Miguel Montoya, a partner at KPMG, moved to China seven years ago. He is among 600,000 expatriates living in China. James Wasserman for The National
Miguel Montoya, a partner at KPMG, moved to China seven years ago. He is among 600,000 expatriates living in China. James Wasserman for The National
Miguel Montoya, a partner at KPMG, moved to China seven years ago. He is among 600,000 expatriates living in China. James Wasserman for The National
Miguel Montoya, a partner at KPMG, moved to China seven years ago. He is among 600,000 expatriates living in China. James Wasserman for The National

Expats on the road East


  • English
  • Arabic

A tax expert's job does not sound too exciting to most people. But for Miguel Montoya, it landed him in Shanghai on a two-year assignment from the United States.

And that gig, which started in 2005, was extended until he decided to stay indefinitely. "I would say China chose me," Mr Montoya said in an email interview from Beijing, where he recently moved.

Mr Montoya is a partner with the transactions and restructuring group at the auditing and tax advisory firm KPMG.

China is not the only emerging market in Asia to have attracted talent from the West. India, one of the four largest Asian economies, is also attracting foreign talent for a diverse range of sectors.

"The enormous growth of the corporates of both [countries] has left them, despite the large populations, short of talent," said Nirmalya Kumar, a professor at London Business School.

Mr Kumar was in Dubai last month for an event to mark five years of London Business School in the region, and talked about the movement of talent among job markets. Mainland China, compared with India, has had foreign workers for a longer time and in more economic sectors. A shortage of skilled workers in the services sector, though, is one of the reasons that companies tend to hire foreign workers.

"At the time when I moved, there was a tremendous shortage of skills in a booming professional services industry in China," Mr Montoya said.

In seven years, the nature of expats moving there has changed. Earlier, they were mainly executives for multinational companies. Now, most of these jobs are being filled with local talent, Mr Montoya said.

The current crop of foreign workers in China tends to be younger and more entrepreneurial, mostly in professional services, advertising and luxury sectors. The Chinese government's stress on building research facilities and academic institutions means a lot of hiring is also going on in these sectors. Some expatriates of Chinese descent who studied in the West or have western nationalities, have taken jobs in China. They are often called "sea turtles".

However, professionals of non-Chinese origin have been appointed to top jobs in China. CEIBS, a Shanghai business school, attracted Bill Fischer and John Quelch as deans, from IMD and Harvard business schools, respectively.

Foreign professionalsworking in India are employed in sectors such as technology, banking, financial, car and pharmaceuticals, according to a 2010 Pryce Warner International (PWI) report. India's pharmaceutical and biotechnology hubs are also recruiting "repats" - Indians returning from abroad.

However, 10 per cent of expats give up on the experience each year because of linguistic and cultural barriers, the PWI report said.

In 2005, Infosys became the first Indian IT company to recruit directly from campuses in the US.

Joao Almeida, now an MBA student at Georgetown University in Washington, was in that original batch. He spent time mostly as a trainee in Mysore and Bangalore in southern India in 2006, was featured in a BBC article as the face of foreign workers in India's tech sector, and left the country after five and a half months.

Originally, he and many of the recruits were hired to be liaisons between the US clients and Indian IT development teams after their orientation was finished. He eventually left the company because he and many of the US recruits did not get the liaison positions due to the unpredictability of the number of such jobs available, Mr Almeida says.

Yet, he said, the experience was useful.

"Undertaking a role in an emerging market is a great way to prove oneself within a multinational," Mr Almeida said. "I would recommend this type of experience for any new graduate looking for a somewhat different experience that will give him or her some global perspective."

Language is one of the first problems to hit an expat worker, although it is not so in India, where English is the language of business.

For Mr Montoya, who said his Mandarin is reasonable but far from fluent enough to conduct business conversations, the language-learning process was "painstaking".

"Language and cultural training are essential," he said. "The most successful foreigners that I come across typically spent their initial years in China as students and only after being well immersed in the culture jumped into a professional career."

'Cheb%20Khaled'
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

Company%C2%A0profile
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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

Company%20Profile
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BRIEF SCORES

England 228-7, 50 overs
N Sciver 51; J Goswami 3-23

India 219, 48.4 overs
P Raut 86, H Kaur 51; A Shrubsole 6-46

England won by nine runs

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2a)
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)

Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)

Saturday

Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)

Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)

Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)

Sunday

Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)

Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)

Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)

It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

The biog

Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus

Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India

Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes

Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ASIAN%20RUGBY%20CHAMPIONSHIP%202024
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EResults%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EHong%20Kong%2052-5%20UAE%3Cbr%3ESouth%20Korea%2055-5%20Malaysia%3Cbr%3EMalaysia%206-70%20Hong%20Kong%3Cbr%3EUAE%2036-32%20South%20Korea%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFixtures%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EFriday%2C%20June%2021%2C%207.30pm%20kick-off%3A%20UAE%20v%20Malaysia%3Cbr%3EAt%20The%20Sevens%2C%20Dubai%20(admission%20is%20free).%3Cbr%3ESaturday%3A%20Hong%20Kong%20v%20South%20Korea%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

65
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EScott%20Beck%2C%20Bryan%20Woods%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAdam%20Driver%2C%20Ariana%20Greenblatt%2C%20Chloe%20Coleman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

Centre Court

Starting at 2pm:

Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]

Not before 7pm:

Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)

Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]

 

Court One

Starting at midday:

Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)

Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)

Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)

Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)

Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5