ILMA Compoundings - April 2020 - 34

ILMA ENGAGE
SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT
Q&A With Afshin Molavi of
the Foreign Policy Institute
at Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced
International Studies and
emerge85 Lab

isruption, disruption, disruption. With the international business landscape evolving exponentially
faster - and with all that plays into that movement
- it's more vital than ever to not only stay on top of trends,
but to be ahead of them. There are emerging markets to
explore, newer technologies driving business efficiencies and
unlimited other factors influencing the global economy.
The lubricants industry is as affected as any other, and as a
key representative for independent lubricant manufacturers,
distributors and suppliers, ILMA is tasked with keeping its
members up-to-date and informed on how to best meet
upcoming challenges. One of the best forums for these
discussions is ILMA Engage, and at the 2020 event, ILMA
has an all-star lineup of speakers to help attendees continue
to adapt. Among those speakers is Afshin Molavi, a foremost
expert on how developing and emerging worlds are shaping
the global business and economic environment. Compoundings
caught up with Molavi before his ILMA Engage visit to
learn a bit more about his background and get a sneak peek
at his sure-to-be-compelling presentation.
Compoundings: Could you please provide a bit of background on your career? What led you to become a thought
leader on topics such as disruption and international
business, economics and politics?

APRIL 2020

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

Afshin Molavi: I started my career as a journalist in the
mid-1990s, covering business and politics from the Arabian peninsula region. Straight out of college, I received
a tremendous opportunity to do a fellowship with an
English-language newspaper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Given
the strict limitations on covering Saudi Arabian politics in
any meaningful way, the reporters gravitated to covering
business and economics (where we could actually break
stories) and the diverse expatriate communities.
So, at the age of 22, I was covering business and economics as well as expatriate communities from the Philippines,
Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, the U.S. and other East
African, Arab and European countries. It was a blast. In one
week, I would attend and cover delegations ranging from
visiting Pakistani poets to South Korean electronics manufacturers, while covering the top business stories, as well as
interviewing visiting dignitaries from around the world.
I was fortunate to be in a place like Jeddah, which is actually one of the more cosmopolitan cities once you peer under
the roof and strip away the austere conservatism of the rulers
and religious establishment (at the time). It was in Jeddah and
Riyadh that I first developed a taste for whisky! More than
two decades later, I used an anecdote from that time in a story
I wrote for Foreign Policy Magazine, called "Johnnie Walker's

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ILMA Compoundings - April 2020

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