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PETER GORVIESVKI
moved to Hong Kong. My responsi-
bility was to develop the business in
the region across 9 countries. I con-
tinued to work hard, traveled every
week, and had heaps of fun building
the business. “Go to each country
and understand our business like
you do in Australia, turn over every
stone, and then come back and let us
know how we’re going to make more
money”, was my order.
Can you give us a brief background
of your history?
I started working in international
freight forwarding at age 19.
Early on, I learned that the excite-
ment for me would be in business
development. I’d get a buzz from
making appointments for my boss
and him going out and securing the
business. I needed more and within
a few years, I moved on to a company
who’s incoming leader had extensive
international experience and he was
successful.
I followed his style and together we
built the team and doubled the busi-
ness within a few years. At 24, I took
over the office as the youngest State
Manger in the industry.
Within 3 years, I was promoted to
Vice President, Asia, and Evdoxia (my
wife) and I, with Claudia - our 1 year
old daughter at the time, packed and
LEAD | January 2018
I loved it. We had a huge few years.
Our son Christian was born in Hong
Kong. My next task was to go to
Singapore, where I’d oversee the
merger of 3 group companies. It
was tough, but an incredible experi-
ence. Shortly after, I left the company
and came back to Australia with my
family and entered into a partner-
ship to set up a new business. The
company was well-established in the
USA. I hired my very first supervisor,
and we started the international divi-
sion, working from a small office in
Melbourne.
The business grew quickly and within
6 years, we’d opened 7 offices in 6
countries. In 2007, and after reeval-
uating the direction of my life, I
decided it was time I give back to
society. By the end of the year, I sold
my interests in the business and
and threw myself into it. Evdoxia
and I travelled. We joined the entre-
preneur group XL, attended courses
and met like-minded people. It was
during that time, I met the Founder
of the Global Dialogue Foundation,
and was blown away with his life’s
work and vision.
Things then started to come together.
We incorporated Global Dialogue
Foundation as a charitable trust to
continue his unique work and soon
after, the “Unity in Diversity” project
was partnered with the United
Nations Alliance of Civilizations.
Since then, our team has worked
tirelessly on organising major Unity
in Diversity events; also presenting
the vision internationally on various
platforms; launching community ini-
tiatives; inaugurating peace gardens;
establishing country assemblies; and
finalising the movement’s frame-
work which includes a global pres-
idency representing 19 countries, a
consortium/advisory body, a general
assembly and members from over 50
countries.
The GDF Unity in Diversity project
serves as the nucleus of a nascent
“United Civilizations”. During this
time, I was also looking for more per-
sonal development. As luck would
have it, I did The Avatar Course
and went on to become a licensed
Avatar Master and to this day, con-
tribute to its mission. Just 4 years
ago, I began to fulfill one of my life-
long dreams, which was to build a
family business with my brothers.
Today, I share the majority of my
time between our business, Global
Dialogue Foundation and Avatar.
What are your principles in
business?
Excellence - Be the best we can pos-
sibly be in our market. Value our cus-
tomers and give them an excellent
experience.
Reliability - Make sure we meet
expectations and exceed them.
Also, ensure our people are part of
the team, feel its safe to learn, grow
and succeed.
Build trust - Choose the path of
honesty
Respect - assure our stakeholders of
our highest regard for them
Loyalty - be kind and provide as
much support as possible. Make