Some really fantastic events lined up, from a Film Festival to the Taste of China (with contributions from shananigansblog.com).

Wish we could be there to enjoy the festivities, but happy to be able to help out from afar. If you’re in Dublin, be sure to check it out!

Decision-making is very different when it’s your own money that’s at stake, and as a result family firms tend to have a long-term commitment to jobs and local communities, which gives a significant but often under-rated stability to national economies.

This survey covers a wide array of subjects and areas of business, from the measure of which family businesses drive new products and ideas, to the role government can and should play a greater role in supporting them.

These businesses are making a substantial but under-valued contribution to stability and growth, and we believe governments could do more to offer the sort of targeted support that would make a significant difference.

The report also draws attention to the support structures available, and where often such support is inadequate for smaller businesses. On that note, ETP - our own grassroots company formed to offer SMEs the type of support in Asia often only available to larger firms – gets a mention.

In other markets there is almost no help for family businesses, and in some cases support systems exist, but are under-used, or inadequately publicised. An obvious conclusion to draw here is that family firms need to take responsibility for ensuring that they do their own homework, and make the maximum use of all the resources that are available. An example would be Enter the Panda, which is an Anglo-Irish company based in Beijing, which helps small firms start doing business in China and Asia Pacific.

Whether you are starting a new business, running a successful company, or struggling in this economic climate, this survey is worth a few minutes of your time to draw some perspective on where family businesses and SMEs fit into the world of business, and what we can all do to improve our bottom lines.

Happy reading, and wishing you and your business all the best in 2013.

Afterwards, I also briefly visited the Tourism Ireland lunch, which was in great attendance by many locals.

It’s clear that there’s a real drive back home to make trade with China a priority, and hopefully this visit from An Taoiseach and the recent visit to Ireland by China Vice-President Xi Jinping are the first real steps towards it.

As well as supporting the Beijing GAA and Beijing Celtics clubs, this year the Irish Ball raised money for two fanastic local charities, Jinde and Care for Children. With over 740 guests at this sold out black (and green) tie event and some incredibly generous silent auction prizes from our world sponsors and friends in Ireland, we have raised a record amount this year and shown the world the charity and goodwill the Irish are famous for.

Enter the Panda is really thrilled to have taken part in this event as a Supporting Sponsor, offering our services for the design and sourcing of all the digital and print material, as well as logistical on the ground support.

Entertainment on the night included live bands flown in from Ireland, traditional Irish Céilí dancers and a local cover band. Special thanks also to our guest of honour, the Irish Ambassador to China Declan Kelleher.

Take a look at a pics of the night below and please be sure to visit the charities linked above.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, or as we say over here 爱尔兰国庆节快乐!

The following is an article that was on the back cover of the Irish Times Business News Section, Friday December 23rd 2011. It was interviewed and written by Joanne Hunt. To view the full article on the Irish times website, click here.

WILDGEESE: EMIGRANT BUSINESS LEADERS ON OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
Shane O’Neill – Co-founder, Enter the Panda, Beijing

As seen in the Irish Times

“I WAS so sure I’d be back, I didn’t even visit the Great Wall,” says entrepreneur Shane O’Neill of his first visit to China in 2006.

Now a Beijing resident for more than five years and co-founder of Enter the Panda, a company that assists Irish and British SMEs doing business in China, the Dubliner says it was the country’s sense of scale and possibility that drew him in.

“I arrived in Beijing before the Olympics and there was massive development and great hype in the city. It reminded me of Ireland at the start of the boom, but on a much bigger scale,” he recalls.

“I just fell in love with the city and the idea of working here, so I came over and started studying Mandarin.”

Training in film in Ballyfermot College of Further Education, followed by a Fás course in new media and design, had led O’Neill to set up as a freelance web designer and strategist in Dublin. While business was good, he felt the work had become repetitive and so, aged 25, decided to take on a new challenge. Moving to China and learning Mandarin was just that.

“You have to completely rewire your brain when you are trying to learn the characters, it was tough. My reading and writing isn’t perfect now but I can certainly speak it very well,” he says.

Working at first on web design for a recruitment company while there, it was a meeting with Dave White, a young British entrepreneur also fluent in Mandarin, that led to the formation of their company Enter the Panda.

A bit of light reading (upside-down?)

“We got into a discussion about how hard it is for young companies and SMEs to get a foothold in China,” O’Neill says. “We saw a potential niche for us to support Irish and British companies to develop their products and deal with factories here.”Four years on and the pair have clients in Britain, Ireland and Latin America. O’Neill says having someone on the ground in the country can be critical to getting things done.

“A large part of doing business here, particularly dealing with product development and factories, is managing relationships with factory foremen – there are huge cultural differences and if you are not here applying selective pressure, shaking their hands and sometimes going for a drink with them, you can’t expect to stay top of their priority list. That’s where we come in.”

O’Neill says his days can range from auditing factories to overseeing the quality control of products to checking orders before they are shipped.

In terms of the business philosophy in his adoptive country, he says “you can get an awful lot done in a short space of time, you can basically work around the clock”.

An obstacle, however, is what he sees as short-term thinking.

“Very often, suppliers or factories would rather take a euro today instead of €10 tomorrow. They won’t see that you are bringing in business that might grow.”

Setting up his own business in an environment of ever-changing government regulations is something he describes as “a six-month-long game of poker”.

“There’s no systematic support for SMEs trying to launch a business here as there would be back home,” O’Neill says. “You have to be here for the long haul . . . most of the bureaucracy or visa issues you might come across in China are in place to weed out the weak to certain degree.”

While he misses the fresh air at home – “the pollution does get quite bad here” – he says the country affords him a nice standard of living.

“I love the culture and the food and I do generally find the country fascinating. I’m still finding out new things about culture and the people all the time and in that sense, it’s very exciting.”And with western economies in the doldrums, does he feel lucky to be away from the tumult at home?

“It does sometimes feel like we are in a safer place here,” he says. “But China and Europe are so intertwined and have been for so long that it’s not in China’s interest to see the West crumble. It’s in their interest to see trade between China and the West continue.”

Of his company’s name, Enter the Panda, he says it gets a laugh from most people.

“There’s all this iconic imagery, some good and some not so good about China. The panda represents a much softer side of Chinese culture and we wanted to make it not so scary or difficult to do business here. If people have a bit of a chuckle and remember the name, it’s no harm.”

For Irish small companies struggling to bring their costs down, he believes China presents an opportunity.

For young emigrants thinking of following in his footsteps, he advises that Mandarin lessons will go a long way.

“China is certainly a place of opportunity if you have the guts to go and try and do something for yourself.”

The following is an excerpt from a China Daily European Weekly cover story entitled “Little to Cheer About”. It deals with the effects of the economic downturn on consumers, retailers and Chinese suppliers. David Bartram of China Daily spoke with Enter the Panda about our experiences on the ground here in China. To read the full article click here.

“There has certainly been a notable tightening of the purse strings this past year,” says Shane O’Neill, co-founder of Enter the Panda, a company that helps connect overseas businesses with Chinese manufacturers. “But from the retailers, distributors and small business owners we’ve dealt with, their focus has been on cutting costs without reducing the overall quality of their products.”

This will come as welcome news to Europe’s consumers this Christmas. One way consumers are looking to save is by doing their Christmas shopping online. In Ireland, 82 percent of shoppers will do at least some of their Christmas shopping online this year, spending an average of 155 euros ($205) each, according to research by Visa Europe.

“China has always provided online retailers with opportunities to undercut the bulk distributors,” O’Neill says. “To add a competitive edge, some online retailers now want to deal directly with factories in China. This gives them access to an infinite range of goods and services that allow them to develop new and exciting products for their home market.”

As well as online retailers, the economic slowdown this Christmas offers low-budget retailers in Europe an opportunity. High streets across the continent are seeing an increasing number of low-budget stores appear, and many source a lot of their goods from China.

Poundland, the UK chain that announced record profits for the last financial year, is one retailer seemingly unaffected by the downturn.

“It is clear that the challenging economic climate is set to continue for some time and that an increasing number of consumers will continue to seek value for money,” says chief executive Jim McCarthy. “We are perfectly positioned to serve the needs of consumers who place value for money at the heart of their purchasing decisions.”

Poundland’s success also offers a chance for Chinese manufacturers to sell to an estimated 3.5 million customers every week, looking to buy everything from toys to kitchenware.

In an effort to cut costs, the company runs an office in Hong Kong to better source suitable products from across China. It has even implemented a video-conferencing product approval process to lower factory to shop-floor time, and enable manufacturers thousands of miles away to react quickly to new trends in Europe.

Whether this challenge is accepted by China’s manufacturing industry is another issue, but it shows that there are opportunities amid an otherwise frosty Christmas for European retail.

“China and the West depend heavily on each other and as such the many manufacturers that are aware of the economic problems of the West share in the concerns that trade may slow in many sectors,” O’Neill says. “Some factory owners we have worked with for many years now come to us to try and find out how they can adapt in order to meet the change in demand.

“I think most people will agree that Chinese manufacturers need to improve payment terms in order to stay competitive and become more attractive to businesses with diminished turnovers. It is the point that we are trying to drive home to our factories.”

To read the full article click here.

Can’t view the YouTube video above? Try the Tudou video below!

The following is an article we wrote for Shanghai’s Settling Magazine about our experiences launching ETP in China. It was published in October 2011 and covered three pages of their ‘City Business Focus’ section.

Into the Unknown – Finding Our Feet in Beijing

Starting a new business anywhere is tough. Having the idea and motivation to get started is a big step, but as anyone who has attempted it will tell you, it takes time, persistence, stress and often luck. Starting a small business in China takes something else entirely.

Settling Magazine - Into the Unknown - Page 1

On Our Own

Coming from Ireland – though hardly a ‘nanny state’ – it’s fair to say I was coddled as I took my first steps into the world of business. Particularly during the boom years – before the Celtic Tiger became known as the Celtic Kitten – there were excellent tax incentives for small business owners and banks were ready and willing (perhaps overenthusiastically in hindsight) to offer loans to entrepreneurs. Today, fabulous organizations such as Enterprise Ireland still exist, helping young businesses network and develop trade and commerce.

I’m not sure what lessons learned in Ireland could have prepared me for trying to launch a business in Beijing. Certainly as a foreigner in this great city, there is no available support, no obvious guidelines and no clear information about setting up your business. You really have to dive in, head first and blindfolded, and figure out each problem as it hits you in the face.

Registering my business as a sole-trader back in Dublin in 2003 was a relatively painless experience. I visited two desks, one bank and within a couple of days I had a trading license, a VAT number and a checkbook with my company name on it. While setting up a limited company is a slightly more daunting task, there are still clear guidelines and steps to be taken. It’s paint by numbers.

Setting up a China WFOE (wholly foreign owned enterprise) with my business partner Dave White of Britain – another wonderful nanny state– was a grueling, nerve-wracking, arduous process that felt more like a 6-month game of poker than it did a calculated business decision. Like most start-ups we began humbly, with limited funds at our disposal. Aside from legal counsel for some of our setup issues, we did not have a glut of paid advisors at our beck and call. We had a blank canvas in front of us.

Guanxi

Trying to keep your finger on the pulse of the ever-changing rules of tax, accountancy, and government regulation as a foreigner is near impossible. Chasing that particular dragon required the application of “guanxi” (networking) and we were regularly forced to draw on the local knowledge of a decade worth of colleagues, friends and business associates to get the job done. And perhaps that is the point: one can’t just arrive fresh off the boat and set up a company in China. We had to keep reminding ourselves that if it were easy, everyone would do it.

Settling Magazine - Into the Unknown - Page 2

Believing in the old adage “from the mess comes success”, the difficulties we faced when first doing business here became the corner stone of the business model for our sourcing and export business, Enter the Panda. We set ourselves the task of championing the needs of foreign SMEs looking to do business with China. Along the winding roads of Chinese trade, we encountered many casualties among small foreign businesses. Through learning about their problems and helping them fix them, we together grew.

We found so many similarities in the tales of woe from these small businesses who had attempted to ‘go it alone’. So many had to learn the hard way, as we once did, about the vast gulf in business practice, negotiation and ways of thinking that exists between the east and the west. One Chinese proverb touches on the danger of venturing into business with anyone of vastly disparate mindset and goals: “tong chuang yi meng”. In English “same bed, different dreams”.

Local Knowledge

There’s no quick fix for local knowledge. You can be told about ‘face’, research Chinese bartering techniques, or even read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. But honestly, three straight days shopping in Beijing’s Silk Market would probably be a better education. Levity aside, in our office we still regularly compare dealing with factories and suppliers with bartering for cheap clothing and pearls. The roots of Chinese business mentality run deep from the tycoon to the street vendor.

Certainly, there is a wealth of opportunity in Beijing, as I’m sure there is in other cities in China, for those with the golden combination of local knowledge and western business mentality. Any company that can offer legitimate, trusted support to SMEs as they take their first, tentative steps in the China market will very soon find itself with an abundance of very grateful, long-standing clientele. Though our focus is primarily on trade, there are many other areas where a reliable guide would prove useful in this city.

People tend to forget, though somewhat new to the world stage, Chinese business culture has been developing and evolving for centuries relatively undisturbed by the West. In a country where a “town” is half a million people, and where the capital city contains Ireland’s population four times over, it’s no surprise there is often a sense of every man, woman and child for themselves. This stems from a unique spirit in Chinese culture, that no matter how it plays out, who wins or loses, it is all “part of the game” of business. Survival of the fittest: Darwin would be proud.

Settling Magazine - Into the Unknown - Page 3

Beijing

Beijing is a progressive city, but in many ways holds strong and proud to traditions. That being said, while there are certainly some cultural rules that are followed in business here, there are a lot more do’s than don’ts. What may be perceived as poor form or underhanded tactics to you or I, is often considered the logical and automatic maneuver by a local. This is to say that being the first or even being the best service available is not always what counts in China. Your “baby” will quickly find itself analyzed and copied a hundred times over if it is seen to be a profitable business model. The trick here is to adapt and grow, but what will mainly set you apart in the eyes of your customers will be you.

It is with that in mind and with that temperament that you have to approach business in this city. You need a thick skin if you want to survive, both financially and psychologically, on the battlefield of local commerce. An SME, start-up or freelancer is fresh meat. Whether you come out the other end lean or as scrap is entirely your own responsibility.

The upside of the difficulty in launching an SME here lies in the trials you face. It’s tough. But if you survive it, it in turn makes you and your business stronger. As for me, Dave and the Panda, we’re still here, growing and learning. Whether or not the lessons learned in this land over the past five years would prove valuable to me back in the arms of the ‘Irish Nanny’ remains to be seen, but would she even recognize me if I returned?

By Shane O’Neill for Settling Magazine

For more information on Enter the Panda, please visit the website www.enterthepanda.com, or email, info@enterthepanda.com

China Daily - Cover Story - August 2011

The following is an excerpt from a China Daily cover story about Entrepreneurs, written by David Bartram. To view a cropped version of the original article, click the image to the right.

An understanding of the local business environment is often what is lacking from young entrepreneurs and SMEs who want to do business with China rarely have an idea where to start.

In 2007, Dave White and Shane O’Neill, a British engineer and an Irish designer respectively, spotted an opportunity to create a business that offers help to these very people.

“I met Shane and we got into a discussion about the problems foreign companies have when they come to China to do business,” White says. “We found that especially those companies on a limited budget weren’t being offered much support, particularly from the Chinese government side. “While the EU Chamber of Commerce offers a helpdesk, we found there were limits with what they could help people with. We decided we could help by actually representing foreign businesses ourselves.” White and O’Neill’s idea was to provide small businesses that cannot afford their own representation in China with access to their own network of contacts. Their company, Enter the Panda, was born, offering to source, negotiate, oversee quality control and ship ‘Made in China’ products to retailers and e-commerce businesses around the world.

“We basically help foreign SMEs find products of the quality they need,” White says. “These guys often have zero representation out here. If you order a container and it arrives in the UK not as you were expecting, you are in a bit of pickle. A lot of SMEs just end up selling it at a knock down price, and after that they won’t deal with China again.”

“A lot of first-timers coming to China work on far too many assumptions,”

O’Neill says. “They just assume things will go smoothly. They’ve been promised a price and they’ve seen a sample. For them to come over here and manage the process themselves might be difficult and incredibly expensive. Many SMEs can’t afford to do that. We help mitigate the risk and place our reputation on it.”

White and O’Neill understand better than most the problems encountered when setting up a business in China, but also appreciate that the country offers a unique opportunity to those young entrepreneurs and SMEs willing to put in the effort to make things work.

“I was attracted to China in the first place by the prospect of living in a dynamic economy experiencing huge
economic growth,” O’Neill says. “Certainly there is opportunity here. But you have to understand that if you are going to enter into business in China you are in it for the long haul. There is no quick buck. Be absolutely sure it is something you want to do and there is a gap in the market.”

Thorough preparation is certainly at the heart of most of Europe’s business success stories in China. Covering every possible eventuality, and even those you might imagine not possible, is key to developing a profitable enterprise.

The following is an excerpt from a featured column in CBB FOCUS. You can view an image of the original piece below.

ACHIEVEMENTS
Enter the Panda Ltd. is a collaboration between a British engineer and an Irish designer. Our concept for ETP was born in 2007 when a discussion about solving the challenges faced by small businesses in China led to the realization of natural crossovers between our two disparate industries.

The idea to combine our business and project management skills towards a common purpose came from an understanding that Western SME’s need trusted respresentation here in China at affordable prices.

This representation includes design and branding, research and development and quality management without clients having to shift focus away from their day-to-day and core business activities.

WHY CHINA?
Travelling to China to check an order or to manage product development is time-consuming, expensive, and, without local knowledge, often fruitless. In the UK, Ireland and Europe, development services are very costly, so having them managed overseas with easy access to other supportive services makes financial and logistical sense for the typical Western SME.

HIGHS AND LOWS
For us the highs are simple – the satisfaction of helping reaslise a client’s concept an dmanifesting it to a finished product they are entirely happy with. The lows are the pace at which SMEs are getting the support they truly need to grow and develop.

After all, the major influences in technology, social and lifestyle innovations of the recent past have stemmed from SMEs. They are an invaluable resource that should be nurtured and not underestimated.

CBB Focus - Featured Column - June 2011