Dr Keiichiro Komatsu
Dr Komatsu (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the Founder and Principal of Komatsu Research and Advisory (KRA), which he established in March 2005 (Headquarters: London, UK). He also established the Tokyo Liaison Office in 2012.
He uniquely combines academic training in international relations with practical training in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) finance and business promotion. He has most recently been working to promote sustainable trade and investment in the Indian Ocean Region as a hub that connects the African continent with Asia as well as the Indo-Pacific region. In this context, he has been appointed as Special Envoy for TICAD Public-Private Partnership by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Kono of Japan (12 July 2019), Strategic Advisor to the Economic Development Board Mauritius (EDB) under the Aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic (15 August 2019), and as Special Advisor to the Principal Secretary for the Department of the Blue Economy, Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Seychelles (23 August 2019). He is also Senior Fellow to Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), in charge of country risk assessment and business opportunity analysis. JETRO is an agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Dr Komatsu has had distinguished careers in both business and academia. For ten years to 1989 he worked for the Japanese semi-governmental Central Co-operative Bank for Commerce and Industry (The Shoko Chukin Bank), firstly in Tokyo and then as Assistant Vice-President in New York. His experience in Tokyo includes undertaking much fieldwork and dealing with financing, deposits, debentures and establishing a foreign exchange section in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. In New York, he worked as a currency trader on Wall Street. The Shoko Chukin Bank finances business co-operatives and SMEs.
After spending four years at the University of Oxford and being granted a doctorate in International Relations, Dr Komatsu became Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Consultant to the World Bank where he matched SMEs with companies in developing countries. He was in charge of planning economic missions to Madagascar and Mauritius in 1996 for which he secured the participation of 43 Japanese companies covering many different market sectors. Dr Komatsu accompanied the 4 missions, co-ordinated its activities and provided advice. More than 10 business contracts and joint programmes were established following these missions. He was also involved in establishing the financial banking institution for Malagasy SMEs known as FASP (fonds d’appui au secteur privé) modelled on the Shoko Chukin Bank. This institution was funded by the World Bank via the government of Madagascar.
He was the Senior Trade Advisor to the British government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and subsequently British Trade International (now known as Department for International Trade=DIT) from October 1996 until the end of September 2000. He was jointly assigned by the DTI and JETRO. His role was to support the DTI’s Action Japan Campaign, with the task of building links between British and Japanese businesses. He was honoured to be the first JETRO appointee to work within the DTI/British Trade International.
After working as an industrial researcher for JETRO in Egypt in late 2000 and 2001, he has been the JETRO Senior Fellow, in charge of country risk assessment and business opportunity analysis.
In October 2000, Dr Komatsu was appointed as the Director for the Industrial Promotion Initiative and Representative in Europe of the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE). He was their Representative in Europe, Middle East and Africa (on a voluntary basis). On the basis of this capacity, he visited Kenya many times to support the joint programme “The Forests for the Future” between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the FGPE.
Dr Komatsu has lectured extensively around the world and written on a wide range of international topics, including business promotion as well as trade and investment. After regularly giving lectures on Economic Developments in the Pacific Rim Region between March 1998 and June 2006 at the Warwick Manufacturing Group (MSc), the University of Warwick in the UK, Dr Komatsu has been lecturing on various topics at many universities including Oxford and other institutions world-wide. Dr Komatsu is one of the three Researchers in Economics and Political Studies at the Institute for Economic Studies, Seijo University in Tokyo. He is also Visiting Professor of Human Security and Global Affairs at the American University of Sovereign Nations (AUSN).
He has increasingly been involved in Africa, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Tunisia. He was appointed as Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Madagascar on 4 September 2008. Since the coup d’état, his role changed from trade and investment promotion to a highly diplomatic role where he and his colleagues made their very best efforts to re-establish a legitimate government in the country. In 2013, an internationally recognised election was held and a new President of the Republic was elected. More recently, the leadership of the country was democratically transferred through the 2018 election. This experience has given a new dimension to the work at KRA.
He has written on a wide range of international topics, including business promotion, trade and investment, and the intersections of politics and economics.
Other activities include:
- Cross-cultural Business Training Consultant to American Cartus Corporation (formerly Cendant Intercultural), Prudential, Berlitz, and British IOR.
- Advisor to UK-Japan Institute (on a voluntary basis)
Qualifications:
- Certified Specialist of Finance and Business Operations for Co-operatives of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, granted by the National Federation of Small Business Associations in Japan
- Certified Specialist of Legal Affairs in Banking (Highest Level), authorised by the Federation of Bankers Association of Japan
- Certified Specialist of Foreign Exchange dealing in Banking (Highest Level), authorised by the Federation of Bankers Association of Japan
- Sales License to Deal Securities, granted by the Federation of Bankers Association of Japan
Membership of Professional Societies:
- Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London, UK
- International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, UK
- Centre for International Studies (University of Oxford), UK
- Global Peacebuilding Association, Japan
Membership of other Societies
- The Japan Society, London, UK
- Burma Campaign Society, London, UK
- Anglo-Japanese Society (University of Cambridge), UK
- Oxford University Japan Society (University of Oxford), UK
- Oxford Union Society (University of Oxford), UK