Contributors

Stefan Zehle is a business planning consultant, specialising in telecommunications, media and technology.

Mina Toksoz has been a consultant on country risk and emerging markets for almost thirty years, including as head of country risk at Standard Bank, and director of Country Risk Service at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Gilbert Toppin is an independent strategic advisor and non-executive specialising in mergers and acquisitions and revenue generation. He has held a succession of senior roles in consulting services, including COO for European Consulting at Deloitte, and CEO at EEF, the manufacturer's organisation.

Aidan Manktelow is Director of the Economist's Corporate Network in Europe.

Jason Karaian is Senior Europe Correspondent at Quartz, where he writes about business, finance and economics. He previously covered the financial services industry for The Economist Intelligence Unit and served as deputy editor of the European edition of CFO magazine.

Graham is the Managing Director of Coleago Consulting Ltd, a boutique consulting firm specialising in the telecommunications, media and technology sectors.
Graham leads complex strategic and financial, multi-billon dollar projects around the world for clients involved in the telecommunications sector. Graham is experienced in advising on issues of strategy and value creation at board level, across a broad spectrum of communication businesses. He is a creative and innovative facilitator and business coach and co-author of The Economist Guide to Business Modelling and The Economist Guide to Business Planning. He is an expert in telecommunications strategic and business planning, business modelling and financial forecasting and valuation.
Before forming Coleago Consulting in 2001 with Stefan Zehle, Graham worked for Cable & Wireless where he provided internal consulting support across the C&W portfolio of mobile businesses including projects in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Australia. Prior to C&W, Graham worked as a management consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers in the Financial Management and Business Appraisal Practice.
Graham holds both an M.A. and an M.Phil in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge and is also a Chartered Accountant. When not consulting Graham pursues his passion for skiing through the Extreme Ski School he established in Verbier, Switzerland.

Fiona Czerniawska is one of the world's foremost commentators on the consulting industry.
She is the co-founder and director of Source, a leading source of information about the management consulting market. Fiona has had almost 20 years' experience as a management consultant, primarily working in the areas of marketing and strategy, initially with Coopers & Lybrand, before moving on to be head of strategy and business planning for EY in the UK.

Keith Colquhoun worked for many years for The Economist and covered Asia before he became the Obituaries Editor. He is also the writer of more than ten novels including Killing Stalin and Filthy Rich.

Rita graduated from Cambridge and began her career in advertising. She worked at Saatchi & Saatchi for 12 years, becoming Vice Chairman and Executive Planning Director in 1995.
In 1997 she joined Interbrand, the world's leading brand consultancy, as Chief Executive in London; in January 2002 she became Chairman. She is in demand as a speaker and media commentator on all areas of brands, reputation, sustainability, marketing and communications around the world. Her writing has included the book The Future of Brands, and The Economist book Brands and Branding.
She is a non-executive director of Dixons Retail plc and of Bupa, and also chairs Populus, the opinion pollster to The Times. She has been a member of the Government's Sustainable Development Commission and is on the Assurance and Advisory Board for BP's carbon-offset programme 'targetneutral'. In 2006, she was appointed Visiting Professor at Henley Business School, and as a trustee of WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) in 2007. She was made President of the Market Research Society in 2010, and her latest appointment is as Chairman of BTCV, the leading conservation volunteering and social enterprise group.
Last, but certainly not least, Rita has two teenage daughters.

G. T. Karber grew up in Arkansas, the son of a judge and a civil rights attorney. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas with a degree in mathematics and English literature before gaining a MFA from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. As the General Secretary of the Hollywood Mystery Society, he has staged more than thirty immersive whodunits in the Los Angeles area.

Jean Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of Maigret and methodical police procedurals – restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Jazz saxophonist, political activist, and screenwriter, Manchette was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Dashiell Hammett. He remains an inspiration to the new generation of French mystery writers who have come in his wake.

James Birch is a curator who has promoted modern art exhibitions around the world for over thirty years. He opened his first gallery in 1983, followed by two more in
London over the next two decades. James has exhibited artists including Grayson Perry, Francis Bacon, Gilbert & George, Genesis P Orridge, Austin Osman Spare, Eileen Agar and Denis Wirth-Miller.