson: Virgin’s main aim is to shift boundaries. We are planning to do that literally with
commercial space travel.
WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT IN
DEVELOPING THE SPACE TRAVEL PART
OF YOUR BUSINESS?
Branson: People. That’s the most important
element in a business. The hardest decision I
ever had was letting people go in 2001. After
the WTC disaster Virgin Atlantic lost nearly
200 million. We had to cut costs. But after a
year, we could rehire most of the employees.
YOU THINK YOU CAN DO IT BETTER.
BETTER THAN WHO?
Branson: Than the Russians and Americans in
the 1960s, 70s and 80s. During the Cold War, a
lot of money was invested in space technology,
mainly for military and strategic reasons. They
never looked at space travel as an alternative
method of transport.
Heister: Egos and conflict only delay developments. And they spent far more money than
necessary. With commercial space travel,
we have to earn back every dollar we invest.
That’s a big difference.
“VIRGIN’S MAIN AIM IS TO
SHIFT BOUNDARIES.”
MR HEISTER, YOU ARE THE CHAIR OF ISTA.
WHAT DOES THAT ORGANISATION DO?
Heister: Isa promotes the structured development of commercial space travel. It addresses
the industry and governments, but also consumers. We have 50 members in 40 countries
at present. We are lobbying for international
legal provisions for the industry. At the moment, it’s only possible to launch space-flights
from the US. That has to change. We are also
important in attracting new partners and investors.
Q&A
28 the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
ISN’T IT A BAD TIME TO TRY AND GET INVESTORS FOR SOMETHING NEW LIKE THIS?
Heister: We’re in a relatively good position.
We don’t have to look for money. Investors are
coming to us. We’ve recently set up co-operation with Global Assistance Allowance, one of
the world’s largest insurers. They see a lot of
growth opportunity for this industry.
Zhukov: I think it’s the time to expand borders. Space travel offers new perspectives,
and a new industry. That’s the basis for further
recovery. You can compare it with the Dutch
explorers who set off in the heat of the 80year war in the 16th century. Discovering new
territories created the possibilities for economic
development and power for years. Space travel
will create new experience and knowledge.
YOU’RE REGISTERED AS A COSMONAUT
SINCE 2003. WOULDN’T YOU PREFER TO GO
INTO SPACE THAN TALK ABOUT SPACE AT
MEETINGS?
Zhukov: In the long term I’ll achieve more for
the entire industry this way.
IF SPACE TRAVEL IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE
ORDINARY JOE, WON’T ASTRONAUTS AND
COSMONAUTS LOSE THEIR MYSTIQUE?
Zhukov: The title ‘astronaut’ doesn’t really
mean anything much to me. Our experience
has opened the door for ordinary people. But
they won’t travel further than 300 kilometres
in space. We will always remain the pioneers.
SO NO PACKAGE TOURS TO THE MOON
OR MARS, THEN?
Zhukov: That’s not commercially viable.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SPACE XC
SEE THE VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW WITH SIR RICHARD BRANSON, RONALD HEISTER
AND SERGEI ZHUKOV ONLINE ON WWW.THEINTERNATIONALCORRESPONDENT.COM
AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER TO LEARN ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT’S
VISIT TO A ROCKET LAUNCH IN KAZACHSTAN HTTP://TWITTER.COM/TICMAGAZINE
IT’S LITERALLY ROCKET SCIENCE
MICHIEL MOL, THE FIRST DUTCH ENTREPRENEUR
IN THE SPACE BUSINESS
An ideal competitor. That’s how Dutch businessman, Michiel Mol, describes Richard
Branson. Mol made his money from internet
companies: Lost Boys, Flogs and Media Republic. Now he’s focusing on developing his own
space travel business, SXC.
‘Branson has put space travel on the map,’ he
says. ‘He created the market. We’re profiting
from that.’
SXC wants to launch its first shuttle from Curacao in 2014, and Mol has already sold 40 tickets for flights in the first six months. ‘We’ll
sell more once our shuttle is ready,’ he says.
The price of a ticket is 95,000 dollars. Less
than half of what Branson charges. The difference is caused by differences in launch methods between the two companies.
‘Our rockets are re-usable,’ he says. ‘That
affects the costs.’ Mol also wants to develop
smaller shuttles where a passenger can travel
next to the pilot.
Mol’s customers are what he calls, ‘high network individuals, playboys who have everything and see a space-flight as the crown on
their consumption, space fanatics and wealthy
oldies.’
He’s not afraid of competition.
‘Research points to 10,000 customers who are
interested. Branson and I can’t fulfil that demand.’
And he doesn’t fear being overtaken by copycat businesses either.
‘You don’t just start a space business just
like that,’ he says. ‘To become a player in this
game, you have to invest a lot in complicated
technology. It’s literally rocket science.’