Regions & cultures
Only a few countries can equal Belgium in its role of a crossroad of cultures and trade flows. The port of Antwerp as the second largest seaport in Europe, the Port Autonôme de Liège as the third largest river port in Europe, the airport of Liège as one of the largest cargo airports in the world – there are several focal points of the European economy within the mere thirty thousand square kilometres that comprise Belgium’s land area.
At a stone’s throw away one will find the symbolic Luxembourg village of Schengen, the largest European seaport of Rotterdam, the Cologne-Ruhrgebiet axis as the spinal cord of the German economy, the largest European airport – London Heathrow and the largest European city of Paris….
With three official national languages – Dutch, French and German – and a majority of the population well versed in English, Belgium is also ideally equipped to optimise communication between these economic centres. It is no coincidence that Brussels has been chosen as the capital of Europe.
Сommand
Hence, we humorously say that the internationalisation and cultural knowledge has been kindled in our co-founder Reinhard at an early age.
The other founders of GBD Consulting immediately felt at ease in Belgium when they came there as teenagers. After all, both Elena and Stan share a mixed background and have had the opportunity to absorb very diverse cultural traditions and peculiarities. The internationally oriented Kingdom of Belgium definitively gave shape to their cosmopolitanism.
Born in far Siberia, raised in the warm southern Eastern European country of Moldova and armed with the knowledge of the strict German grammar, Elena came to Belgium some twenty years ago to study law. Elena is now a well-known Belgian lawyer who speaks seven languages and has deep bonds with Western, Eastern and Southern European cultures.
Stan spent his first years of childhood in Uzbekistan, a landlocked country with a predominantly Islamic culture, as the child of a Chinese mother and a Russian-French father. This somewhat unusual background turns out to be of a great value thirty years later, while exploring Central and Far Eastern markets. The local etiquette is full of finesses and subtleties, such as not starting to eat before the eldest in the company starts his dish, Uzbek greeting rituals that suddenly turned out to have the advantage of covid-proof in 2020 or his knowledge of the Chinese holiday calendar can sometimes become the door opener to a conversation with a serious foreign partner.
No matter how large and diverse Eurasia is, with GBD Consulting you can rely on at least one of the three founders – Gardin, Bachert or Dhondt – to have the necessary cultural knowledge to make you feel at home in a particular market. The slippery ice of a foreign culture can thus quickly become a solid concrete surface on which you can walk towards your goals.
Regions of work
Of course, our cultural knowledge covers just one single aspect of our activities. What is more important, our customers can count on GBD Consulting to be equipped with the necessary broad commercial and legal expertise in various markets in the following regions:
- Western Europe: Benelux, France, DACH, Southern Europe
- Eastern Europe: key markets Poland and Romania, Czech Republic, Baltic States, ex-Yugoslavia
- The former Soviet Union: Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, Caucasus
- MENA (Middle East and North Africa): Turkey, Gulf States, Egypt, Morocco and smaller countries.
Industries we work with
For the regions listed hereabove we have expertise in the following industries:
- Health care and pharma
- Cosmetics, Over The Counter goods
- Baby articles
- Toys
- Machine equipment
- Food and beverages
Work in Africa
When it comes to Black Africa and APAC (Asia-Pacific), GBD Consulting can also assist you commercially if you are interested in the following industries:
- Cosmetics, Over The Counter goods
- Baby articles
- Toys
Other regions of work
Normally we don’t work outside EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and APAC, because you can’t get away with anything. But… the sky is the limit!