Unlocking Business Success in China with Industry Veterans -10

Singapore is a great place to start and run a business but our domestic market has its natural limits. For entrepreneurs who want to grow further, looking overseas can become an important part of the journey.

But expanding overseas is easier said than done.

How do you build a business in a much bigger and more complex market? How do you work with local suppliers and manufacturers? And does China still offer opportunities for Singapore SMEs today?

This event brings together 2 Singapore business practitioners with a combined 35+ years of hands-on experience in China.

Rather than theories, they will share what they personally experienced — successes, mistakes, cultural differences, supply-chain changes and lessons learned from being on the ground.

Programme

14:30 Participants short self intro

14:45 Small Fry in China: 16 Years of Building, Failing and Rebuilding a Manufacturing Business by Hozen, Hozen Guitars

Hozen is a Singaporean luthier and founder of Hozen Guitars, a boutique guitar company with its workshop in Guangzhou, China. He has been building guitars and managing small-scale manufacturing operations in China for more than 15 years, working closely with local craftsmen and suppliers while selling his instruments internationally.

His experience is very much from the ground up — building teams, navigating suppliers and manufacturing, maintaining quality, dealing with cultural differences, and surviving the realities of running a small foreign-owned business in China.

He will share the side of China business we don't always hear about: what happens after you actually decide to go in.