Meet Frieder Hack

A global BCGer

I’m one of the few BCG team members who has worked in at least four BCG offices — five if you count a collaboration with the Riyadh office. I joined the BCG office in Mexico City in 2014. Being German, I transferred to the Berlin office in 2015, a move that I thought would be like coming home. But once you’ve been an expatriate, your definition of home changes. I then jumped on an opportunity to work on a Middle Eastern public sector project, spending a lot of time back and forth between the Berlin, Riyadh and Dubai offices. In 2016, I transferred to the Dubai office, starting a new adventure that was also a continuation of my work in the Middle East.

Making a difference

In Europe and developed markets, consultancy can be a matter of percentages. It’s all about improving and optimizing the last few decimal points for competitive advantage and better results. But in the Middle East, the nature of the work we do is completely different. I’m incredibly lucky to have been involved with nation-building projects, working on dynamic policies and initiatives that chart the region’s future. It is incredibly fulfilling work.

The camper van of discovery

In 2019, my then girlfriend — and now wife — and I took a break for some reflection. We’d always wanted to discover South America, and we did just that. We quit our jobs, bought a camper van and off we trundled. We traveled all the way up to Colombia and down to the tip of Patagonia. Along the way, we met other travelers, some with jobs similar to ours and others from completely different backgrounds. They told us their stories, and we narrated ours back. And while I was telling my story, I came to the realization that I really liked what I’d achieved with BCG and the impact I’d made. It was a great story, and I wanted it to continue.

BCG Doha is family

On our return from our camper van world tour, I was given the opportunity to re-enter the BCG family, this time in Doha, Qatar. It’s been an incredible experience. BCG Doha is a smaller team and a very close-knit office, where we know everyone by name. We like hanging out outside of work as well, and see each other on the weekends. There’s no ceremony or hierarchy. It’s a startup environment where everyone chips in to grow the business. We’re expanding quickly and expect to double our headcount by the end of 2022.

My personal ambition for the Doha office is to build a football team, and to have enough good players to compete in the BCG EMEA Football and Volleyball Tournament. I used to organize our football initiatives in the Dubai office — and that team won our annual tournament after I had left. Now, I want to take our Doha team to victory.

Copy Shareable Link