BGL BNP Paribas welcomes AirAsia's Group CEO Tony Fernandes, a high-powered doer and a brilliant speaker.
On 14 January 2010, BGL BNP Paris continued the Doers & Thinkers series of seminar-debates with a session entitled “Realizing the impossible dream in challenging times and challenging industries”.
After Professor James Galbraith, the high-level thinker invited on 3 June 2009 (“The Unresolved Challenges of the Crisis”), BGL BNP Paribas was again on the lookout for a serial entrepreneur for its debate series. And the search was certainly a success, since the next guest was Tony Fernandes, a business leader with a career spanning two sectors of special interest for Luxembourg: media and aviation.
A graduate of the London School of Economics, Tony Fernandes started out with Virgin Communications London and Warner Music Malaysia. Then, in 2001, he founded Malaysia's second largest airline, AirAsia Berhad. Today Tony Fernandes is Group CEO of low-cost airline AirAsia and founding director of AirAsia X, the budget long-haul carrier.
Putting his motto “Believe the Unbelievable, Dream the Impossible and Don't Take No for an Answer” into practice, Tony Fernandes has revolutionized Malaysia's airline sector. In his talk, he explained to an attentive audience how he managed to overcome the challenges of today's world and take advantage of the opportunities it offers.
Started in April 2007, the Doers & Thinkers series of seminar-debates, organized twice a year, calls on speakers whose eyes are firmly set on the future – either a “doer” or entrepreneur, or a “thinker” or academic/researcher. These are the men and women already shaping tomorrow's world: entrepreneurs, academics and researchers who think and act out of the box, who are prepared to part with accepted ways and innovate in pursuit of their ideals.
About BGL BNP Paribas
BGL BNP Paribas (www.bgl.lu) is one of the largest banks in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with a balance sheet totalling EUR 52.8 billion at 30 June 2009. Now a leader on its domestic market, it offers an especially wide range of financial products to individuals, professionals, private banking clients and businesses. BGL BNP Paribas is Luxembourg's number-one provider of banking services to professionals and small- and medium-size companies, and number two in services for individuals. It is also the leader for bancassurance.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the 6 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's*. With a presence in 85 countries and more than 205,000 employees, 165,200 of which in Europe, BNP Paribas is a global-scale European leader in financial services. It holds key positions in its three activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. The Group benefits from its four domestic markets: Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging markets.
*Within its peer group