INTERVIEWMIEUX VAUT TARDQUE JAMAIS!Sean Feast FCICM talks to Pierre Haincourt MCICMabout international collections, the benefits of anEndives au Jambon, and why late is better than never!WHEN Pierre Haincourtwas young, he wanted tobe a vet. Work experiencein a veterinary practice,however, brought himout in a rash, and a fastdiagnosis that he suffers an allergy toanimal fur.With a love of cooking, he thought brieflyabout becoming a chef: “I knew I didn’t wantto work in a restaurant,” he explains. “But Ihad an idea of buying a van, and taking it tothe market like a ‘pop-up’ and cooking up andserving whatever I fancied cooking that day. Ialso envisaged doing a deal with the local winemerchant to match a wine with the food.”As it was, Pierre’s career took him in acompletely different direction, although hisearly years were far from plain sailing.French connectionBorn in Le Touquet, the charming Frenchseaside town that Pierre says is habitually‘invaded by tourists’ (I should point out that I amone such tourist, as Pierre knows. On every visitI call him for his culinary recommendations.),Pierre’s mother owned a high-end fashion shop:“I am forever respecting of our invaders becausethey visited my mother’s shop which helped payfor my swimming lessons and clubs,” he jokes.A keen sportsman, Pierre showed particularpromise in volleyball, and as a junior was a futureFrench hope, but was never quite good enough:“I went to the national training centre and at thetime was quite tall for my age. Unfortunately,others became taller.”First educated locally, Pierre admits to makinga slow start academically: “I was not very good atmuch,” he concedes. “My English was OK and Ienjoyed economics. I was also OK at French upto a point, but never great at seeing a particularmeaning or interpretation in a poem. If theteacher said it meant one thing, I always seemedto find the opposite meaning!”As an asthmatic, Pierre’s early schooling wasfollowed by time spent at a school in the Pyrenees,where the fresh air was more conducive to ahealthier lifestyle. His fellow students werean eclectic mix of locals, asthmatics and thoseheaded to the mountains to become future skiinstructors: “It built my network from all overFrance,” he laughs.He scraped through his first baccalaureate bythe skin of his teeth, so opted to stay on and retake,this time with a greater focus on economicsin preference to French language and philosophy.With a considerably improved result, he left forMontpellier, where he studied between 1986 –1988 for a degree in International Trade.International paymentsIt was through his studies that he first becamefamiliar with different methods of paymentand credit – Documentary Credits, Letters ofCredit, Open Account etc. – as well as customsrules and regulations, and how they variedacross borders. He also became familiar withIncoterms – the set of international rules whichdefine the responsibilities of seller and buyer inan export transaction.With his new-found qualification, Pierrechose to remain in Montpellier, partly to bewith his girlfriend at the time, and at first tooka job as an English language teacher in a privateschool as well as selling insurance door-to-door.Despite sending off countless CVs to prospectiveemployers, no-one seemed interested: “Irecognised that in France, unless you haveexperience or have graduated from one of thetop business schools, jobs were difficult to comeby, so I got fed up and went to England!”In England, Pierre at last struck lucky. Hismother had given him the name of the creditmanager at Burberry’s, and a phone call led toan interview where he discovered they werelooking for a French-speaking credit controller.Ten days later he started out of the offices in theEast End, adding a slight cockney accent to hisalready accented English: “I was pretty muchgiven a sales ledger and told ‘off you go’!” he says.Within three years he had risen to assistantcredit manager: “I wanted to be able to phonethe clients who were paying us late but was toldthis was what the sales manager did, so I decidedto look elsewhere,” he explains. “I spotted anadvertisement in the Evening Standard for a jobat Credit Limits Ltd (CLL) in High Barnet, andso at the start of 1992 extended my career intodebt collection.”Cross-border agenciesHis brief from the founder, Derek Dishman, was tocreate and develop a cross-border service withinCLL: “When I arrived, we had one bank customerBrave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / December 2022 / PAGE 30
INTERVIEWAUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM❝“I was not very good at much, my English was OK andI enjoyed economics. I was also OK at French up to a point,but never great at seeing a particular meaning or interpretation ina poem. If the teacher said it meant one thing, I always seemed tofind the opposite meaning!” – Pierre Haincourt MCICMBrave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / December 2022 / PAGE 31continues on page 32 >
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