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As my first trip to Davos winds down, I reflect back on what was a productive, exhaustive and peculiar week. I realized about five days before I came that I was to be a sort of second class citizen. It hit me when I read the information on participants and figured out that even among the press there was a caste system. Media leaders, some of whom were former Forbes colleagues and around my age, had access to all of the approximately 220 sessions. The rest of us journalists could only go to 40.

The World Economic Forum had a welcome party on Tuesday night for new participants at the congress center, but that again did not extend to journalists. We weren’t allowed near the pavilion until Wednesday.

It turned out to be a good thing because instead I went that night with my colleague Mia Saini to a party hosted by one of India’s most successful businessmen where I had an enlightening chat with his wife, a former journalist, about how coming to Davos had become a ritual for many of the world’s wealthiest and most influential.   “Why has it become so important? To me, it’s become something psychological. It’s become that annual pilgrimage,” she explained, “A lot of action happens outside the congress center.”

Over the next several days, I learned firsthand how Davos is all about inclusion and exclusion; inside and outside, shuttle buses versus black cars with drivers. It wasn’t just that so many of my interviews happened downtown, not at the conference center. On Wednesday I went to a lunch panel at a hotel hosted by Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk on Modern art (and got to chat briefly with artist Damien Hirst). There were approximately 325 people at the event. I then dashed off to meet Nigerian billionaire Alike Dangote at the Belvedere Hotel where hundreds of people were milling around. I wondered who was attending the official sessions. (The Belvedere is the hotel where the strategic partners who pay $2 million for that title apparently get to stay; I stayed in a residential area called Davos Dorf, reachable by two shuttle buses, sharing one room with my colleague Mia, that had two Morgan beds we pulled down from the wall.)

Then there are the all-day governors meetings that apparently 30 industries including telecom and real estate held this week.  The heads of Exxon, Shell, PB and Apache were among those at the oil & gas industry meetings that took place at the Post hotel for apparently most of one day.

“There are two Davoses,” one person explained, “It has become very apparent in the last five years: the governors meetings and then the conference itself.”   

Actually, says Indian billionaire Adi Godrej, “there are 50 Davoses,” referring to the many side activities and parties.

 Speaking of the parties, there are lots of them and some are much more exclusive than others. There are the private dinners. I was invited to one hosted by Marvell Technology’s (nasdaq: MRVL) Weili Dai.  Tonight my colleague is going to one hosted by Canadian oil baron Peter Munk, at the invitation of another participant.

Then there are the nightly cocktail parties with free champagne, wine, beer (though last night for the first time, I was asked to pay. I moved to another party) . I spent a lot of time securing invitations while still back in New York but I shouldn’t have wasted my time.

For the most part, invitations though coveted are not necessary. German media magnate Hubert Burda’s DLD  group made me send my passport information and a photo ahead of the conference to make sure I could get into their Wednesday night party but I wasn’t even checked at the door. It was by far the most crowded, sweaty party of the conference; the India reception supposedly had around 400 people but I decided not to wait online after I heard that only 7 people a minute could get through the security scanning machines.

Of the 9 parties I attended (a relatively low number, to be sure), only two checked that I  was invited. The Accel Partners party, at the Kirchner Museum, they checked my name on a guest list; luckily I was on it. At Google (nasdaq: GOOG), which I thought I might slip into as a Silicon Valley CEO had invited me, they scanned IDs and I was turned away.  There were still other offsite parties that were much lower profile and nearly impossible to get into, unless you were invited or a young beautiful woman.

It is quite hard to get work done but that might be the point. (I, for one, slept 12 hours over four nights, trying to write and also network and take in as much as I could).  “I never work while I am here,” said Indian industrialist Rahu Bajaj, “It’s the biggest party of its kind. If I have to work, I’m doing something wrong.”

Others are a bit more ambivalent. Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen put it this way:  “The good thing about Davos is that it brings a lot of people together who have influence. But it’s a bit overwhelming. It doesn’t allow much thinking. It can provoke thoughts, but won’t provide solutions.”

What it does do is provide an amazing opportunity for the world’s most successful, and often interesting people to mingle and chat, whether it was ArcelorMittal’s (nyse: MT) Lakshmi Mittal and KKR’s (nyse: KKR) Henry Kravis bumping into each other outside a congress hall session room or Accel Partners Jim Breyer introducing me to Wal-Mart’s (nyse: WMT) chief Mike Duke in the corridor, there are plenty of spontaneous moments.

So did I get what I needed? I got to see about 30 billionaires of 69 and actually chatted with at least a 12, all of whom were gracious and often charming, including Lakshmi Mittal, who said he’d met me about a decade ago, and Patrice Motsepe, the South African who graced our cover a few years ago, I wrote 10 or so posts, though none attracted a lot of traffic (there are so many people covering Davos, I am not terribly surprised).  I met two who will make their debuts among the world’s billionaires list this March and got a few story ideas.  

As one banker told me, “When you are here, you are not sure what you are doing here but two or three weeks later, you realize how worthwhile it was.” It will take me about that time to recover and by then I’ll be plotting how better to cover the event next year.

If I do come in 2012, I will invest in a pair of decent black snow boots, elegant enough to wear with suits and skirts, at least during the day.  I just can’t face changing my boots at least 40 or so times over just five days.   

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Image by World Economic Forum via Flickr

Much has been made about the dearth of women at Davos this year and the fact that the World Economic Forum, in an effort to address this inequity, imposed a quota on its 100 corporate sponsors. These partners were told to appoint at least one woman among their five delegates. Still women comprised just 16% of the conference’s 2500 delegates. Perhaps the hassle of changing in and out of boots and dress shoes was just too much.    

Even among the world’s richest people, the women at Davos come up short. Of the 89 female billionaires in the world, just three, or 3%, apparently made the trek to Davos: Germany’s Elisabeth Mohn and Friede Springer and China’s Zhang Xin.  Real estate developer Zhang, who runs China Soho with her husband. appears to be the only billionaire to make the trip from China and is the only self-made woman at the conference to make our 2010 World’s billionaires ranks.   

Two other extraordinarily successful women at the World Economic Forum, who may well be worth 10-figures this year, are Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Marvell Technology’s (nasdaq: MRVL) Weili Dai, with whom I had a lovely dinner on Wednesday night. “Davos is eye opening. It is very different from what I do,” said Weili, “You meet different mix of people from all around the world.”

In comparison, approximately 66 men with 10 figure fortunes came to Davos, or 7% of the men on last year’s billionaires list. (At least one, Ravi Ruia, was a no-show but another I hadn’t counted showed up: Jeff Greene from the U.S.).

Here are bios on these Davos Women along with their most recently published net worth (Weili Dai’s figure is our estimate as she has not recently appeared on our list):

Elizabeth Mohn, Germany, $4.4 billion,

Second wife and now widow of Reinhard Mohn. She and her family inherited a fortune based on a 23% share of  $22.5 bil  (sales)  Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s leading media conglomerates.  Assets include the RTL Group, the No. 1 European broadcaster; Random House, world’s largest book-publishing group.  Active in the company as involved a member of the supervisory board, she is also president of a foundation that seeks to prevent strokes, which she founded in 1992.    

Friede Springer, Germany, $2.5 billion

Fifth wife and widow of Axel Springer, founder of $3.8 billion (sales) Axel Springer Verlag, one of Germany’s leading publishing groups. Now owns more than 52% of company, which publishes more than 170 papers in 33 countries, including leading German conservative daily Die Welt and Germany’s largest daily tabloid, Bild Zeitung. Axel Springer publishes foreign language editions of Forbes in Poland and Russia.  Active in various philanthropic organizations; has received numerous awards for her efforts to rebuild German-Jewish relations.   

Zhang Xin, China, $2 billion

She and husband, Pan Shiyi, who are Soho China’s chief executive and chairman, respectively, are one of China’s best-known business couples, renowned for their property firm’s stylish buildings. Zhang moved to Hong Kong at age 14. She later got a masters degree in development economics from Cambridge University in 1992. Got start at international firms Goldman Sachs, Travelers Group. Started Soho with husband in 1995.  

Weili Dai, U.S.,  est. $920 million

Runs chipmaker Marvell Semiconductor with husband Sehat Sutardja (see). Chinese immigrants met at UC, Berkeley; Dai studied computer science, Sutardja studied electrical engineering. They founded Marvell in 1995 with Sutardja’s brother Pantas; and took it public in 2000. She and her husband are both work approximately $920 million apiece.   

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, India, $900 million

Founded and runs Biocon, India’s leading biotech enterprise. Portfolio consists of medicines for diabetes, cancer and auto-immune diseases, including insulin. It is co-developing drugs with Mylan and Amylin Pharmaceuticals and also has a research services pact with Bristol-Myer Squibb. Art collector and active philanthropist, she donated $10 million for a new 1400-bed cancer hospital in Bangalore.

 

I caught up with Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, one of the wealthiest men at Davos this week, worth $10 billion, at the World Economic Forum’s conference center. Bertarelli made a fortune building and then selling his family’s biotech firm Serono to Germany’s Merck in 2007, but these days he is best known as the only European to win the America’s Cup, a feat he did twice, in 2003 and again in 2007. He lost to Oracle’s Larry Ellison last year, after the two feuded in courts for several years, and now says he won’t compete in the race again.

“I was successful doing it for 10 years. I lost it under conditions that I didn’t choose and were forced upon me by the New York court and I think it’s time to move…I don’t think the America’s Cup gives a chance for anyone to win but Larry Ellison. The cost, the lack of information, the technology have turned it into a prohibitive event,” explains the dapper 45-year-old mogul.

Bertarelli seems relieved and frankly happy to move on and has four areas where he plans to spend his time.  “I am excited,” he says, rattling off his projects. First there is his family’s asset management business run out of London. Through his private equity fund Ares Life Sciences, set up in 2008, he is also back to investing in healthcare, the sector that made him so rich. The types of companies he likes are similar to Serono when he first got involved: midsize firms that have good products but need management and money to expand beyond their borders.  

He has accumulated a 49% stake in Stallergenes, a  European biopharmaceutical firm specializing in the treatment of severe respiratory allergies by allergen immunotherapy, and has made a tender offer for the rest of the shares. He also has investments in such outfits as Euromedic International, which operates diagnostic medical centers throughout Europe, and Broncus Technologies, which is working to develop lung disease treatments.

Real estate is another sector that has caught his attention. He has properties in the Lake Geneva area and is looking for deals in London. “The prices are high but London is very concentrated and transparent,” he explains.

Still passionate about water as well as the mountains, (“Any outdoor sport where you can enjoy the water and wind or the mountains and air,” says Bertarelli) lives in Gstaad for six months of the year so he and his family can ski.  Plus he still has a crew to race one of his five yachts in the more low-key X-40 series that will travel through England, Boston, Oman and elsewhere.

He will also continue to support ocean conservation efforts. His family’s foundation sponsors, along with the British government, the world’s largest marine reserve, the Chagos Islands, and has successfully doubled the size of the ocean there that’s a protected no-take zone banning commercial fishing. “We take the sea more for granted than we do land,” said Bertarelli, “Close to 20% of the Earth’s surface is protected but only 1% to 2% of the sea. The only reason is our different relationship to water. We can’t see what is going on below the surface. Plus the animals are a lot less cuddly.”

Mark Foster is group chief executive, Management Consulting, at Accenture. He is filing for us while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Day 3

Davos is always a fascinating smorgasbord of topics and ideas packed into a day…and day three for me has been just such a day!  This morning, I facilitated a roundtable on healthy living and how to reverse stress and the effects of sedentary lifestyles – with a particular focus on children and adolescents.  I tried not to be too biased in my opinions since my own 13- and 16-year-old sons regularly remain wedged on the couch in front of the Xbox!  Onto a private meeting between key business leaders and the heads of various UN agencies to discuss how we can work together to help address some of the pressing issues around the world. The theme of convergence between multilateral agencies, NGO’s and business was at the heart of this discussion as it had been in a special workshop we facilitated with leading NGO innovators the night before. 

I slid down the icy hill to welcome some 150 British Business Leaders to a lunch we co-hosted where we were joined by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer as the keynote speaker.  He shared a realistic view on how to balance deficit management actions while encouraging growth.  The highlight of the afternoon was another special session on private sector development in Haiti.  I had the opportunity to visit this tragic country two weeks ago on the anniversary of the earthquake that killed over 200,000 people and saw firsthand the enormous challenges to be faced.  President Fernandez of Dominican Republic joined many leaders of global development agencies including the World Bank to drive sustained economic development.  I had an opportunity to bring to bear some of the realistic and pragmatic prerequisites for private investment in reconstruction…and all of this before 3.00 in the afternoon! All time very well spent.

RIMM CEO Jim Balsillie

This morning I went to a World Economic Forum panel on Redefining Sustainable Development, mostly to hear Bill Gates talk. Also on the panel were Wal-Mart chief executive Mike Duke and three heads of state, Mexico’s Felipe Calderon, Finland President Tarja Halonen and Indonesia’s Susilan Bambang Yudhoyono. The speaker who made the biggest impression on me was Research in Motion’s billionaire chief executive Jim Balsillie. He has never been one to mince words.

“I don’t want to come here as keeper of false positives…. I think we’re in a crisis, “said Balsillie in his opening remarks. “Should business have a public fiduciary responsibility?” he asked before answering in the affirmative.

“The nexus of issues is unambiguous: GDP growth, the number of people, energy consumption… anyway you look at it, it is going up four or five times,” said Balsillie, “Anyway you look at the math, it’s way way worse. We make about 8 times the food we need to feed the world. Until you rethink economics, there is no chance. We have to be radically ambitious.”

He is making an attempt to do something about it. On Tuesday he held a press conference with George Soros to announce a partnership between their economic think tanks today at Davos. Both billionaires agreed to invest $5 million a year for five years to the joint activities of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), of which Soros was a founding sponsor, and Balsillie’s Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

The new partnership will continue some of the work of INET, which was founded in 2009 in response to the global financial crisis, promoting changes in economy theory and practice. INET-CIGI plans to holds its first joint conference at the new CIGI campus in Waterloo, Ontario.

Balsillie, who called it the beginning of a “beautiful friendship,” talked about how much the two think tanks had in common. “We both think that one key issue is the global economy. We’re all connected and have a shared interest in finding solutions. In a release statement he discussed the partnership’s potential:   “Each of us brings something different to the table – CIGI with its focus on global governance and INET with its focus on rethinking our economic models. It’s a perfect fit.”

The only comment I heard from Balsillie about his business was when The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman was introducing him and said he guessed half the Davos crowd had blackberries. “Actually two-thirds,” Balsillie interjected. I, for one, won’t hear more. When I asked him after the press conference (where nearly all questions particularly by foreign press were directed at Soros) if I could speak to him, he quickly told me that unless it was to discuss the new CIGI-INET partnership, no he would not be talking to press.

Some of the other more interesting remarks from this morning’s panel:

Bill Gates: “We don’t want to sustain a situation where bottom 2 billion use very little energy. For every year for next 100 years more energy will be used,” said Gates, “You can say people should cut back, but a) it is not a solution and b) it is not going to happen. We want people to have better lives, but want to you have to make sure energy is using doesn’t cause a problem. You can’t have the world telling those people in other emerging markets to use less energy than in Europe.”

Mike Duke: In particular in relation to emerging markets around the world, we’re pleased that there are people living in middle class and living better. With this though will come great challenges. Expect energy costs to rise continuously over time. The demand for food will double and create immense challenges. It will require business and governments to work together. Business has a great responsibility and should not be seen as a conflict with serving shareholders.

Tarja Halonen: We don’t have another planet, we have only this one. It won’t be enough if just the U.S. and Europe take care of it.

Felipe Calderon: We need to change the way we live. We have to do enormous effort to change. Is the U.S. doing enough? No. I know there are a lot of troubles right now…but we need to put the issue at the top of priorities…We need to mobilize public opinio,. We need to change our style of life. We are not doing enough.