Event Detail

Robert Heldt, founder of Custom Media, believes successful entrepreneurs are those who treat obstacles as a daily exercise to gain advantage. He will share with us his motivation to set up a truly bilingual media company in early 2008, the year of the worst global financial crisis in recent history.

Robert will tell us about the obstacles he faced early on, such as when his first major magazine client went bankrupt and cancelled their contract after just two issues. Robert soon recovered, though, and went on to publish a bilingual luxury lifestyle magazine by using market conditions to his competitive advantage.

In 2009, Robert convinced the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ) to launch a membership and business magazine, called BCCJ ACUMEN. Business was barely back on track when the March 2011 earthquake struck, leaving him without a sales and production team but a huge challenge to keep his promise to the BCCJ earlier in the year to take ACUMEN from every two months to a monthly publication.

Constantly adapting and innovating in a rapidly changing industry, Robert has since led the company to expand into several areas of media, especially digital, most recently having created BIJ.TV - the country's first online, bilingual video channel dedicated to successful Business in Japan.

Speaker:

Robert Heldt is an experienced media, advertising and communications specialist. After a career in hospitality at a luxury resort in the Maldives, he moved to Japan in 2004. His interest in people, business and advertising soon found him a job as an account executive and later sales manager of the ACCJ Journal between 2005 and 2007. Soon after establishing Custom Media, Robert became an ACCJ member and very much enjoys attending chamber luncheons and other networking events. Robert is an active member and Task Force leader for the Membership Relations Committee's popular Meet & Greet events.

Join us to learn his secrets of thriving under pressure and turning challenges into advantages.

John Ghanotakis, Chair
Amir Khan, Timothy Trahan, Vice-Chairs
ACCJ Young Professionals Group Subcommittee

Thomas Shockley, Chair
Steven Bleistein, Paul Kraft, Vice-Chairs
ACCJ Independent Business Committee

NOTE 1: This event is OFF THE RECORD

NOTE 2: If you cancel after the stated deadline, the full meeting fee will be charged to your account. Sorry, no substitutions or walk-ins.