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changing his mind," Maurice says of his father. "I’m not really sure what he wantedmost. I know he wanted me to work in the business. I tried that for two years whileI was at business school, and didn’t enjoy it. Mainly I think he wanted medependent on him.""A lot of people hadtold me I must becrazy, going off on aworld cruise Iwanted them to seethat we weren’texactly going to beroughing it"The Atlantic crossing was quickly moved from the back burner to the sideboard.That Frankefort would continue law school was a given. "I finish things that I start,"he says. But that meant earning money to pay for it. He worked as a bar tender, hedelivered newspapers, he was a bank courier and a night watchman, and hecleaned hotel rooms until a student friend passed on a job chauffeuring visitinglecturers brought in by the Global Panel, a speaker’s congress in Holland. "Imanaged to set up a relationship with BMW," Maurice says. "I came in at just theright time. They’d been involved with Global, but they wanted to expand theoperation. They gave me 40 brand new BMWs because they knew the cars wouldbe photographed while carrying the likes of Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, HelmutSchmidt, and Robert Maxwell. I, and the students I hired to help me, would driveright to their private jets and pick them up. I had to work closely with the police,who sized me up – the idea of a student running the operation was a little strangeto them – but we had a good relationship. I did this for three years and made goodmoney, about $7,000 US per event. I remember sitting around a breakfast table onemorning with several international dignitaries. When food arrived, Henry Kissingerpassed me my breakfast. I got a kick out of that. I was 24 at the time."From the outset of his education, Maurice had decided to swim against the tideand avoid specialization. "Once you specialize," he says, "you’re trapped, you cannever get out of the box. But studying law is good, especially the comprehensiveway they teach it at Leiden. A professor told me law is like the study of Latin, itforces you to think in a structured fashion. I wanted to avoid areas like criminal law.But my CV had to appear to future employers as if I had made a reasonable plan,so I thought okay, I have a business degree, I will study corporate law. That lookslike a pair, at least on paper."Frankefort belonged to the rowing club at Leiden, where he took notice of anattractive, serious young woman from Rotterdam named Eveline who came inregularly to work out. He didn’t like his chances with her. He figured he was a bittoo outgoing for the quiet, self-possessed blond. Eveline also took notice ofMaurice, but thought she might be too reserved for such a gregarious fellow.Eveline was also in the law school, although she would eventually transfer to theFrench department. The breakthrough for them came at Senior Year Evening atLeiden’s Minerva fraternity. "That’s the night the seniors take over the place, so wewere in a festive mood," Maurice says,”Eveline and I finally got talking during theparty, and later she came to my place. The next day I called her and we arranged tohave dinner. Over dinner it was very clear to both of us that this was it."Maurice accepted a job with a company in the UK that developed wood productstechnology. It wasn’t the business that appealed to him. He was inspired by the manwho hired him. He was also inspired by one of the first people he met at the company,Alex Charles, a new employee like himself. Alex had studied forestry science in NewZealand, specializing in wood technology, and had a business degree as well. The twostruck up an immediate friendship. "Maurice is very intelligent," Alex says, "a goodperson to bounce ideas off. In general the Dutch are sensible about things. If aDutchman encounters a problem, he usually resolves it in an unemotional way." Alexwas also close to one of the company’s directors who had other projects in the fire.Soon the three men were in collaboration. Within a few months of joining the UKcompany, Maurice and Alex were traveling around Europe working on a variety ofprojects. The director provided financing, and set up a performance system for them toacquire equity. "We had moderate success," Alex says, "then the scene shifted to Asia."42 www.oystermarine.com