Unlocking Business Success in China with Industry Veterans -10

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. 15:10 Inside China Manufacturing: 20 Years of Lessons from the Wafer Fab Supply Chain-Firechat with Joo Meng Joo Meng brings 20 years of experience in China's wafer fab manufacturing industry, focusing on consumable products and supply-chain development. He has witnessed China's transformation from a lower-cost manufacturing base into an increasingly sophisticated and competitive industrial ecosystem. Joo Meng will share how China's manufacturing environment has changed, what is happening within the wafer fab and consumables supply chain, where opportunities may remain for Singapore companies, and most importantly — what it actually takes to do business with Chinese manufacturers. 15:40 Q&A 15:45: Business Networking 16:30: The End *Light refreshments will be provided. What Will You Take Away? Through two very different China journeys — an entrepreneur building his own manufacturing business and a practitioner with 20 years inside an industrial supply chain — you will gain practical insights into: • China then vs China now — how manufacturing has evolved. • Small company, big market — how Singapore SMEs can compete and survive. • Manufacturing & supply chain — working with factories, suppliers and partners. • People, quality & culture — challenges that go beyond price and contracts. • Failure and rebuilding — lessons from things that didn't go as planned. • Finding opportunities — where Singapore companies may still have an advantage. • Going beyond Singapore — thinking bigger without needing to be a big company first. Who Should Join? This event is suitable for Singapore SME owners, founders, manufacturers, technology companies and business leaders who: • Want to grow beyond Singapore's limited domestic market • Are exploring China or other overseas markets • Want to understand China's manufacturing and supply-chain ecosystem • Are looking for practical experience rather than textbook market-entry advice • Want to learn from Singapore entrepreneurs who have actually operated on the ground If you are asking yourself, “Where will my next stage of growth come from?”, this conversation is for you. Seats are limited to keep the sharing and networking interactive. Register early to secure your place.