David Thomas
Most Western boards are still reading Asia through a US-China lens. The biggest commercial repricing of the next two decades is happening on a different axis: along the capital, supply chain and political corridor connecting the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong, ASEAN, and Australia and New Zealand. Strategy on that corridor is being set today, and most senior teams are working from maps that no longer describe the room they are actually in.
David Thomas helps Western boards and investors read Asia from inside the markets that are reshaping it, drawing on three decades across Hong Kong, China and ASEAN.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with David Thomas
- He lives in Cebu and works on active cross-border deal flow through Mabuhay Capital Corporation, the Philippines M&A advisory firm, so what he says about emerging Asia is being tested in live transactions rather than retrieved from a desk in London.
- His reading of Hong Kong and Greater China carries family proximity that other Asia speakers cannot match. His father, Michael Thomas QC CMG, was Attorney General of Hong Kong from 1983 to 1988 and contributed to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. His stepmother, Baroness Lydia Dunn, sat on Hong Kong’s Executive and Legislative Councils and went on to sit in the UK House of Lords.
- He has spent two decades running capital and investment delegations across emerging Asia, including the BRIC+ Program he co-founded (Brazil, Russia, India and China), so when he points at a corridor opening, he is usually already moving founders or capital through it.
- His North-South Corridor framework maps how capital and supply chains are moving between the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand. It is the lane that most of the cross-border activity of the next decade will be priced along, and it is the lane that most Western strategy decks still skip.
- His Three Cups of Tea framework, drawn from the book of the same name, gives Western leaders a working method for how commercial trust actually builds in Asian markets: Stranger, Friend, Family, in that order.
Biography highlights
- Author of Three Cups of Tea: A 3 Step Guide to Doing Business in China and Year of the Rat, alongside further writing on Asian commerce.
- Lived and worked in Hong Kong through the 1980s and 1990s; ran his own wealth management firm there from 1988 to 1995.
- Father Michael Thomas QC CMG, Attorney General of Hong Kong (1983–1988); stepmother Baroness Lydia Dunn, senior unofficial member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council and Legislative Council, and a UK House of Lords cross-bencher.
- Co-founder of the BRIC+ Program (2005–2010), running five years of Australian investment study tours into Brazil, Russia, India and China.
- Consultant to Mabuhay Capital Corporation (Philippines) on cross-border M&A and ASEAN capital flows. Founding President of the Australia China SME Association. Founder/CEO of Think Global Consulting.
- Graduate of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business CEO Program in Beijing (2019). Has spoken at corporate events for Deloitte, Westpac, Telstra, DHL, BT Financial Group, RMA Australia and others across Asia, Australia, Europe and the UK.
Biography
Western boards are still reading Asia through a US-China lens. The next two decades of cross-border capital and supply chain activity will move along a different lane: the corridor connecting the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong, down through the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and broader ASEAN, to Australia and New Zealand. That lane is what David Thomas calls the North-South Corridor, and he has spent three decades inside it.
That perspective begins with family. His father, Michael Thomas QC CMG, was Hong Kong’s Attorney General from 1983 to 1988 and contributed to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that determined the territory’s future. His stepmother, Baroness Lydia Dunn, was a senior member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council and went on to sit as a cross-bencher in the UK House of Lords from 1990 to 2010. David lived in Hong Kong through the 1980s and 1990s and ran his own wealth management firm there from 1988 to 1995. He made his first trip to Beijing in 1989.
What followed was three decades of running capital and trade work across emerging Asia. He co-founded the BRIC+ Program, an Australian investment delegation that ran for five consecutive years into Brazil, Russia, India and China and gave senior financial advisers structured access to all four markets simultaneously. His book Three Cups of Tea introduced a model now used by Western executives entering Asian markets: relationships build through three stages, Stranger, Friend and Family, and the real commercial work begins only at the third. He served as founding President of the Australia China SME Association and founded Think Global Consulting.
He works with Mabuhay Capital Corporation on active cross-border M&A and capital flows across the Philippines and ASEAN. He is a graduate of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business CEO Program in Beijing, and recent client work has included executive briefings for senior freight and logistics teams gathered in Ho Chi Minh City and curated investor introductions for Australian and New Zealand founders raising into Asia-Pacific capital.
Key speaking topics
- Geopolitics and the North-South Corridor
- ASEAN as the next commercial growth axis
- Cross-border capital flow between developed markets and emerging Asia
- Supply chain repositioning under US-China decoupling
- Cross-cultural negotiation and trust architecture in Asian markets
- Strategic foresight on Asia for Western boards
Ideal for
- CEOs, CSOs and board directors with current or planned commercial exposure to Hong Kong, Greater China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia or broader ASEAN.
- Investment committees, family offices and venture firms allocating capital across the Greater Bay Area, ASEAN and Australia/New Zealand.
- Corporate development, M&A and market entry teams running cross-border transactions or joint ventures in emerging Asia.
- Industry associations and trade bodies briefing members on supply chain risk and the capital corridor connecting developed markets to ASEAN.
Audience outcomes
- A working map of the North-South Corridor and where capital, supply chains and political risk are actually being repriced.
- A method for building commercial trust in Asian markets (Stranger, Friend, Family), and a clear view of why transactional Western approaches consistently fail there.
- A sharper read of US-China-ASEAN dynamics and where they intersect with their own organisation’s market and supplier exposure.
- An applied frame for market entry, joint venture and capital partner decisions across the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and broader ASEAN.
Talks
How weaponised supply chains, maritime chokepoints and shifting currency corridors are rewriting global commerce, with on-the-ground intelligence from Southeast Asia translated into board-level implications.
Key takeaways:
- A working read of which geopolitical forces are actively repricing their industry.
- The specific risks sitting inside their current supply chain and market assumptions.
- A sharper instinct for what to act on, and what to hold, when the picture is incomplete.
A reframing of how Western executives should think about emerging Asia, grounded in active deal experience across the Philippines, Vietnam and broader ASEAN, with practical guidance on moving capital and companies through the corridor.
Key takeaways:
- Why most Western approaches to Asian markets fail before they start.
- The relationship architecture that precedes successful cross-border transactions.
- A sharper read of where the next decade of capital flow into Asia is actually heading.
A practical session on leading when the rules are being rewritten in real time, drawn from David’s family proximity to the Sino-British negotiations and three decades of operating inside emerging Asia.
Key takeaways:
- A sharper read of how power, trust and relationships actually move across cultures.
- How to act decisively when certainty is not available.
- Where geopolitical shifts are creating commercial risk, and commercial opportunity, for their organisation.
David’s signature framework, drawn from the book of the same name, for why transactional Western approaches fail in Asia and what it takes to build commercial trust across cultures.
Key takeaways:
- The Stranger to Friend to Family progression that actually governs Asian commercial relationships.
- Why introductions to Asian partners do not become partnerships without specific work in between.
- A relationship architecture that produces commercial advantage over multiple years.
Videos
Testimonials
Books
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Asia Pacific | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Europe | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Middle East & Africa | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| South America | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| United Kingdom | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US East Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US West Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Virtual | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |