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Choy's podcast - Life and business in Asia

Choy's podcast - Life and business in Asia

By Equasia Media

In this podcast I want to give you inside information about doing business and life in Asia, especially China. Born in the Netherlands, quit my job as a Dutch lawyer to move to Shanghai in my thirties, 6 months turned into 10+ years and now I help and advise clients (and friends) on how to manage business and life through all stages with an unstoppable drive and passion. Currently in Hong Kong for the past 3 years and building further on our company Equasia. My intention is to share, connect and learn together so I will also invite experts, clients and friends to share their stories with us.
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Interview CJ Cheung - TV producer & host

Choy's podcast - Life and business in AsiaJun 04, 2021

00:00
33:56
Entrepreneurs family behind the Meraki Hospitality Group

Entrepreneurs family behind the Meraki Hospitality Group

Jean-Michel Offe had an amazing journey so far as a French chef going abroad: from North America, to the MIddle East and then Asia, in charge of teams of 100+ people, opening new Shangri-La hotels (30+ only in China!), publishing books and running the Gobi desert... But I see clearly that he feels most proud of his children, daughter Laura Offe and son Alexis Offe. Against the advice of Jean-Michel, both chose the hospitality industry because they saw the passion, drive and pride their father had for his profession. 

Their roads led back to each other so now in this team of 3 musketeers (and also with a wise mother in the background), they started the Meraki Hospitality Group in 2018 in Hong Kong with now a Uma Nota restaurant in Hong Kong and one in Paris and two Bedu's in Hong Kong. 

How are they operating together? Laura and Alexis grew up in Hong Kong mostly so how did they experience the European culture when they were there for their studies? Where did the idea for the amazing concept of Uma Nota came from? What were the hard times so far? And as a business coach for others, what are the main problems nowadays according to Jean-Michel? 

Learn from this family of achievers who are so generous in sharing their experience as entrepreneurs and notice how they have respect for each other's role and achievements in the team so enjoy listening to this episode! And if in Hong Kong or Paris, try the restaurants as well! As Laura is passionate about sustainability and the community, she is the driving force behind the cooperation the Meraki Hospitality Group has with Zero Foodprint Asia to adopt sustainable strategies and source from a local organic farm. 

Dec 20, 202101:21:52
Bernard Hor, the Southeast Asian entrepreneur

Bernard Hor, the Southeast Asian entrepreneur

Bernard Hor's journey as an entrepreneur started quite early on by hustling where he could in his own surroundings in Malaysia. This mentality lead to starting several businesses first in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and later in South Korea. As the co-founder and group CEO of Hatio Group, a technology business from South Korea specializing in cloud supply chain & network distribution, he decided to bring these advanced software solutions to Southeast Asia to help to transform and improve the local supply chain, logistics, retail and distribution industry. This is not so easy as he needed to adjust the solutions and the pricing to make it fit with the needs of the entrepreneurs and companies but Bernard is very dedicated and will make it work.

What also makes Bernard special is that he is so generous in sharing his experience and life visions he gathered while building up his businesses and starting his family. So listen to Bernard's story and feel inspired!

You can reach out to Bernard through Linkedin or his email bernard@hatiolab.com. You can find more information about Hatio through the website

Dec 06, 202101:05:05
Entrepreneurs series - 3 Sustainable Start-ups in Hong Kong

Entrepreneurs series - 3 Sustainable Start-ups in Hong Kong

In this episode I will be talking to eco entrepreneurs representing 3 amazing sustainable start-ups in Hong Kong who showed their innovative and sustainable products at the ReThink Sustainable business forum & solutions expo held last October 2021 in Hong Kong.

While having completely different products, they do have in common that they want to create something good for the world, contribute to improving the environment and reduce waste and pollution.

They are:

1. Naman Tekriwal - 21 years old but already a serial entrepreneur! Together with his co-founders he created Breer, a food up-cycling start up that collects surplus bread and pizza crust to brew premium quality local craft beer and already available at 30+ stores in Hong Kong.

2. Martin Zhu (31:20) - PhD student and co-founder of I2Cool, which invented passive radiative cooling paint, a novel energy free and environmentally friendly paint for buildings. The journey started with the goal to invent materials to reduce energy consumption in Hong Kong and after years of lab research, Martin and his partners were in the past months very busy with the commercial side of the painting products and currently talking with big companies who are interested in their product(s). The other co-founders are Shirley Du, Jhonny Lin, Dr. William Lee, Dr. Edwin Tso and Prof Christopher Chao.

3. Noel and Neil Shih (49.54) - two brothers who are going to launch their environmentally friendly Define Clean products in December 2021 after 2 years of a road full of challenges. They invented powder-form cleaning solutions from naturally –derived ingredients which is better for the planet and humans. Define Clean's goals are to reduce carbon footprint, plastic waste, improve hygiene with products that are healthy, budget friendly and contribute to the circular economy.

After interviewing all of them, I can say that it is all quite revolutionary and inspiring! If this is representing how the next generation is dealing with challenges, then I feel very hopeful for the future! So let’s hear from these great guys!


Nov 30, 202101:06:54
Interview with Trisch Kirkpatrick and Anouk de Graaff - international business consultants around the globe

Interview with Trisch Kirkpatrick and Anouk de Graaff - international business consultants around the globe

Hidden gems who usually fly under the radar: two amazing ladies with tons of experience from working all over the world! Meet Trisch Kirkpatrick and Anouk de Graaff. Trisch is a transformation consultant who has worked in over 50 different countries and Anouk has been all over Asia for the garment industry. 

We covered so much in this inspiring conversation: working in emerging markets like Russia, China, Myanmar and Kenia, leaving your safe home country for adventure, dealing with different cultures and countries as the newest leader from outside, getting to know the operations bottoms up to get the best results, the changing garment industry, role models, dealing with problems, how covid change travelling and how countries are dealing with it and so much more. What is crystal clear is that these ladies always have the attitude that they can handle every problem, invest in helping and connecting with people, work hard and are used to expressing their opinions! So enjoy the stories and experience these ladies are sharing with us! 

Feel free to reach out to them through Linkedin! 

Nov 17, 202101:08:55
Networking: why and how? With Nerice Gietel, certified executive coach and founder of The Career Lounge

Networking: why and how? With Nerice Gietel, certified executive coach and founder of The Career Lounge

Nerice Gietel, a certified executive coach has more than 15 years of experience in deploying her skills to support others to develop personally and professionally. It is great to have Nerice in my life as a friend as she is constantly challenging herself which is very inspiring plus she has so been through so many transitions that she can relate to many situations. Nerice has been a social worker in London, recruitment specialist and HR partner for a global consultancy in Oxford, a teacher at a Dutch university and now founder of The Career Lounge in Hong Kong. We ourselves met through a network event of the Dutch Chamber of Hong Kong a couple of years ago and since then we share knowledge, experience, network opportunities and friendship with each other. It often comes up that networking and connecting is so important for business, career, personal growth and not to forget: it is also fun! But we realize that it is not easy always to network and that we could maybe help people by giving some tips. So listen to this podcast for some do's and don'ts when it comes to networking! And last but not least, as we believe that there are a lot of connecting opportunities within our social circles, we created our own event where we want to people we know to get to know each other! A mingle and meet with people with different backgrounds! This gathering will take place in Hong Kong on Thursday 2 December at a great location: Café 8, a social enterprise at the pier, on top of the maritime museum which will be open for us exclusively. Everyone is welcome so book your tickets through Eventbrite or contact one of us directly (Nerice or me).

Nov 08, 202143:06
Catching up with entrepreneurs Jaap Pees, Katharina Darisse and Samson Ngov - what happened after a Covid year?
Oct 07, 202144:26
Foreign investment in Dubai vs China

Foreign investment in Dubai vs China

In this episode I have my colleagues Alejandra Esmoris from our Bonnard Lawson office in Dubai and Zach Lichtblau from our Shanghai office to talk about the differences between investing as a foreigner in the two different locations.

Alejandra is a Swiss lawyer from Geneva who is located in Dubai since 2016 and joined the Bonnard Lawson team last year. She advises companies and entrepreneurs about corporate legal issues and governance but as a trust and estate practitioner Alejandra also advises about international estate planning and tax planification.

Zach is partner of the Shanghai office and living in China since 2005. Zach is very experienced with helping non Chinese companies and entrepreneurs with setting up their business in China.

In this interview, we will discuss the environment foreign investors are getting into if they are starting in Dubai vs China. What are the issues that they have to take into account? This becomes more clear and practical in our conversation as colleagues, each with our own expertise exchanging experience with each other. 

Alejandra's email is: a.esmoris@bonnard-lawson.com and Zach's is zl@bnlslaw.com 

Sep 28, 202150:56
Mark Dekker - Dutch architect in China

Mark Dekker - Dutch architect in China

This episode's guest is Mark Dekker, Dutch architect in Shanghai who has been in China for 9+ years. Mark represented several Dutch architect firms and as director Asia and partner of his current firm, Inbo he is leading the Shanghai office since 2015. Inbo is a multi-disciplinary design consultancy firm with over 200 experts in the field of urban planning, architecture, interior design and engineering and has been involved in many exciting projects all over China.

In this interview Mark shares his view about the differences between working as an architect in the Netherlands and China (speed!), tells us about the projects Inbo has done in China and how it is to compete as a non-Chinese architect firm, how things has changed in the 9 years that he is in China, how he integrated the Inbo company culture and values in the Shanghai office, the talent that is available nowadays and so much more! 

More information about Mark and Inbo's projects in China click here and you can contact Mark per e-mail mark.dekker@inbo.com. 

Sep 23, 202139:18
Trademark registration in China - avoiding problems! With Emma Shen, PRC lawyer in Shanghai

Trademark registration in China - avoiding problems! With Emma Shen, PRC lawyer in Shanghai

We can not warn everyone enough that trademark registration in China is very important. In this episode my colleague Emma Shen, PRC lawyer and intellectual property rights expert will share her experience with you. 

We discuss the following:

  • the registration system in China which is based on a first-to-file basis which create opportunities for copycats so filing for registration as early as possible is key
  • the importance of having a brand in Chinese and choosing the right classes
  • the requirements for online selling through the relevant e-commerce platforms
  • avoiding problems with customs, blocking competitors and being smarter than your business partners
  • also in case of “only doing OEM” in China, trademark registration is extremely important
  • some cases we have experienced over the years
  • registration through WIPO

Even if you are not dealing in China in any way, it can be very important to register your trademark because you also do not want someone using your brand on the Chinese market without your knowledge and permission. We saw that happening as well and the brand owner had to take legal steps to get its brand back! Registration costs a couple of hundreds USD but it can avoid problems that may costs you so much more!

So dive in to learn more about the subject!

You can always contact Emma or me to help you further

Aug 16, 202136:08
Lee du Ploy, therapist and artist in Hong Kong
Aug 12, 202149:18
Interview with Innocent Mutanga - founder of the Africa Center Hong Kong

Interview with Innocent Mutanga - founder of the Africa Center Hong Kong

Innocent Mutanga from Zimbabwe has had an amazing journey so far and he learned so many life lessons as a political activist in his home country, a homeless refugee in Hong Kong, a student anthropology at CUHK, an analyst at an investment bank and founder of the social enterprise Africa Center Hong Kong. Innocent's story should be shared as often as possible as it teaches us about the possibilities in life, what you can do if you are at the bottom of the society, why it is necessary to rebrand blackness and the human obligation to give back and share where you can. 

If you are in Hong Kong, visit the Africa Center at 12/F, 21 Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and attend one of the many events like dancing, playing drums, discussions, networking meals, the book club and so much more! You can see the agenda on http://www.africacenterhk.com/

 


Aug 03, 202135:44
Importing from China - avoiding pitfalls as much as possible

Importing from China - avoiding pitfalls as much as possible

The whole world imports products from China - not for nothing China is called "the world's factory". We (as China advisers) came across so many problems clients had to deal with over the years... unfortunately.. and this is even more pressing with the shortage of materials worldwide, the Covid situation and the rising transport prices. 

My colleagues Diogo Garcês Reis and Vanessa Albuquerque discussed the importing pitfalls in another Equasia podcast "Negócio da China" but as that podcast is in Portuguese, I have asked them to come here to talk with me about import fraud and prevention of breach of contract (in English). A quick, practical and very relevant update for those who are not so experienced with importing from China yet and are eager to prevent problems as much as possible! 

PS Diogo was already in episode 6 about his career as a professional boxer and lawyer in China and you can listen here

Jul 19, 202129:36
DBLA - Murk Muller, Dutch and German lawyer in Berlin

DBLA - Murk Muller, Dutch and German lawyer in Berlin

For this Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad episode, I am going to Berlin, Germany! All the members of DBLA are legal experts in the country where we are located but we are also from the Netherlands. We give companies, entrepreneurs and individuals who are not familiar with the local environment the help they need: often legal support but also practical advice about cultural differences or how things are done in that country.

In this episode I am interviewing Murk Muller, who had to go to Berlin after the wall came down. Listen to this episode to hear how Murk ended up in Berlin while his initial plan was to go back to the US, why Murk thinks German clients are easier compared to Dutch clients, what he thinks about Angela Merkel and how DBLA started.   

Murk's firm is https://www.mmrecht.com and here is his email

Thank you for listening!

Jun 30, 202145:39
Entrepreneur series - Jay Xie from Agency China

Entrepreneur series - Jay Xie from Agency China

Jay Xie is a digital marketing veteran in Shanghai and Hangzhou who is helping European brands to start in China through his company Agency China. With an education in the Netherlands, he understands the mindset of European companies and is therefore able to guide them better in China. Listen to this interview where he shares valuable insights:

- I have a very strong belief that especially in the nutrition, food and food supplements and beauty products from Europe have a lot more superior products that can still find great spaces to scale up in the China market

- Forget about what you have obtained or achieved back in the outside world or your own ecosystem because all the game rules in China are so different

- The target consumer has been changing over the time (…) from post 70’ and 80’ to the millennials, post ‘95 or the generation Z. They react differently to commercials. They are going to become the mainstream target audience and their behavior has a lot of common things such as liking more tailored services

And also why foreign brands will remain popular in China, what the entry level for Western brands is in China to test the water, if Chinese consumers pay attention to the sustainability aspect of products and also his experience being an entrepreneur

Jun 18, 202139:37
Architect in Asia - Karma Barfungpa

Architect in Asia - Karma Barfungpa

I am honored to have found Mr. Karma Barfungpa willing to share his experience as an architect in Asia. As Asia has changed so much in the past two decades, I was wondering how that is like from an architectural point of view. 

Karma has been working as an architect from Hong Kong on prestigious projects all over the world for almost 25 years now. He is a director at Arup, a multinational firm of designers, engineers and architects so he is the perfect guest with the right experience to tell us more about the developments in the past and the current status of the industry.

Karma tells us also about the young talent out there, what is happening in China, how sustainability plays a role in his work, his view of European architecture and so much more. Conclusion: it is quite challenging in these times but hopefully in a promising way. So dive with me into this world and enjoy this interesting and inspiring interview with Karma.

You can find Karma through Linkedin and Arup

Jun 09, 202140:15
Interview CJ Cheung - TV producer & host

Interview CJ Cheung - TV producer & host

Dutch born Chinese CJ Cheung is using his background to create TV shows in Hong Kong and the Netherlands where he informs one culture about the other one. So he made TV shows in Hong Kong about the Netherlands and he is about to launch a TV show series in the Netherlands where he is exploring what it means to be Chinese there. 

After working for the Dutch TV for years as producer, presenter, editor and project manager for quite some big TV shows and productions (like De Wereld draait door), adventure brought him to Shanghai and Hong Kong where he discovers how it is to work in a Chinese environment. What insights did he get about himself and about cultural differences? How do you start a career in this industry? Listen to the interview to find out the answers! 

See here, here and here for some YouTube clips of CJ's Cantonese show Orange Fuzz, Orange Fever on Facebook and CJ on IG.

Jun 04, 202133:56
Entrepreneurs series - the ladies of The Oh Collective
May 24, 202142:29
DBLA - Jan Willem de Haan

DBLA - Jan Willem de Haan

For this Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad episode, I am going to Barcelona in Spain! All the members of DBLA are legal experts in the country where we are located but we are also from the Netherlands. We give companies, entrepreneurs and individuals who are not familiar with the local environment the help they need: often legal support but also practical advice about cultural differences or how things are done in that country.

In this episode I am interviewing Jan Willem de Haan, who became a Dutch and Spanish lawyer to accommodate the business relations between the Netherlands and Spain when Spain joined the European Union. Jan Willem has a very diverse practice where he advises non-Spanish companies with their business in Spain which is quite challenging due to the characteristics of the Spanish legal system. Jan Willem tells us all about it in this episode! 

Jan Willem's firm is De Haan Abogados and his email is dehaan@dehaanabogados

Thank you for listening!

May 12, 202157:49
Entrepreneurs series - Michele Bosch from Beconnected
May 07, 202154:30
DBLA series - interview with Camila Borba Lefèvre, lawyer in Brazil

DBLA series - interview with Camila Borba Lefèvre, lawyer in Brazil

For this Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad episode, I am going to São Paulo in Brazil! All the members of DBLA are legal experts in the country where we are located but we are also from the Netherlands. We give companies, entrepreneurs and individuals who are not familiar with the local environment the help they need: often legal support but also practical advice about cultural differences or how things are done in that country.

In this episode I have the pleasure to interview Camila Borba Lefèvre, who is originally Brazilian but she spend enough time in the Netherlands to learn fluent Dutch, study Dutch law and became a Dutch lawyer. In 2008 she returned to Brazil and qualified as a Brazilian lawyer. Now Camila has a busy legal practice helping mostly non-Brazilian clients to do business in Brazil, a very complicated country full of opportunities. Camila tells about the legal climate, the business of her clients, changes of Brazil in the last decade, the political environment and so much more! Such a fascinating country!

Camila's firm is Vieira Rezende Advogados.

Thank you for listening!

Apr 14, 202152:56
GDPR & PIPL - abbreviations that are super relevant for all that are dealing with data!

GDPR & PIPL - abbreviations that are super relevant for all that are dealing with data!

EU has its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since 2016 and China issued the draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) - what do the 2 have in common? Which companies should take careful notice of this and how? In this episode I found my co-partner Zach Lichtblau in Shanghai and Mr. Ronnen Gaito in Luxembourg willing to discuss this heavy topic in a relatively light conversation. Ronnen explains how in the EU companies were affected in their daily management by the GDPR, what you should take into consideration with cross border transfers and how it was implemented and executed and Zach compares that with the expectations of the PIPL in China. 

Ronnen's firm is RJ Gaito Law Firm and Zach's is Bonnard Lawson International Law Firm & Equasia

Apr 07, 202154:25
Entrepreneurs series - Bas Fransen, founder of EcoMatcher

Entrepreneurs series - Bas Fransen, founder of EcoMatcher

After a corporate career with decades in Asia and involvement in big deals, Bas Fransen takes a big bold step by deciding to become a start-up entrepreneur. With his third start-up EcoMatcher, Bas combines all his experience with his passion to contribute to a better world by convincing companies to incorporate tree-planting in their organization. In this interview Bas tells about the ambition to plant 1 billion trees by 2023, the ups and downs he experienced and gives tips to those who are just starting their adventure.  

Bas' book "Ideas to Fight the Climate Crisis: Sustainable Resolutions for a Business" can be found here and you can reach out to Bas by email bas@ecomatcher.com 

At the end of the interview, I asked Anja Ong, Ecomatcher's ambassador in Hong Kong to shortly explain what companies can do. You can reach out to Anja by email as well: anja@ecomatcher.com.


Apr 01, 202157:14
Entrepreneurs series - Interview with Michael G. Ehlert

Entrepreneurs series - Interview with Michael G. Ehlert

Michael G. Ehlert is a true entrepreneur with all sorts of businesses in the financial industry. His companies are spread all over the world but have a special focus on Hong Kong. Michael will tell us all about his entrepreneurial journey and his latest passion project: the importance of intrapreneurs. Michael explains in our interview what it means to be an intrapreneur. We also discuss the difficulties entrepreneurs are facing when they are dealing with banks in Hong Kong. So loads of interesting information waiting for you in this interview! 

You can find Michael's businesses on

- mge.group

- https://bfi.hk 

- https://paycompliance.com 

- https://paycapital.hk

Mar 24, 202140:37
Discussion on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

Discussion on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

With two special guests, lawyer Raquel Garcia-Argudo Mendes in Spain and sinologist Valérie Hoeks in the Netherlands, I discuss the impact and the meaning of the controversial EU - China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Listen to this episode to hear our different take on the agreement, how it is received in the countries where my guests are located, the political turmoil it has caused and so much more! We are also considering to have a discussion on Clubhouse about doing business in China to exchange views and experience. What do you think? 

Contactinfo: 

Valérie: valerie@chinainroads.com 

Raquel: gmendes@ecija.com


Mar 09, 202152:02
Interview with artist Marcel Heijnen

Interview with artist Marcel Heijnen

Artist Marcel Heijnen received a lot of publicity with his Chinese Whiskers series - photos of cats in traditional shops in Hong Kong, and mainland China. Reason enough to find out more! There was indeed more, a lot more actually. Marcel is graphic designer, musician, and photographer, he published multiple books in the Chinese Whiskers and the Residue series and had multiple solo exhibitions. He is originally from the Netherlands, lived in Singapore where he had a design studio and art café and is now living in Hong Kong. During this interview, I keep on discovering and learning from his attitude and mindset of being open to new experiences and his creative ways of dealing with challenges and seeing opportunities. So lean back and enjoy the interview!

You can find more information about Marcel and his work and books here and he has an Instagram account Chinese whiskers with 34.500 followers so he is also a social media star! 

Mar 05, 202101:29:00
Entrepreneurs series - Godie van der Paal, founder of Kingdom of WoW in Cambodia
Feb 19, 202140:42
Interview with Oskar Valles, creator of the book "Dear Hong Kong" about diversity in Hong Kong with co-host Krystle Morris

Interview with Oskar Valles, creator of the book "Dear Hong Kong" about diversity in Hong Kong with co-host Krystle Morris

Oskar Valles came to Hong Kong 9 years ago as a regional finance executive for a multinational corporation but then he changed his life in order to give back to the community. Together with Aggie Lam, he created the amazing art book "Dear Hong Kong" with 200 pages featuring inspiring people from different countries living in Hong Kong with beautiful pictures. Exactly what Hong Kong needs in these turbulent times and as a matter of fact, exactly what the world needs right now: a must have or at least a must read! 

Together with my friend and colleague, Krystle Morris, originally from Columbia, we ask Oskar about the lessons learned from creating this piece of art and we discuss the importance of showing society the stories of people around them who at first seem unfamiliar.

A perfect mindset to start the new Year of the Ox! 

With special thanks to Nerice Gietel who is featured in the book and through whom I learned about this project! 

You can get more info about "Dear Hong Kong" here.     

Feb 08, 202146:27
DBLA series - Interview with Selma Ören, lawyer in Turkey

DBLA series - Interview with Selma Ören, lawyer in Turkey

For this Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad episode, I am going to Antalya in Turkey! All the members of DBLA are legal experts in the country where they are located but they are originally from the Netherlands. We give companies, entrepreneurs and individuals who are not familiar with the local environment the help they need. Often legal support but also sometimes referrals to reliable relations or practical advice about cultural differences or how things are done in that country.

I am interviewing Selma Ören who has been in Turkey for over 20 years. Selma tells us about her early wish to leave the Netherlands and explore the world and how that led to her decision to start a law firm in Turkey. She also gives tips about the best way to deal with the business culture, gives a juicy anecdote and explains how covid-19 actually improved the legal system in Turkey. Also, did you know that the lockdown in Antalya is quite strict as people are not allowed to go outside during weekends and between 9 pm - 6 am weekdays? Hear all about it in this episode!

Selma's firm is Ören Law Firm and she also writes a blog in English and a blog in Dutch. More podcast episodes on Choy's world

Thank you for listening!

Feb 06, 202149:49
E-commerce and import&export: interview with Simon de Raadt
Jan 28, 202143:17
Ask Choy anything - what would you tell your younger self?

Ask Choy anything - what would you tell your younger self?

Arpita Vyas (20), is doing an internship at our Equasia office right now and we often find ourselves exchanging our views about life and career choices. She, like most 20 year olds, can’t wait to get the answers of what life has in stock for her while also having feelings of uncertainty. 

I almost forgot as a 45 year old how it felt like to be 20 something so our exchanges were so interesting! Arpita decided to gather some questions from her friends that they wanted to know the answers for, and I tried to answer them to the best of my humble knowledge! 

If you are a young person, let me know if you have any other questions. And if you are a rather experienced person, let me know what is the advice you would give to your 20 year old self! Looking forward to reading the responses :)

Arpita is a 3rd years student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Apart from her interest in the field of marketing and management, she has recently co-founded a silver jewelry business, Aroha (check out her website at: www.arohajewelry.com)!

Jan 22, 202115:18
Sustainable investing - what does that mean?
Jan 19, 202127:04
After the race - Joyce Bijl made it and happy to share with us how it was!

After the race - Joyce Bijl made it and happy to share with us how it was!

It was great to see the attention Joyce Bijl got for the podcast interview in December about her planned fundraising triathlon in Dubai. She was able to finish the race AND to raise an enormous amount for cancer research with the Flying Dutchman team that  was participating with the triathlon from all over the world. Listen to our talk to hear all about it! 

Donating to Joyce's cause is still possible but that will end soon (https://thuistriathlon.mvdwfoundation.nl/actie/joyce-bijl/donateurs). However, if you want to donate to cancer research, there are still great charities out there. An example is https://sparkleupyourmind.com/ founded by Lianne Grootings Ritzen, someone who impressed and inspired us so much with her positive, strong mindset and the way she shared with the world what she was going through when she was dealing with her illness.  

In loving memory of Lianne and my friend Jennifer C.

IG: sparkleupyourmind.bylianne

IG: joyce.bijl.9

 

Jan 18, 202115:25
DBLA series - Interview with Marinus Vromans, lawyer in Belgium
Jan 12, 202101:22:44
Entrepreneurs series - start-ups in Hong Kong
Jan 08, 202101:17:08
Interview with Joyce Bijl - Dutch athlete in Dubai

Interview with Joyce Bijl - Dutch athlete in Dubai

Today I am going off topic for a very good reason: my good friend Joyce Bijl is going to do a fundraising triathlon (swim 3,8km, cycle 180 km and run (walk) 21,1 km) on 9 January 2021 as part of the Flying Dutchman Team to raise money for cancer research. In 2014 Joyce transformed herself as she was tired of being unfit by participating in the Oxfam Trailwalker (100 km run through the HK hills), stepping in the ring for a white collar boxing fight for a benefit gala and finishing a 6 day ultramarathon through the Sahara, the Marathon des Sables. Joyce was unstoppable until cancer hit her in 2018. She is grateful for the treatment she received which enabled her to start to recover and to slowly participate in the races again. Listen to her interesting story and donate to the cause with the following link: https://thuistriathlon.mvdwfoundation.nl/actie/joyce-bijl?fbclid=IwAR1NKw0vS44OIU_D_cQaiVoBeMA8OhM-FzZRCcaOWNKnh-nw4F6C6_uacRM&locale=en

The Oxfam Trailwalker: https://www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.hk/

Marathon des Sables: https://www.marathondessables.com/en

Joyce's contact: Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyce-bijl-98933910 and IG - https://www.instagram.com/joyce.bijl.9/?hl=nl

Mentioned book: Taming Tigers by Jim Lawless

More info about the leading athlete Maarten van der Weijden: https://3athlon.nl/maarten-van-der-weijden-kijkt-uit-naar-thuistriathlon-jezelf-verbeteren-is-een-leuk-spelletje/?fbclid=IwAR2pv4o3uPsGGhJaoODXe-xbS_CgvY7FDM-XDH3kDzojlmLUN1G7Ulw2kCU 

IG of the Flying Dutchman: the_flying_dutchman_team

Dec 21, 202040:40
Interview with Jay Thornhill from Baopals - giving access to online shopping in China for foreigners

Interview with Jay Thornhill from Baopals - giving access to online shopping in China for foreigners

Jay Thornhill is a real example of a success story of a foreigner making it in China as he is one of the 3 co-founders of Baopals, a website for English speaking consumers in China to access Taobao, Tmall and JD. What started as an entrepreneurial adventure between three friends living in the same building, Jay, together with Charlie Erickson and Tyler McNew managed to build a profitable company within a year with no funding and no experience in ecommerce and it’s still growing more than 4 years later. Baopals has often appeared in international news as an example of a successful company with foreign owners, and I read somewhere that over 250 million RMB of merchandise value has been sold through the platform. Baopals even has their own Wiki page! 

You can find Baopals on www.baopals.com and on WeChat and Jay on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thornhilljay and by email:; jay@baopals.com

Dec 17, 202058:33
Entrepreneurs series - Interview with Chris Brown and Tiffany Liang from ReThink HK

Entrepreneurs series - Interview with Chris Brown and Tiffany Liang from ReThink HK

It is clear that we have to change the way we live our lives in order to stop how we are damaging the planet. That change can not happen soon enough and the impact should be as big as possible. 

My today's guest, Chris Brown wanted to contribute to that change. So 18 months ago, he started ReThink HK and he worked relentlessly on creating the launch of the Sustainable Business Forum & Solutions Expo in Hong Kong. Despite the difficult circumstances caused by Covid19, the expo was a huge success with over 800+ visitors live and online back which took place in October 2020. And now Chris is already busy together with his colleague, Tiffany Liang, a fresh graduate from HKUST with an Environmental, Management & Technology degree and other team members to create next year's event. In this interview I am talking to Chris and Tiffany about their drive to contribute to a better and greener Hong Kong, why this is so necessary and how Chris journey as an entrepreneur started. 

You can find ReThink HK:

Website: https://rethink-event.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/rethink_event/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enviroeventshk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rethinkhongkong

Dec 11, 202049:13
DBLA series - Interview with Lodewijk Schlingemann in Russia
Dec 07, 202001:11:55
Interview with Gerard Morada about cybercrime, email scams, hacking and digital fraud

Interview with Gerard Morada about cybercrime, email scams, hacking and digital fraud

In the past decade, we handled quite a few cybercrime cases where the culprits aim to establish fraudulent fund transfers. They usually succeed by hacking email accounts, taking over the email correspondence without the parties’ knowledge and give instruction to pay the funds to a bank account that is controlled by the criminals themselves.

If the scam is discovered at an early stage and the funds are transferred to a bank account in Hong Kong (also happens if the case has further nothing to do with HK), it is key to immediately inform the local police. Together with the bank, the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit can freeze the bank account and try to retrace the funds (but in many cases, the money is already gone…). The victim should also inform the police at their place of business, the involved banks, the party on the other side, do their own (IT) investigation if possible and stop using the hacked email accounts.

Please be warned that these scammers work very diligently: they take over the email correspondence for quite a while, call the victim and impersonate an existing person with an unsuspicious telephone number displayed, pretend to be a bank associate who helps with a (real) software update, convince the victim by using details only known by the inner circle, produce fake invoices and so on. They also have the most advanced equipment and published information show that the number of cases are rising unfortunately which means that these scammers have access to more funds to finance their activities.

For this podcast I invited Mr. Gerard Morada to share his experience as a criminal law litigator in these kind of email scam cases. As a Hong Kong lawyer he was able to retrieve some funds recently for a mutual client. We also talk about the variations, the prevention and the way to handle if the victim finds out about the fraud in the hope to warn as many people as possible.

You can find Gerard Morada on his firm's website: http://www.mcalai.com

Dec 01, 202054:30
Entrepreneurs series - Interview Ron Oren, founder of Trips@Asia
Nov 20, 202048:53
DBLA series - Interview with Carl van der Zandt in the US
Nov 12, 202001:18:03
Entrepreneurs series - Ron Efron

Entrepreneurs series - Ron Efron

Today's guest is Ron Efron who is born as an entrepreneur with a vision. After starting businesses in Israel, he decided in the late nineties that China is the next place to be so he jumped on a plane and started his next entrepreneurial adventure. Ron mastered Chinese and after being active in various industries, he became an expert in providing corporate security solutions to companies across Asia. Ron shares his fascinating journey as an entrepreneur in China over the years and how he continues to develop himself and he tells more about his current company Bluocean Security and the future which may be in Singapore.

You can find Ron's company on https://www.bluoceansecurity.com, Ron on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-efron-129170a and the podcast is called "Security Asia Podcast". 

Enjoy!

Nov 09, 202048:34
Start-ups in Hong Kong

Start-ups in Hong Kong

3 Different entrepreneurs in Hong Kong who just started their business. The 3 of them work in different industries, are in different stages of their entrepreneurial careers and come from very different backgrounds but they do have one thing in common. They all started their businesses from scratch with a new view of servicing the needs of a society which is not the one they grew up in. They came up with a creative idea and started to work on the launch. So admirable! In the one-on-one interviews, I get the chance to ask Ruben de Bie, Madelon van de Ven and Camille Faylona about their business. 

One of Ruben's businesses, Grass - infused water can be found at https://www.grass-infusedwater.com (also on FB and IG). Ruben mentions the following books: Capital from Thomas Piketty and the Dutch book Fantoomgroei from Hendrik Noten and Sander Heijne;

Madelon is founder of PLNTY which you can find  on https://plnty.life (also on IG); 

Camille Faylona is founder of Campfire Crates and the products can be found on https://campfirecrates.com.  She also mentions the Founder Institute (https://fi.co).

You can also find them on Linkedin.

Oct 21, 202001:01:48
DBLA Series - Poland - doing business in Poland: interview with Remco van der Kroft

DBLA Series - Poland - doing business in Poland: interview with Remco van der Kroft

Today we are going to Poland for an interview with Dutch lawyer, Remco van der Kroft. Like me, Remco is part of the Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad Association and he is an expert when it comes to helping non-Polish companies navigate in Poland. Curious about doing business in this part of the world, then listen to this episode! 

You can find Remco van der Kroft on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/remcovanderkroft and his firm's website https://okwlaw.com. 

You can find more information about DBLA on https://dbla.nl 

Oct 09, 202028:11
Interview with Pascal Coppens - author, keynote speaker, sinologist and technology entrepreneur

Interview with Pascal Coppens - author, keynote speaker, sinologist and technology entrepreneur

Pascal Coppens is the author of the book "China's new normal - how China sets the standard for innovation". Pascal tells me in this interview why he wrote this book, gives examples of innovation and technology development in China, why he became a sinologist in controversial times and how he sees China's position and reputation in today's world. Interesting, familiar but also new views on complicated China! 

You can contact Pascal through https://www.pascalcoppens.com where you can also buy his book.

Sep 23, 202057:47
Entrepreneurs stories - Gerd Lindemann

Entrepreneurs stories - Gerd Lindemann

Gerd Lindemann is the owner of Holtrop & Jansma B.V. established in 1960 and currently the largest specialist for advanced industrial air purification in the Netherlands. Gerd, originally from Austria who moved to the Netherlands for love, took over in 1996 and was able to take the company to the next level by obtaining ISO and other certifications and starting a company in China in 2006. It is important for Gerd that his company is contributing to a cleaner environment. Gerd shares with us how he became an entrepreneur, how he gets his strategy ideas, what difficulties he faced in the 25 years that he has been an entrepreneur and specifically how his China business took off.

Gerd's company: https://www.holtrop-jansma.com/ and linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerd-lindemann-392233

 

Sep 08, 202001:00:51
Increasing sales in challenging times - Interview with sales expert Katharina Darisse
Aug 31, 202044:08
Interview with Stuart Gietel - Basten - Professor of Social Science and Public Policy at HKUST
Aug 19, 202001:36:27
Closing down operations in China - not so fast!

Closing down operations in China - not so fast!

In this podcast Hugo Muller, co-owner of Equasia and I address what some entrepreneurs are unfortunately facing right now during the pandemic: should they close down their business in China? What should they take into consideration and what hurdles would they face if they decide to do so? Find out what Hugo has to say about it in this recording. 

Should you have a more specific question related to your situation, please reach out and we can advise you further or even address it in the podcast. 

Find us on www.equasia-group.com and cc@equasia-group.com  

Aug 05, 202021:50
The legal representative

The legal representative

Chinese limited liability companies need to appoint a legal representative. In this podcast I will tell you that why this is the most important position of the company and what you should do to optimize a healthy environment in this respect. 

Please let me know topics and questions you would like me to address in a podcast episode! I would really like to talk about something that you would like to know more about. You can reach me through cc@equasia-group.com and Linkedin. 

Thank you so much for listening!

Choy Yiu Chan

Jul 17, 202008:18