Paul Comrie took a BA Honours in English and Russian Literature from the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University, Canada, and an MA in Creative Writing, gained from the University of East Anglia course. He completed an Erasmus year at the former British University of Malta in Valletta, where he was a member of a professional German yacht team, arriving first in their class during the 2001-2002 Middle Sea Race. In 2006 he graduated from the Cambridge University Officers Training Corps as a Non-Commissioned Officer and was offered a position in the elite Royal Armoured Corps, tank division. During his studies he travelled widely throughout the republics of the former USSR, published articles in The Moscow Times and witnessed the brutal emergence of the market economy in communism’s wake.

In late 2006 he became an intern on The Hindu, India’s national newspaper since 1877, with a current circulation upwards of 3 million daily. He earned the designation of Special Correspondent and wrote long-form features on globalization and free trade in the new Indian economy and traversed the subcontinent for his work. He also began liaising and interviewing many of India’s leading political, entrepreneurial and artistic elite. India’s long history of international trade due to the legacy of the British Empire gave it, in his opinion, an important edge on other emerging markets.

In late 2008 Comrie began studying full time at the Chambre de Commerce de Luxembourg to gain the administrative tools necessary to successfully operate an international consulting firm. He incorporated LUXIND on August 3, 2009 and signed his first client two months later in October.

Comrie sees his role as primarily that of the facilitative partner – a mixture of the ‘rapid response’ field reporter yet retaining the decorum of the ambassadorial representative who can compile essential information and provide the European client with key introductions to Indian powerbrokers from the Public to the Private sectors. Increasingly, Comrie negotiates a PPP or BOT structure for the deal-flow of his European and Indian clients, and provides support in the crucial 6-18 months of post-entry period. He does not seek to replicate large consulting firms but to operate as a ‘niche consultant’.

He would also like to meet Not-for-Profits and individuals interested in working with disadvantaged Indian youth, in the hope that some of globalization’s positive effects might be felt at the lower stratums of the social hierarchy.