For those with an entrepreneurial kick in them, you may visit Japan's entrepreneurial websites for some business ideas that are well received among the foreign population staying in Japan. They may not guarantee overnight fortune that will propel your net worth to astronomical zone. The enterprises may not even be sufficient for paying the bills. However, if you have the drive and dedication, small start-ups have unlimited growth potential to morph into a giant cash machine for the owners.

First business on the list to start is import as well as export or international trading. Japan seems to have it all and is a well know shopping haven. Name a good and you can find it at your nearest mall. However there is a market segment for marketing international goods to locals. These products may just be the one that Japanese has been looking for but could not get their hands on. Foreigners have taken the import as well as export business by storm by shipping in and out food, delicacies, clothing, cars and niche machineries. Next on the list is launching a restaurant. Japanese has cravings for international cuisines as well and it is one of the relatively easy businesses to manage. You can open a restaurant serving Indian curry or American burgers and there are no shortages of similar restaurants sprouting up in big cities. Expat segments are also a key target market and this has created employment opportunities for foreign labor.

Next up is launching travel agencies. Being a foreigner in Japan, the privilege of traveling freely is essential and there are times where you need to travel out of the country frequently. An emergency back home is usually one of the main reasons for booking the next flight back home. There is a tremendous market for retailing more affordable year round tickets unlike those offered by travel agents in Japan where tickets are usually marketed to travellers who take up package tours. Small scale companies in system engineering can be a business of choice if you have the skills. IT skills and labor is high in demand where big corporations like Panasonic are always on the lookout for talent. For those who dislike bureaucracy from a dull corporate environment, there are no shortages of IT engineering contracts for all independent contractors to bid for. It is definitely a market worth exploring.

Entrepreneurs can consider launching language schools. Many foreigners are looking for structured classes to enhance their grasp of Japanese language or any foreign language they intend to master. Classes that are popular and gifted teachers can venture out by starting small and slowly increasing scale.Another business segment worth exploring is sale of electronics. You can set up a venture dedicated for assisting in electronics installation and earn a small fee for your service. There are demands for this kind of service.

Another area of business is in the translation segment. There are countless different unique business languages and there will always be a need for translating technical documents in law or accounting. Acupuncture services that have remedial benefits to one's health are gaining traction and many have gotten into the game by helping people stay healthy while being remunerated financially. If you have the writing skills, one can consider opening up a publishing house by sourcing for creative writers and marketing their books to the local audience.

Last but not least, dancing is becoming a social norm and dance schools are increasingly popular. One can consider providing dance lessons, similar to language lesson by slowly building up a small client base before scaling up.

OPEC and allies' production cuts have prompted analysts to raise their forecast for oil prices at $56 per barrel in 2018.

Russia has become a huge contributor to the availability of oil in the world, reaching the number 12% by the statistic, including oil production and export. It made Russia be the second largest oil contributors in the world. They gave 70% of the Oil Production in the form of crude oil to the global world, and only 30% used on their own. They transfer the crude oil through the Transneft pipeline. This pipeline owned by Russia and monopole by them. They also export more than 80% of their natural gas, timber, and metals. On 2007, Russia has 8.1% Gross Domestic Product and made it be a number seven on economic expansion. This country economic had grown rapidly from the years of 2000 until 2007. And this growth really depending on oil and natural gas export. The high world oil prices made it even better. On 2004, this economic boom was being controlled by the government through the stabilization fund. On 2007, this fund reaches $158 billion, which means 12% of country GDP.

In winter 2008, the oil world price has decreased from over $60 per barrel to $40 per barrel and made a significant decreased to their GDP, made the government realized that the country had not had to depend on oil export only. This up and down of oil world price made Russia's economic sector became vulnerable, more than the other country. The ascension of $1 of oil world price, Russia will earn $1,7 billion a year. Though so, the long slumps of oil world price will mess the count on what Russia was expecting. There were two most intensive periods when Russia's economic was changed. It has happened in 2008 when the world price of oil grew to 8%, but then have a contraction until 6.5% in 2009. This extreme period has made the economics of Russia became unstable.

The decreasing of oil world price considered to have a possibility to impact the devaluation of Russian currency, Ruble. There was a big hole in the economic calculation of the budget. They have to trim their expenditure in 2009 to survive their economic condition.

Russia did the biggest oil export to U.S and Europe, but then both of these countries have a recession, and government makes a policy to reduce consumption of oil. This policy has made Russia oil demand to decrease. Then the Russia government steer the wheel to Asia-Pacific oil market, which has a rapid and significant needs of oil. Large economic growth country like China, South Korea, and Japan have made Russian oil quality price higher among them.

Russia expected the ascension of oil world price, so they will soon make a recovery as the global economic recovered. Also, Russia might slip off from the global financial crisis as the ascension of the oil price. On 2010, the expert has predicted the price of oil will be about $70 until $75 per barrel, which means they will have an additional budget from about $19,5 billion to $26 billion.

The future will always be unknown and change is constant throughout our lives. Technology advancement has allowed us to fulfill our ambitions and pace of new discoveries are speeding up as time goes by. Asia is a developing region where new industry entrants are disrupting the old industry landscape while the established players are constantly adapting modern methods. Asia is home to 50% of the population and many companies' expansion plans are fixed on the Asian region.

Wealth creation within Asia is rising at a quick pace. World Wealth 2017 Report stated:

The big three markets – Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe – contributed equally to a global increase in HNWI growth in 2016, pushing HNWI population upward by 7.5% and wealth by 8.2%. While Asia-Pacific remains the world's largest-HNWI market, its growth slowed slightly, putting it on par with growth rates in North America and Europe, both of which substantially boosted HNWI expansion in 2016 following slower growth a year earlier.

A handful of markets (including Russia, Brazil, and Canada) dramatically reversed course from declines suffered a year ago. Russia grew both population and wealth at about 20%, the fastest of all the markets, following modest decreases a year before, while Brazil rebounded from a sharp setback a year ago to register double-digit increases in both population and wealth.

The market rankings for HNWI population shifted considerably, with France surpassing the U.K. to take the number-five spot and Sweden moving up two places to penetrate the top 25 for the first time. Other markets to climb up (by one place) included Russia, Norway, and Austria.

Ultra-HNWIs6 reassumed their traditional role of acting as drivers of overall HNWI growth, climbing by 9.2% in terms of wealth and 8.3% in population. The increase boosted growth in markets with a high proportion of ultra-HNWI wealth, such as Brazil, where ultra-HNWIs account for 87.1% of overall HNWI wealth.

The 2016 World Wealth Report projection that HNWI wealth would surpass US$100 trillion by 2025 still holds, with global HNWI wealth needing to expand at a relatively lower annual rate of 5.9% in order to hit this mark, down from the 6.1% projected last year. To support the momentum, however, Asia-Pacific must return to setting a faster pace than the global average.

The business landscape is ever evolving. One of the main changes is in consumer purchasing habits. Consumers empowered by technology and tools have increasingly higher expectations. There is a rise in aging consumers in Japan and surge in young educated population in India. The diverse consumer groups calls for tailored solutions by businesses. Another main change is that there are always new technology inventions coming up that serve as industry disruptors. Established institutions are always on the guard of new market players. Risks such as cyber-attacks targeting financial institutions are more widespread. There are also opportunities as well such as the rise in fintech on the Asian scene. About 20 active fintech accelerators all around Asia have set up base in Singapore and Hong Kong hoping to attract talent and start up to power new future industries. Fintech investments in Asia alone had grown 4 times in 2015. For instance, ASX implemented blockchain, a new technology in the database segment.

Third changing force is the use of big data as well as insights. Data is ever expanding globally and organizations need to be able to extract valuable information for monetization. They need to invest infrastructure for analyzing consumer data and patterns. One form of innovative technology is the Thomson Reuters Intel Tagging tool. Progress can be made in quantum computing. Organizations that adopt these tools are bound to have a competitive advantage over their rivals. There is significant rise in volatility as well as uncertainty. Stocks, commodities and forex markets have experienced large swings. Corporations have to factor in market movement and attempt to comprehend market dynamics and use it to their advantage. One key event is the Swiss Bank's actions of uplifting peg for its currency. Negative interest rate policies are another key event which highlights the uncertainties. This has far reaching impact in terms of cost of funding for project investment decisions. Cutting edge tools need to be invested in order to beef up the speed of forex deals. Thomson Reuters proprietary FX can help corporations achieve efficiency and best deal executions.

Another main force is China's internationalization. China is becoming a heavyweight in powering global growth. Progress is being made to engage with the world and one such example can be seen from Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Market Connect program launched in 2014. China is stepping up its market reformation policies. RMB trading will gain higher prominence in years to come as acknowledged by IMF. RMB was recently included as a fifth reserve currency on the SDR. Regulations are also changing with times and will affect corporations with a global presence. Transparency is key to smooth business conduct and compliance is increasingly important for financial institutions. Corporations with quick and accurate access to regulatory pronouncements can assess the impact early and make changes to their business conducts.

Risk management is an important aspect when running a large organization. Top leaders are always navigating various risks in the market, operational and internal front. Having good customer data tracking system is a good solution to managing risks. Know Your Customers or KYC is an important acronym in the banking sector where stringent procedures are needed to manage client relationship and regulatory compliance. Asia is becoming a global trade hub which will account for more than 40% of worldwide trade volume by year 2030. One Belt and One Road ambitious project aims to solidify Asia's position as a trade hub by investing heavily on infrastructure. Corporations have to manage their supply chain effectively using technology in order to minimize supply disruptions.

Asia is home to many rising wealthy individuals. Opportunities are abound on private wealth management sector and corporations financial institutions must stand ready to capture market share on the money management sector. Ethics must be maintained throughout all business dealings as economies developed with greater respect for law and regulations. Corporations must continuously refine their code of conducts and best practices in order to preserve the trust and connection with their customers.

Michael Zink, former head of Citibank's Southeast Asia region, had provided key career lessons that are timeless and practical for one who is looking to work around the world gaining international exposures. He will be concluding his 27 year journey around 10 countries and will head back to the US and settle down for a comfortable retirement.

The first advice he shared was to always have faith in your team and eventually you can reap the rewards. Michael was heading a start-up top management team in 1994 in order to fortify Citi's banking roots in Russia. A bold decision was made to employ young graduates in their young 20s without any banking experience. The graduates are all very smart and talented with big dreams. It was tough bringing up the young team but the experienced bankers managed to pull through which cemented the leadership succession status and drove Citi's business growth in the Russian region. The once raw talent rose become country leaders in Kazakhstan as well as Vietnam.

The second advice was to put in place leaders who can resonate well with clientele demographics and have high employee engagement. This is to call for a diverse set of team leaders who can reach out to different segment of the client base and employee profiles. This will bring out the best in employees and earning trust to serve society in the best possible manner. The Singaporean branch is a testament to the ideals that

Citi worked hard to achieve. The top investment banking head, private banking head, commercial banking head and operations head consists of female Singaporeans. Singaporeans dominate the local leadership teams. Diversity is truly a necessity to create organizational value.

The third advice is to sharpen your skills and contribute more to rise up the ranks. Many people have this misconception that only millennials wants to contribute to meaningful work and have high learning exposures. This is not true as young graduates from the 1950s have the same notion and aspirations to work hard and be successful. Michael was tasked to handle operations in Port Gentil, a small town in West Africa. The young Michael was clueless on running a branch and did not get things going and voiced his concern to the country head for Africa. The advice he had was to be productive and useful to the organization. It hit him right in the head and proceeded to manage the branch with ease which propelled his career progression. It was intense but it boils down to perseverance and willingness to learn and fall and re-learn.

The final advice that he could offer is to seek out mentors and follow the paths of good role models. Michael was a very ambitious young lad and after about 10 years working for Citi and having 4 children, he started having difficulty balancing career aspirations and family commitments. He seek out a senior officer in Citi and managed to find out about 2 role models which had given him invaluable advice and actual evidence of having a good career while staying happily married. Always distinguish between mentors who will guide you in your career and do not hesitate to seek out role models who will guide you in your life. Be sure to show your gratitude by passing on the wisdom to the next generation after benefitting from you role model and mentor's time and generosity.

The world is huge and there are never ending stories to be heard and witnessed. Be bold to cross out of your comfort zone and stepping into a foreign country. Michael Zink is ever ready to contribute his humble opinion should anyone call upon him.