ECCT SME-CENTRE WORKSHOP

“Successful Exporting”
Also called – “I could sell that in my country”

Guest Speakers
Mr. Christophe Prost, Manager of Q.C.S. Asia
Mr. Laurent Balian, Manager of Fatton Taiwan

Event co-organizer
Chinese Culture University Innovation Incubation Center

14:00 – 17:00, Friday, July 16, 2010
Chinese Culture University JianGuo Branch, Room 904 /
中國文化大學建國南路, 904教室
No. 231 JianGuo South Road Sec 2, Taipei /台北市建國南路二段231號

Most foreigners that come to Taiwan have at some point in time been struck with the thought – “I could sell that in my country.” So how to get it right? How to build a successful exporting business that has the right products, strategy and staff? What functions can you outsource and what do you need to do yourself?

Mr. Christophe Prost is from France but has lived in Taiwan for 19 years where he has built a very successful business exporting key chains and corporate gift items. He now runs his own production plant in China and has customers all over the world. He will share with us his hard earned experiences, not to jump the gun, but here are a few early pieces of wisdom:

“The cheapest price is never the most competitive.”
“The product has no value at all, service is everything!”

Our second speaker is Mr. Laurent Balian, manager of Fatton Taiwan, a 101 year-old forwarding company. Mr. Balian will be able to fill in with the technical aspects of moving products from A-to-B in the most efficient manner.

So if you have ever wondered if you could make money selling X in country Y, then this workshop is for you. The workshop will be followed by a Q&A session, during which attendees are invited to raise questions related to their own companies or potential exporting deals.

This ECCT SME Centre Workshop will also be the occasion for two members to briefly introduce their company– a feature that happen at every ECCT SME Centre organized events.

The Chinese Cultural University and the SME Centre has established an Internship program. The goal is to give students a chance to work in an International environment and get practical work experience and on the job training. Some will even get a chance to practice their English abilities. This experience will boost their chances to get a job of their liking after graduation, perhaps even at the company at which they are interning. The ECCT SME Centre members wish to showcase the many career opportunities they can offer and attract top-quality job applicants.

As part of the Internship program the SME Centre members will also provide training about the qualities and attitudes they feel students need to nurture to be better employees and also further their own careers.

Due to the wide variety of companies who are members of the SME Centre, all interested PCCU students will likely get a chance to apply for an internship in their chosen field.

• Business Management
• Marketing
• Consulting
• International Trade
• Finance
• MIS/IT
• Education

In a world filled with global companies who trade in every corner of the world it is important for job seekers to display both skills in their profession but also cultural understanding and language ability. Landing one of the Internship positions with the SME Centre members will add invaluable work experience to a students resume.

On November 26, the SME Centre conducted a seminar together with the School of Continuing Education (PCCU) at Chinese Cultural University, JianGuo South Road. The topic was: Use online and offline market surveys and telemarketing to launch your new product or reach a new market.

This event was sponsored by Enspyre, 104 Survey and PCCU.

Are you a…

• Foreigner who runs an SME in Taiwan?
• Manager of a local branch office of a foreign company?
• Owner or Manager of a company that have specific services or products catering to SMEs?

Then you should join the ECCT SME Centre.

The SME Centre was established in 2007 to champion our members’ business in Taiwan.
The ECCT SME Centre is a unique platform for SMEs to network and build “guan xi” with the Taiwanese government, Taiwanese business associations and other foreign owned and managed SMEs.

ECCT SME Centre Membership benefits:

Networking and business opportunities that "Make your business grow"  

• Attend the many SME Centre events to gain knowledge from qualified professionals and network with fellow SMEs and other stakeholders
• Attend the ECCT Monthly Luncheons where you have the chance to meet our 350 other members like HSBC, ING, Tatung, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Nestle, Carrefour, and Acer as well as EU business leaders and embassies.
• Invitation to luncheons and Dinner meeting with political leaders of Minister levels and prominent business leaders, that includes,
  • Roundtable Meeting, 2 times a year
  • Special luncheon/presentation by special speaker, non periodically
  • Professional Workshop, 2 times a year (latest tax/ regulation update)

Promotion of the company and services

• Promotion of your company and sercives in the monthly newsletter sent to all members of ECCT SME-Centre
• Profile of your company listed on the ECCT SME-Centre website

 Information and communication

• One year subscirpiton to ECCT bi-monthly newsletter EUROVIEW
• ECCT SME-Centre newsletter with topics adjusted for SMEs in Taiwan
• Outputs from all events organized by ECCT SME-Centre

Other benefits:

• Service coupons from ECCT SME-Centre members valued at 75,815 NTD

Service coupons offered to the new members of ECCT SME-Centre

BECC Consulting Group

BECC Platinum Membership Card

Value of the membership: 30,000 NTD

With the membership card you can get:

• One Free English Placement Test
• Free entrance to all BECC-hosted mixer events
• Able to bring up to 3 guests to events free of charge
• Free BECC Business Tips Newsletter email
• Membership access to online learning and content
• Up to 25% discounts on all corporate training
• BECC Professional Presentations Club Membership
• BECC Business Reading Club Membership
• BECC Cafe Evening Seminars Membership
• BECC Discussion Events Membership
• Exclusive access to professional editing (at 25% discounted fee) to be booked 2 days in advance to guarantee consultant availability
• Exclusive access to Professional 1-1 training/consultation (at 25% discounted fee) for ad hoc presentations/meetings  *to be booked at least 2 days in advance to guarantee consultant availability
• One free 1-1 English communications skills consultation
• One free Needs analysis report 

Enspyre

Free 3 month contract for Enspyre Virtual Office Service

Value of the service: 23,315 NTD

In the service it is included:

• Use our Central Taipei office address on your business cards, website etc. We will receive your incoming mails or couriers and forward to you once a week
• We provide a dedicated telephone number that we will answer in your company name and assist your callers. A total of 60 calls included for free
• We also provide a dedicated fax number and will forward the faxes to you by email.
• Receive call messages (in English) via SMS and e-mail or log into our customer website to stay on top of your business from anywhere
• A custom recorded voice mail message during evenings, weekends and holidays. We will check the voice mail box daily
• Experienced and professional staff to manage your calls
• Manage your call instructions online via Enspyre
• Standard deposit is waived
• Service hours: 9 AM – 6 PM, Monday - Friday

Enspyre is offering for all ECCT members great deal on telemarketing: 30 free test telemarketing calls then 5% off Enspyre B2B Telemarketing Contracts above 32,000

• Enspyre's professional telemarketers help companies market anything from multi-million dollar ERP systems, Online Pay-Per-Click advertising and Golf Tournaments
• If you need to expand your business or launch new products in Taiwan, Enspyre's telemarketing services is the most cost effective method
• Enspyre's Telemarketers can not only help you set appointments or invite them to seminar, but we can also log other information which means you are getting market research data as well

Smerwick on Site

4 hours of IT Services

Value of the services: 10,500 NTD

In the services it is included:

• IT maintenance and support
• Audit and consulting
• Corporate support and services
• Network Management
• Tech support / Troubleshooting
• Hardware and software purchase
• Servers and workstations setup and integration

Songfuli

4 hours of IT training session

Value of the session: 12,000 NTD

The training can be about any of the following:

• IT-basics: file formats, databases, graphics, networks
• Communication: Email, Voice over IP
• Security: Cryptography, spam, malware
• Web applications: blog, wiki, content management system
• Internet marketing: search engine optimization
• Open source software: usage, applications, examples

Activities to date:

Since October 2007 the SME Centre has arranged a number of events with topics like Internet marketing, branding, logistical solutions, accounting, HR and ARC related legal issues. The SME Centre members has also had the chance to meet and get to know these prominent leaders:

• Dr. Robert Lai, Director of Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Small and Medium Enterprise Association, www.moeasmea.gov.tw
• Dr. Yi-yuan Yueh, General Director for the very influential Institute for Information Industry, www.iii.org.tw
• Mr. Cliff Hsu, Assistant Director of the National Association of Small & Medium Enterprises, www.nasme.org.tw
• Plus many of their colleagues and other important Taiwanese organizations.

For information about future SME Centre Events, please visit http://sme-centre.ecct.com.tw

Comments from our members:

“I have never been a member of any Chamber of Commerce before, but I am very happy that I have joined the ECCT SME Centre. Via the events I have had a chance to connect with trade associations representing thousands of potential clients, I have received free consulting help from a top-rated consultant and I have been invited to join a national speaker tour. Not to mention I have met a lot of fellow SME leaders. I feel I am now able to connect to the Taiwanese market and society in ways I have never thought possible before during 8 years doing business in Taiwan.

As co-director of the SME Centre of course I am partial, but I would suggest everyone to join up.”
Elias Ek, Co-Director ECCT SME Centre and President of Enspyre (www.enspyre.com)