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Ineke Botter Quotes

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“It was a late Friday afternoon when old Mr. Bartha came to my office. I offered him a drink and gave him a quick rundown of what we needed. I had prepared a Memorandum of Understanding and handed it over to him. When he saw the daily fee, which was market rate, but lowish, he suddenly became very emotional and cried. He said he couldn’t accept. His company was almost bankrupt, hundreds of families with children were very poor now. Couldn’t I raise the fee a little bit, he asked, shyly. I looked at him and saw him struggling, my heart broke, this old man was trying to help so many people. I thought about my budget and about what I would have to explain to the new CEO, Christian, a nice and competent Norwegian, and decided instantly to raise the fee. And as for my budget and explaining it to Christian, I’d cross that bridge when I get to it, I thought silently.”

“The mobile industry quickly developed, and lawyers, investment bankers, consultants and contractors offered their services. The feeling of ownership of the projects and the effort of getting networks up and running within the shortest possible time span was gigantic. Engineers slept in their cars to make sure that they could start early mornings, ‘war rooms’ were kitted out with huge maps, project timelines, pictures and milestone markers. Contests ongoing between different teams in the specific country regions where we were building. Employing a thousand people in no time and generating work for tenfold that number; network and other suppliers, construction companies, distributors, retailers and other often highly skilled third parties.”