Words> Adventure Capitalist

Two books with titles Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist had caught my eye over the years many times. Finally, in Hong Kong, I decided to go out and buy the latter one. Written by Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fun (with George Soros - not that his name gets mentioned by Jim; I wonder why), about his 3-year drive around and all over the world, the book did further encourage me to combine fun and productive activity (don't you dare call it work) on my trip.

So, I found the book in Hong Kong's Page One. They carried two editions, and upon opening the latter one, I saw it had an inscription on the first page. Odd, I thought, it was selling for the same price as the other edition. I took it to the counter to ask if they had more of the same edition to see if they had been signed by the author as well. They didn't, and upon misunderstanding my inquiry as a complaint, knocked 30% off the price for me. I haven't yet found out how an autographed copy was standing alone in a bookstore in Hong Kong.

I found a lot of parallels to how I view the world from the book. Jim is a free-market capitalist of the first order, attested by his views as well as his wallet. Having followed the African development discussion in the UK and having seen some of the continent recently, I was quite receptive to Jim's idea of 1) forgiving all African debts and 2) ending all aid to Africa. Many of my peers will readily agree with the first one but may be appalled of the second item. Yet, with the risk of sounding horribly right-wing, I think free, public, NGO'd money will always be counter-effective in spurring the countries to their feet. As long as they stay on their knees, they'll keep receiving the alms. And the 30 billion dollars in interest payments the continent shells out annually could be much better used on the continent. Investing one's own money will always be done with more care than investing someone else's money that one is not economically responsible for. This should of course be done in steps and stages to minimize human suffering from the change of gears.

He also keeps a keen eye on internal developments of other countries, looking for investment opportunities. The logic he applies is proven, I'll have to admit, and the global comparison of nations in this way, from the viewpoint of a profit-seeking individual investor, does make sense for economic development. After all, he is investing in markets, not exploiting specific niches such as dirt-cheap labour costs as many international capitalists (and entrepreneurs, I'm reminded) do.

Of course, Jim has a bit more to invest than I do, and I would like to fashion myself more as a 'nomad entrepreneur' than an 'adventure capitalist', on both counts - I much prefer drifting into over specifically looking for an adventure. They'll come along. They always have. And of course because I'm lazy.

Good read, but don't grab it along as a travelogue if you yearn for a taste of the exotic and the cultural - partly because Jim had already seen most of the places he was going to on his previous trips (he was often just showing something extraordinary to his wife, Paige), he doesn't emphasize the feeling of discovery at all. Re-discovery, perhaps.

Tomorrow, Delhi!