In 2021, we were honored to be invited to the 5th Taipei Prominent Enterprise competition and won the “Cultivation Contribution Award” among hundreds of enterprises !
The Taipei City Government is committed to building innovative start-up environments for a long time, and Taipei City is currently the Taiwan’s largest accelerator with startups.
Taipei Mayor Ko and Uniform Lin
We, STARTBOARD, have been supporting all foreign talents who plan to start a business in Taipei at first. Until now, we have accelerated more than 40 enterprises from zero to one, including a wide range of industries such as Sportstech, Edutech, influencer marketing, ecommerce, blockchain, and so on. Furthermore, nowadays, we initialized NETA programme to assist Taiwanese enterprises to expand their business into the Southeast Asian market.
Note: NETA is the abbreviation of New southbound Entrepreneur Training Alliance and also the meaning of master or leader(नेता) in Hindi.
You never know which decision you made is correct or not. However, we feel blessed to go with our colleagues from Day 1 until today with our initial mission. We believe that our core value is beneficial to society and the whole startup ecosystem. It is unavoidable to be confronted with ups and downs in the process, but these difficulties indeed form our enterprise, STARTBOARD. said Uniform Lin, CEO of STARTBOARD.
STARTBOARD teammates
In 2021, a total of 16 companies were given awards by the Taipei City Government. We, STARTBOARD, are also honored to be given the Cultivation Contribution Award.
We will continue to support every talent who wants to start their business in Taipei and other cities of Taiwan. Thank you all, we’ll keep dedicating ourselves to the right thing.
5th Taipei Prominent Enterprise competition
Group photo of 16 companies in Taipei Prominent Enterprise competition
Launched by the Thai government in 2016, the new economic transformation strategy – ‘Thailand 4.0’ aims to accelerate industrial transformation and to promote innovation, creativity, and advanced technology. Thailand has made remarkable economic development to further its strategy as Asia’s business center for multinational companies looking to penetrate into the Asian consumer market. Even though there are some challenges remaining due to political factors and the COVID-19 pandemic, many innovative business models have been created to accelerate the digitalization of the companies’ services and recent startups specializing in fintech, e-commerce, online trading, and SaaS have become more trending. Major steps have been taken to create ecosystems for startup incubation as it follows the ‘Thailand 4.0’ policies to support startup development at all stages. The steps include financial support and risk management, capacity-building for Thai and international startups, and increased connectivity with the regional and global communities. And so, STARTBOARD held the Thailand Theme Night on November 19th, 2021 in hope to encourage more entrepreneurs nor investors who are interested in the Thailand market to have a better understanding of the startup environment.
Prior to the main sharing session from the speakers, we received a few welcoming speeches from our special guests at the event. Firstly, Acting Executive Director of Thailand Trade and Economic Office (TTEO) Mr. Sunh Arunrugstichai briefly explained Thailand’s development as a country. Despite the COVID situation, the bilateral trade and investment between Taiwan and Thailand are still sailing smoothly. In terms of ease of doing business in Thailand, it recently has shown more opportunities, especially to young entrepreneurs, due to increased internet access and access to mobile banking. Moreover, he also mentioned how the Thai government has been initiating an Eastern Economic Corridor project (EEC) to prepare the zone for the digital era by emphasizing in the 12 industries that are considered as important drivers for the country’s sustainable development.
Mr. Sunh Arunrugstichai – Acting Executive Director of Thailand Trade and Economic Office (TTEO)
Assistance Investment Promotion Officer of Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) in Taipei Office Mr. Kittipong Thapanapaha talked about ‘Thailand Investment Opportunity for Digital Industry’ and briefly explained why chose Thailand as a place to invest. Thailand is considered as the Crossroads of ASEAN due to the country being surrounded by the world’s economic powerhouses which can provide more opportunities for startups and investors to not just focus on Thailand, but also on the surrounding neighboring countries. The country has also been recognized to be a manufacturing-based industry for decades but it’s time to move forward with the Thai government strategy called ‘Thailand 4.0’ so as to enhance efficiency in the production process and increase competitiveness. He also briefly introduced the BOI promotion incentive package and the digital promotable activities.
Mr. Kittipong Thapanapaha – Assistance Investment Promotion Officer of Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) in Taipei Office
Director of Thai Trade Office in Taipei Ms. Kallaya Leewongcharoen briefly introduced the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) with its mission to help Thai entrepreneurs to be competitive on the global stage by providing consultation and facilitating them through various service channels. It is also DITP’s mission to increase business opportunities for Thai products and services through international trade shows while also continually increasing the quality of their services.
Ms. Kallaya Leewongcharoen – Director of Thai Trade Office in Taipei
Representative of Thai Student Association in Taiwan (TSAT) Ms. Natwara Lohapraditakon briefly introduced TSAT which is an online community where Thai students gather together to share information about life and education in Taiwan. TSAT has done collaboration and receives funding from the TTEO for the events and gatherings they hold each year.
Vice President of NTUST Thai Student Association Mr. Chairat Mooksri briefly introduced the NTUST Thai Student Association in hopes that through this event the Thai students from NTUST can get more opportunities in the future such as special seminars, workshops, collaboration from organizations, or sponsorships.
In the video, President of Taiwanese Student Association in Thailand Mr. Nicolas briefly introduced the Taiwanese Student Association in Thailand which is officially the first Taiwanese student organization in Southeast Asia. Their organization’s main emphasis is to strengthen the relationship between full-time and exchange students that are living in Thailand. They also want to advocate the interchange of culture and education between Taiwanese and Thai people, especially the students.
By moving on to the main topics of the event, STARTBOARD has also invited wonderful speakers from different companies to share their experiences in building or expanding their business into Taiwan or Thailand.
The Business Opportunities between Thailand and Taiwan in a Post-pandemic Future
Ms. Woranath Khemasiri as the PwC Thai Accountant (Thai Expert of NETA) shared about the PwC launched the yearly Taiwan CEO Survey by interviewing CEOs of Taiwanese businesses who are listed in the Taiwan stock market and also the private sector. Based on this year’s Taiwan CEO survey, the CEOs’ view towards the post-pandemic future is positive as they expect the business to continuously expand and grow abroad. They also see the potential of Thailand, Korea, and Malaysia to be the biggest markets in the next few years. Due to the pandemic and the rise of conflict between the U.S. and China, it pushed the Taiwanese CEOs to consider risk management of their business and determine the possibility of which country to expand into. Then, she moves on to explain a few things to know about Thailand’s recent economic challenges and prospects for recovery. The tourism sector around the world undoubtedly got affected the most during the pandemic which led people to find places that are safe to travel to. For the country to change into a post-pandemic future, they need to upgrade the automatic sector as they are still traditionally doing business. And as for foreign investment in Thailand, business owners would still encounter some restrictions so they need to make sure that their business complies with the law while also managing to get tax incentives from the government.
Ms. Woranath Khemasiri – PwC Thai Accountant
Connect the Future by mmWave Technologies
Mr. Su-Wei Chang as the Founder and CEO of TMYTEK mentioned that two important things to remember when moving towards digitalization are energy as in power to the future and communication. The company’s mission is to improve life quality with mmWave bandwidth as the 5G spectrum will keep growing bigger into the future. Then he moved on to talk a little bit about Metaverse which is about connecting the virtual world with reality. With a lot of bandwidth like mmWave, it can support the foundation of Metaverse and also achieve a future where all smart cities are connected. As a startup, he wants the company to be able to solve any problems related to mmWave. And so, the first product they made is BBox which currently has delivered 100 sets of it to companies including KDDI, SoftBank, Fujitsu, several Fortune 500 companies, and research institutions. Furthermore, the company recently announced the world’s 1st 5G mmWave Developer Kit for Academics and Research while also wanting to support mmWave talent incubation. Lastly, the reason Mr. Su-Wei Chang chose to enter the Thailand market other than having good connections with many Thai friends, it’s currently not easy for the business to go back to Europe and the U.S., especially with the recent global economic situation. He concluded that Thailand is considered to be a good place to build businesses for many reasons such as the population being very open to it.
Mr. Su-Wei Chang – Founder and CEO of TMYTEK
KOL Marketing in Thailand
Ms. Thelma Lin as the Director of Taiwan to South Association talked about how some of the social media are utilized in Thailand. During the pandemic, few of the internet eConomy sectors were on the rise, especially the online media sector. Firstly, Facebook is still widely used by Thai people even with its complex algorithm to reach the target audience. She emphasizes the importance of knowing how the algorithm works and to try an advertisement mix to analyze what kind of content will attract the right audience. Then for marketing through Instagram, picture quality matters because it can attract more followers if the quality of content is good. Last but not least, Youtube is all about putting more emphasis on long-tail SEO, especially in how frequently you update with quality content. In addition to those social media platforms, LINE is also considered to be very popular in Thailand. According to Ms. Thelma Lin, Thailand has the second most LINE users, coming behind Japan as the number one LINE users in the world.
Ms. Thelma Lin – Director of Taiwan to South Association
The e-commerce market and industry in thailand
Ms. Bow as the Thailand Marketing Specialist of GDT briefly mentioned the company’s services such as e-commerce, influencer, and payment & fulfillment. In terms of e-commerce solutions, GDT would always recommend building an official website as it’s the best way to build first impressions and gather brand-based memberships. Moreover, nearly 98% of users browse websites via portable devices so owning an application is also useful to save marketing budget and enhance the relationship between customers and brands.
GDT can also provide OMO (Online Merge Offline) solutions and fulfillment solutions; which is about building the company’s very own warehouse. With their solutions, the GDT team is capable of providing the most thoughtful service with effectiveness in cost and time, plus OMO opportunities. Lastly, when Ms. Bow was being asked about the differences in marketing strategies in ASEAN countries, she mentioned some countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia would have their own social media platforms so it may be harder for business owners to penetrate into those markets. However, in the case of Thailand, it has more international platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LINE, etc. The other problem that should be taken into consideration when applying the marketing strategy in other countries such as ASEAN would be the language barrier.
Ms. Bow – Thailand Marketing Specialist of GDT
Smart Fitness Solution and Business Model
Ms. Frances Huang as the Business Development Manager of Uniigym introduced the company as a platform that consists of people who love sports and builds solutions for people who love exercise without worrying about time and space. Furthermore, they help to enhance the fitness experience by the use of AR trainers (AI interactive fitness service). The service not only benefits the families but also the trainers who want to build their personal brand. The technology will track the movement for its accuracy and also record exercise history and health data tracking. Lastly, the reason why she chose Thailand for expanding Uniigym services is that the people in Thailand are very open-minded to new things and are looking for convenient ways to connect with each other. So due to already having connections in Thailand, she easily managed to hire trainers, employees and influencers.
Ms. Frances Huang – Business Development Manager of Uniigym
After the speeches, we also arranged time for the audience to ask questions and to network with all the speakers. Many Thai students and talents in Taiwan came to build connections with Taiwanese companies and startups. And connecting the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Taiwan and ASEAN countries is always our mission. STARTBOARD will consistently fulfill our vision and we toasted for the continued prosperity of Thailand and the everlasting friendship between our countries.
Singapore is known for being a great place for expatriates, investors, and entrepreneurs looking to tap into emerging markets in Asia. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, any further business plan nor expansion came to a halt. Fortunately, Singapore already has a strong foundation in “Fintech”, “Information and Communication Technology” and “Service Industry” which can lead to further development of digital transformation. And so, STARTBOARD held the Singapore Theme Night on October 29th, 2021 in hope to encourage more entrepreneurs nor investors who are interested in the Singaporean market to have a better understanding of the startup environment.
The successful event was filled with many honorable guests such as Mr. Stephen Sun (Secretary-General of NUS Business School Taiwan Alumni Chapter), Mr. Chien-Ping Chung (Director of the Incubation Center of NTUST), Mr. Michael Lai (Public Relations Director of Singapore Taiwanese Student Association), and Ms. Roanne Hsieh (Vice President of AIESEC in Taiwan). STARTBOARD has also invited two Singaporean experts who are willing to share their hands-on experiences in the Singaporean market. Firstly, Mr. Aaron Asher Su (Seasoned Marketing & Sales Professional), who has gained a wealth of experience of 15 years in marketing, sales & business development. Next is Mr. Quentin Yang (Business Development Manager of Glints) who is the founding member of Glints Taiwan and has rich insights on the market trends and the startup ecosystem.
Cultural Differences in the Workplace between Singapore and Taiwan
Mr. Aaron Asher Su as the Seasoned Marketing & Sales Professional guides us to answer one of the main questions for today’s event: “Why choose Singapore for business or as an individual?”. Since he is a Singaporean living in Taiwan, he shares the reasons why Singapore is considered as the Asia HQ for thousands of global businesses. Strategic location, bigger talent pool, business-friendly environment, and many more as the government will provide various benefits for future startups in Singapore. While it may sound good for businesses only, there are also other benefits for the individual who plans to seek out more opportunities in the country. The work culture in Singapore is more flexible than in Taiwan as the people emphasize the results instead of the work progress. Also with other attractive benefits such as the robust job portals and multicultural diversity can attract numerous opportunists coming to Singapore. Due to the pandemic, many business operations are affected so Aaron emphasized the importance of being digitally transformed as it will bring great advantages to businesses and also upgrade one’s skills from time to time.
Mr. Aaron Asher Su – Seasoned Marketing & Sales Professional
Taiwan Startup Expanding to Singapore
Mr. Chien-Ping Chung, the Director of the Incubation Center of NTUST, shared his insights about expanding businesses into Singapore. Due to the Covid-19 worldwide, the government released policies to support startups with various subsidies in the country. As such, startups can get resources, funding, and the opportunity to expand into other countries. Numerous recommendations will also be given from the government and the efficiency of opening a business can be shortened to one day.
And in the latter section of the event, he moved on to share his experiences as the former director of AImazing. AImazing is a platform for mall management to collect shopper insights, tenant performance, and benchmarking in order to create data-driven decisions. It has supported more than 99% of Point of Sale Systems in Asia. Due to Covid-19, the impact on the economic sector has been greatly affected but more opportunities arise with the presence of digital transformation. To conclude his speech: “Singapore is a great location for most startups because it provides various subsidies”. As he mentioned before, various benefits from the government are accessible to anyone who is interested in setting up their business in Singapore.
Mr. Chien-Ping Chung – Director of the Incubation Center of NTUST
Singapore Entrepreneur in Taiwan
Mr. Quentin Yang, the Business Development Manager of Glints shared about the recruitment journey with Glints. Glints is the largest talent platform for career development and recruitment in Southeast Asia. Their vision is to impact 100 million careers and 1 million organizations and also to be the number 1 talent platform in greater Southeast Asia. Glints’ status is currently on Series C and has over 900 employees; including in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. They have seen many cases where companies have problems with a talent shortage, longer hiring time, and high hiring costs. To help tackle the recruiting issues, they have built a well-developed talent pool database algorithm and have professional consultants to organize the profiles for matching with the recruiters’ requirements.
The difference he sees between Southeast Asia and Taiwan is that the market in Southeast Asia has shown potential high growth and is also home to the emerging tech ecosystems. With Taiwan, he has seen the blooming startup ecosystem and the growth of skilled tech talents which led him to build the foundation of Glints Taiwan in hopes to expand the company across Taiwan and Northeast Asian countries.
Mr. Quentin Yang – Business Development Manager of Glints
The Delta variant made a huge economic impact on the whole world once again, but Taiwan enterprises have never stopped developing their business into the ASEAN market. In this era of harshness, there are still tons of opportunities. To step into this market, STARTBOARD held the INTO ASEAN MARKET webinar on 20th August 2021. In this webinar, we focus on two countries of ASEAN. One is Indonesia, which is the biggest economy of ASEAN, and the other one is Vietnam, which successfully controlled the poverty population from 70% to merely 6% within 20 years.
With many distinguished guests attending the event, including TAIRTA, IAPS, TTA, Louis Group, Cross bond, and NETA, this webinar became a huge success. STARTBOARD also invited experts from ASEAN markets and CEOs from Taiwanese startups to this webinar as speakers. The first one is Edison Hsueh, business deputy director of STARTBOARD, who strives to continue helping both foreign and Taiwanese startups with their business and resources such as government resources and Southeast Asian market trends. The following two speakers are representatives of Taiwanese startup companies. The first one is Ivan Tsou, the CEO of Formosation. Their first product has raised more than NT$ 1 million within just one month on the crowdfunding platform. They are currently expanding markets in Japan and Vietnam. Another one is James Chao, the founder and CEO of Destino Skincare. He adheres to the concept of “Excellent skincare products in line with international standards”, and continues to promote high-quality products and Taiwanese beauty brands to the international market.
Moreover, there are two experts from ASEAN countries. One is Evy Chang, the investor relations director of Wiziin. She led and implemented large strategic National Image projects combined with detailed market-trend and opportunity assessments with customer insights. And the other one is Antonius Agoeng, the founder of ISheEra, who has successfully assisted many Taiwanese brands in entering the Indonesian markets through his e-commerce platform and agency.
The overview of ASEAN Market and Opportunities
This webinar started with a speech, given by Edison, the Business Deputy Director from STARTBOARD. As an incubator, STARTBOARD focuses on assisting entrepreneurs from ASEAN and Indian countries to start their own businesses in Taiwan. For the past three years, they have been coaching students from both ASEAN and Taiwan to start their own businesses. Also, they have assisted Taiwanese entrepreneurs to expand their brands into ASEAN and Indian markets through marketing research and international connections.
Edison started his speech by introducing the strengths of all the countries in ASEAN markets. First, he pointed out the advantage of the large population. There are 650 million people in ASEAN markets. Because the birth rate in ASEAN is higher than in Taiwan, there is no need to worry about population aging. Moreover, the ethnological cultures in the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are all Hedonism when it comes to purchasing. It will keep activating the economy, especially in domestic services and daily necessities. Edison also focused on the startup ecosystem, mentioning the countries in ASEAN have been generous in giving resources. The atmosphere was delightful, which successfully boosted 12 unicorns in ASEAN markets. The credits all go to the operation of the ASEAN markets and the resources they contain. Also, this is the reason why Taiwanese enterprises should seize this opportunity.
Formosation, the advocator of oral health
Ivan Tsou, the CEO of Formosation, dedicates himself to improving and strengthening people’s concept of periodontal cleaning. To lower the rate of Taiwanese suffering from periodontal disease, he has developed a safe and convenient dental floss called “Morph” with partners from different specializations. This product has raised over 100 million dollars within only one month after being launched on the crowdfunding platform. The company is arranging the paths to Japan and Vietnam now.
Aside from Morph, Formosation has been promoting AntiQ Smart Toothbrush. By using an interactive APP, brushing teeth can be a game, helping people form a habit to brush their teeth. Also, by implementing subscription mode, consumers will maintain their habits in order to reach complete and authentic oral care. This product has been awarded the Top 50 international track announcement, standing out from approximately 2,000 groups in Startup Wheel 2021. For the future plan, because factories all over the world are moving south currently, Ivan has been considering establishing a branch in Vietnam, not only to do marketing research but also to find out more international talents to develop ASEAN markets.
DESTINO, the expert of skincare
James Chao founded DESTINO in 2011, which is exclusively for Taiwanese females. Their products aim to improve Atopic Dermatitis and other allergies Taiwanese have suffered. In addition, they contain hypoallergenic formulas the company emphasizes a lot to avoid overstimulation. James upholds the concept of becoming a top skincare brand and continues to promote Taiwanese cosmetics with excellent qualities to the world, aiming to integrate with international markets soon. The company has already sold its products to Japanese and Southeast Asia markets with success.
DESTINO has entered the online e-commerce markets in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. Local consumers value the whitening effect a lot, as well as the anti-wrinkle and blemish. Their new product, RUBY, contains cistus abstraction, which can smooth wrinkles effectively and meet the requirement of consumers from Southeast Asia. “ In a market full of the same products from different brands, it is Word of Mouth strategy that matters,” said James. He also pointed out that a product may not appeal to Taiwanese consumers due to the high price. However, in Southeast Asia, the same product may be a hit due to conspicuous consumption, which is the marketing strategy in DESTINO. James is looking forward to finding powerful connections with local enterprises in ASEAN markets.
How to grasp your Vietnamese startup marketing opportunities?
Evy Chang, the investor relations director of Wiziin, is a Chinese Indonesian. Because of this unique identity, she is utterly familiar with the Indonesian markets. Furthermore, she understands the traits of Vietnamese markets as well due to her two-year working experience there. At that time, Evy went to two startup companies and was the general manager and the investor relations director separately. She sources and verifies opportunities through reliable networks across Greater China and ASEAN countries in both the public and various ecosystems.
For the Vietnamese market, Evy firstly dives into the circumstance of lacking a fundraising platform in Vietnam. “If you think that it is so hard to find the investors, the investor may have the same problem with where he or she can invest!” said Evy. She also mentioned that the investor matching platform like Wiziin is like a CC cream of a company. Before a startup team entered a crowdfunding platform, they may have been competitive but lacked some package and marketing skills. Thus, this kind of investor matching platform can help them build up these skills and make them catch the eye of the investors in the Vietnamese market. Lastly, Evy discussed the significance of knowing their target customers. In addition, she brought out the importance of one group of customers, Generation Z. Generation Z, who are addicted to the internet and spend money like water, plays a crucial role in this generation of e-commerce. Evy said that we should take advantage of their characteristics, letting them be happy to buy your products. Making some positive and eye-catching marketing content could be your first step to try.
The vital materials Taiwanese business should get before entering Indonesia market
The expert of the Indonesian market in this webinar, Antonius Agoeng, is also a Chinese Indonesian. Since the twenty-year living experience of Taiwan, he knows the living ways and cultural differences between Taiwan and Indonesia so well. The promotion of the new southbound policy and caring for the women issue makes him want to found ISheEra, the company that helps Taiwanese brands entrance the Indonesian market by selling feminine products through an e-commerce platform and purchasing agents.
Mr. Agoeng firstly emphasized the importance of the e-commerce platform and purchasing agents by mentioning Generation Z. Further, he talked about the advantages of the Indonesian market, like the political stability, the growing numbers of Infrastructure construction, etc. “If you would like to enter the Indonesian market, please be friends with them sincerely,” said Mr. Agoeng, he reminded Taiwanese businesses to keep Hala and brand localization in mind.
The networking section
After finishing the topic lecture, the webinar went to another section, the networking section. In this part, they focused on the three topics “The steps of entering the ASEAN market”, “The strategies about dealing with covid-19 pandemic”, “The precautions of entering into ASEAN market”
In the aspect of entering the ASEAN market, they visited the pain-point of the market first. Agoeng and Evy mentioned that the crucial part of being well developed is earning the trust of the locals. Moreover, you have to be patient and have a long-term management attitude, which means that you shouldn’t think your products will be sold out easily and do not notice the thought from the customer’s mind. On the other hand, you have to get to know more about your customers like when will they buy your products? Ivan and James also share their viewpoint with the audiences afterward. They pop out the necessity of cooperating with professional teams and experts.
After the discussion about the pain-point of the market, the four speakers started further to the topics of the potential industry. Evy brought out Generation Z which she mentioned before and emphasized that the products that have a sense of freshness are the potential industry. Additionally, Agoeng said the health tech industry is also viewed as an important industry gradually. Especially for the consciousness of health getting higher than before, Agoeng recommended Taiwansese health tech-related industries to give a try on expanding their business to ASEAN.
Although covid-19 may raise people’s consciousness toward health and bring out business opportunities, it still affected many companies. In this webinar, both Ivan and James mentioned current situations, such as supply chain disruption and cash flow. Also, consumption patterns have changed a lot, which increases the importance of online shopping. Ivan pointed out the significance of the awareness of e-commerce. Changing business strategies as time goes on is crucial. Evy supported Ivan by analyzing the pandemic period. She does not consider avoidance a long-term plan. Companies need to have plans to adopt and prevent covid-19 from going on in the next few months or years.
As startups promote their brands and products into ASEAN markets, sometimes their marketing mindset and strategy remain the same as they used in Taiwan. Antonius pointed out that companies need to think twice about customer’s buying habits when entering local markets. Adjusting products’ information on each package while complying with the regulations will be one solution to make consumers understand Taiwanese brands better. Evy added that sometimes the business strategy needs to be flexible. For example, when composing advertising or marketing copy, putting local employees or interns in control may get better results than being coached by supervisors. Having faith in local employees and believing in their perspectives could lead to spectacular outcomes.
Speaking of the potential countries to expand businesses in the future, Ivan said his mid-term goal would be entering Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Among Southeast Asia markets, consumers in these three countries value teeth whitening the most. They are willing to spend a large amount of money on this benefit. Targeting this kind of consumer psychology will lead to a promising future for Formosation.
At the end of the webinar, we have arranged a Q&A section for the audience online. All the startup talents can leave their questions and doubts about starting a business or ASEAN markets in the live stream chat room. These questions from discussing the industry categories to talent management were all answered by four speakers, such as the feasibility of the online fitness industry and the difference among local customs, cultures, and use of languages when managing talents from different countries. The speakers have shared their personal experiences and problem-solving techniques with the audience without reservation. This Q&A section not only made online talents, who are interested in Southeast Asia markets, get loads out of it but also brought a successful conclusion to this webinar. STARTBOARD understands that ASEAN markets may be promising but unfamiliar areas for Taiwanese enterprises. Therefore, we are looking forward to helping startup teams, and small and medium enterprises enter the Southeast Asia markets. We are also willing to help them find talent to support their journey in expanding their businesses.
On July 19th, 2018, Thailand Theme Night held by STARTBOARD drew people’s attention, not only because of Thailand market’s volatility and attraction to the general public but our keynote speakers’ crucial insights – It’s undoubtedly an enlightening night full of excitement! So, without further ado, let’s review some of the best lines from our keynote speakers!
Mr.Olan Sumananusorn Culture differences and business development that we cannot ignore
Mr. Olan was born and raised in Thailand; through his 24/7 dedication, he’s had a real good command of Chinese. Believe it or not, he even delivered the speech in Chinese!
Due to his close ties with Thailand, he’s able to walk us through the maze of this overseas bonanza with unique points of view. Take the detailing explanation of its industry for example. Thailand has made the progress by leaps and bounds by focusing on distinguished industry during different period of time; from Thailand 1.0, which essentially made agriculture a focal point, then proceeding to light industry, followed by heavy industry. Nowadays, Thailand 4.0 has been highlighting the significance of creativity as well as innovation, paving the way for “Smart Thailand!”
Given Thailand’s complete supply chain and holistic trade ＆ investment system, in Mr. Olan’s terms, those conditions would rather be attractive, grabbing even more young talents’ attention.
Fiona Lee A Taiwanese young lady’s laser-like perception ultimately led to her huge success of starting up a business in Thailand
In her early 20s, some thoughts had constantly been tangling with Fiona – She’s always longing for a career success and the lure to expand her visions overseas was never settled. Therefore, she started to think about which country she should go and win a hand. She’s made her point very clearly and precisely “ Since in Western countries or such developed Asian markets as Korea or Japan, things were already heated up, and the environment is also highly competitive,” with firm resolution, as a consequence, she chose Thailand to make her stage debut.
Even though quirky challenges got in the way from time to time, Fiona got the talents to conquer all the obstacles; for those having startup ideas at heart and feeling deeply interested in Thailand market, here’s advice from Fiona if you want a successful case: Looking into the market
Her “looking into” here doesn’t merely mean the online research but includes your personal immersion into the market. Recalling the memories, Fiona said she used to sit down on the side, observing what Thai fashion is, and which genre of products may be the hits, so on so forth. Yes, when it comes to a business, standing in clients’ shoe is the priority! Language learning
“If you want to negotiate with Thai people, you definitely need to know their language!” Fiona stated. If in each occasion, whenever we wanna make a deal with Thai people, but instead of direct communication we hired an interpreter, it shows we actually lack the passion to deal with matters! Speaking their language is not just our capability, but also a way to show our concern and respect. Meanwhile, from attending a language school, we can make friends with locals, thus getting deeper insights into what they love, hate, and what their characteristics are! That’s something in terms of building up close social networks. Understanding of legal concepts
This part might be complicated and tedious, but if we ever want to steer our career life right, the basic understanding of legal concepts is a must! Incorporation, recruitment, taxes, bank accounts and visas etc, there’re various procedures we must bear in mind. Don’t let these quirky challenges steer you wrong, take the initiatives and be a problem solver!
Recently, STARTBOARD attended different events and meetings with Government representatives, also Taiwanese start ups. Here is some of the photos summarizing our last week.
Meeting with Taiwanese start up Follia
Meeting with Taiwanese start up Follia
Attending with Aimazing on Microsoft BizSpark Event
visit to Department of Industrial Development, National Development Council.
“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”
On 7th June, STARTBOARD attended NTU Garage Annual Meeting.
NTU Garage, which has been started in 2013, is a accelator program to nurture young entrepreneurs with hope of providing students and faculty with a friendly space to realize their innovative ideas. Start-ups that qualify for programs at the garage would enjoy various kinds of training and assistance for six months, with the overlapping period between applications and the program’s course designed to promote exchanges between the last group of participants and newcomers.
Participants receive legal and accounting consulting about setting up firms, as well as learn from experienced instructors. Participants also receive opportunities to demonstrate their products. As the young entrepreneurs might not have the money to set up an office, they can go to the NTU Garage to work .
STARTBOARD felt very honor to meet up with Minister Liang-Gee Chen, Ministry of technology and George Huang, Chairman of Acer.
George Huang Chairman of Acer
Minister Liang-Gee Chen
We are looking forward to having more support and chances in the future, in order to provide our ASEAN-INDIA the best sources nurturing their innovative ideas.
Before the Dragon Festival, STARTBOARD had a chance to meet up Professor Shen from National Central University. He’s also the Director of YUNUS Centre in Taiwan.
The Yunus Centre, is a think tank for issues related to social business, working in the field of poverty alleviation and sustainability. It is ‘aimed primarily at promoting and disseminating Professor Yunus’ philosophy, with a special focus on social business and currently chaired by Prof. Muhammad Yunus. Its Executive Director is Ms. Lamiya Morshed.
After Prof. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2006, a personal office for Prof. Yunus under the name of ‘Yunus Secretariat’ was formed. From the very beginning on, the Yunus Secretariat was mainly aiming at promoting Prof. Yunus’ philosophy of social business and served as a one-stop resource centre for anyone interested in social business.
In July 2008, it was renamed the Yunus Centre and continues to develop new social businesses, provide technical help to social business start-ups and liaise with anybody interested in the topic. They also publish a quarterly newsletter on new developments in the field of social business.
STARTBOARD Introduction
RESEARCH STASH’s Presentation
Professor Shen with STARTBOARD
We started sharing the ideas of STARTBOARD with Professor and introduced to him our Batch 1 project’s Research Stash. Not only coming with a lot of questions for the team, Professor was also very passionate in giving us advices and comments to improve our ongoing progress.
We discussed more about the Southbound Policy and its potential for both Taiwan and other parties and extended to the challenges that we all have to deal with now about the talents, the funds and etc.
Gladly, STARTBOARD has Professor. Shen and YUNUS Taiwan’s support for further programs. We are looking forward to collaborating with Yunus soon.
Today STARTBOARD would like to make a post on our blog for Professor. Louis Chen (陳春山), our beloved teacher and one of the biggest supporters for the team.
First time meeting with Professor, people are tend to be impressed by how humble and friendly he is. With smiles, Professor creates a cozy environment and he always knows how to lead the conversation.
Professor Louis Chen graduated his LL.M. in School of Law of University of Washington, USA and LL.D. in Faculty of Law of University of Ottawa, Canada.
With the interdisciplinary expertise background and enthusiasm to the young, Dr. Chen served as various roles in private, governmental and public sectors such as the Chairman of Public Television Service Foundation; the Chairman of Chinese Television System Corp.; the Professor in Faculty of Law, National Taipei University and the visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley (Institute of East Asian Studies) & National University of Singapore (Faculty of Law).
Not just that, He was the Commissioner of Broadcasting Affairs Commission, Government Information Office; the Commissioner of Financial Reforms Commission, Executive Yuan; the Director of Securities & Futures Investors Protection Center; Taipei and Commissioner, Legal Affairs Commission, Taipei City Government and Partner, Chen & Associates Law Firm and the Associate, Baker & McKenzie. He was the Consultant for Central Depository Insurance Company as well.
Currently, Dr. Chen serves as the professor of Institute of IP, National Taipei University of Technology and the Professor in Faculty of Law of National Taipei University. He also serves as the Vice Chairman in Corporate Governance Association, the Chairman of the Association of Developing Corporate Organization and of course,
With the major concern in brand and leadership developments for enterprises and NGOs’ management systems, Professor Louis Chen is still working on different projects for international students. His huge support for STARTBOARD is a great example.
