Nicolas Berggruen, 51, is polite,
thoughtful, cultivated and fashionable — from his un-linked
French cuffs and slightly messy collar to his quiet loafers.
He is also a billionaire with an exotic portfolio.
There’s a commodity exchange in Kigali, Rwanda, and Richard Meier-designed housing for teachers in Newark, New Jersey.
Berggruen himself lives in hotels and has no fixed address.
Quite the party animal in his younger years, the investor
and philanthropist who studied philosophy in Paris, now spends a
lot of time pondering the ways societies might best govern
themselves.
Over a chocolate souffle — Berggruen likes dessert — he
sat down with Bloomberg editors to talk about his ideas and the
book he wrote with Nathan Gardels, “Intelligent Governance for
the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East.”
Hoelterhoff: Why governance?
Berggruen: The biggest determinant in our lives is culture,
where we are born, what the environment looks like. But the
second biggest determinant is probably governance, good
governance or a certain kind of governance makes a huge
difference in our lives.
Hoelterhoff: Singapore gets high marks in your book.
Berggruen: Singapore has been incredibly well managed. It
was created out of the swamp, with a strong emotional idea: a
safe place for mostly Chinese, but accepting other cultures and
other races.
Newark Investment
Hoelterhoff: Just for contrast, let’s talk about a truly
dysfunctional place, Newark, New Jersey. With most recent mayors
jailed or indicted, it does not seem to illustrate good
governance. Yet you have invested in a development called
Teachers Village right downtown.
Berggruen: Newark used to be a thriving city of around
400,000 people, now down to around 250,000. It’s got
infrastructure and is so close to Manhattan. If you look at
downtown Newark — pretty bad, so bad that you almost can’t
think, well, we can build something new there. But potentially
it should have a future. If we can be one of the early sparks to
help it come back, let’s try.
We are constructing eight buildings from the ground up,
teacher housing, student housing, three schools, one daycare,
some retail. The idea is streets, real streets to create life.
We were able to enlist a great architect, Richard Meier, who
normally wouldn’t do this kind of thing, but because of
relationships and because of the fact that he is actually from
Newark, he agreed to do it.
Six Stories
Hoelterhoff: Architecture really is the key to creating
community, getting away from Le Corbusier high rises. I read
that apartment buildings don’t function if they are higher than
six stories because parents can’t look down and call their kids.
Berggruen: Everything is going to be four to six stories.
Hoelterhoff: A member of your think tank is focused on
Africa. What are you doing there?
Berggruen: Africa used to be much more productive, with
most countries as agricultural producers. So if we can help
agriculture, we will help the most, as opposed to investing
directly in farms, which is pretty inefficient.
Most countries in Africa have the capacity to be great
agricultural producers, but they do only subsistence production.
So a family will produce for themselves and nothing more. Why?
Because of the systems: The markets are not there to go beyond.
So we thought: How can we help? We have decided that we will try
to establish commodity exchanges.
Rwanda Exchange
Commodity exchanges have a lot of advantages. One, you are
helping transparency. Two, they are not political. It’s
institutional building. It can survive any environment in
theory.
We are starting our first one in Rwanda.
Hoelterhoff: The place functions? How’s garbage collection
compared to say, Lagos, a nightmare?
Berggruen: They have more than garbage collection: They
have a monthly cleanup day where everybody goes into the street,
including the president and the ministers. The place actually
functions, crime is incredibly low. Though, yes, it’s had the
most troubled past. So the turnaround from genocide to
reasonably peaceful today is remarkable.
Hoelterhoff: What would be traded in Rwanda? Is it grain?
Berggruen: A lot of coffee.
Hoelterhoff: Then there’s India.
Indian Infrastructure
Berggruen: We have started five businesses in India that
are all infrastructure-related: education, vocational schools,
equipment rental for construction, car rental, and budget
hotels. These are infrastructure-related things that will
participate in the growth of the economy.
India is an incredibly difficult place to get anything
done: big corruption. Our record is mixed. Car rental, we are
No. 2 in the country, up from nothing. With educational schools
we are struggling.
Hoelterhoff: How do you pay attention to all this? Is that
why you travel all the time?
Berggruen: Well, in truth, I think we do too much. But I
wake up in the morning and then I go to bed every day, no
exceptions. In between I think about things.
To order “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century,”
click here.
(Manuela Hoelterhoff is executive editor of Muse,
Bloomberg’s arts and culture section. Any opinions are her own.
This interview was adapted from a longer conversation.)
Muse highlights include Greg Evans on film, John Mariani on
wine
To contact the writer of this review:
Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York at
mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jeffrey Burke at
Jburke21@bloomberg.net.
Nicolas Berggruen
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen, writer of “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East” with co-author Nathan Gardels.
Nicolas Berggruen, writer of “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East” with co-author Nathan Gardels. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen, writer of “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East” with co-author Nathan Gardels.
Nicolas Berggruen, writer of “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East” with co-author Nathan Gardels. Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen and Muse members of the Muse team at Bloomberg world headquarters in New York. With co-author Nathan Gardels, Berggruen, 51, wrote “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East.”
Nicolas Berggruen and Muse members of the Muse team at Bloomberg world headquarters in New York. With co-author Nathan Gardels, Berggruen, 51, wrote “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East.” Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen
Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Nicolas Berggruen and Muse at Bloomberg world headquarters in New York. With co-author Nathan Gardels, Berggruen, 51, wrote “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East.”
Nicolas Berggruen and Muse at Bloomberg world headquarters in New York. With co-author Nathan Gardels, Berggruen, 51, wrote “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East.” Photographer: Philip Lewis/Bloomberg
Billionaire Berggruen Takes Risks, Roams World: Interview
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