IPIM’S ‘ONE-STOP SERVICE’
GIVES INVESTORS A LEG-UP

The Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) is constantly striving to improve its “One-Stop Service” for enterprises interested in investing and doing business in Macao. The service helps investors register new businesses and obtain operating licences.

Chi Fung Food Co. Ltd. and Loja das Conservas Macau, both in the food business, are keen to expand their markets in Macao with IPIM’s support and assistance.

Chi Fung Food is an experienced wholesaler and retailer of dried seafood. It saw the demand for pouched ready-toeat seafood and decided to set up a food factory covering 4,000 square feet. The factory, located in the Centro Industrial Keck Seng, is a product development workshop equipped with the latest technology. The factory production line is being tested before being put into full operation.

Managing Director of Chi Fung Food Lee Chi Kei told Macao Image in an interview: “Without an official food factory operating licence, our sales channels are limited. Even though production can be launched with a temporary licence, our customers still prefer an official licence before purchasing our products.”

The company was worried that it would take a long time to get its licence, but IPIM helped speed up the process.

Lee Chi Kei, Managing Director of Chi Fung Food

Using IPIM’s “One-Stop Service”, Chi Fung Food applied for a licence in April last year. IPIM had its staff follow up the application, started searching for potential business partners and helped with the establishment and registration of the company. The Investment Committee put the company in touch with government departments and helped complete various administrative procedures. “With the help of IPIM, the whole application process was expedited,” Ms Lee says.

Chi Fung Food mainly processes and sells abalone. The company is planning to sell its ready-to-eat seafood to supermarkets and restaurants. “IPIM provided us with the necessary information on importing abalone, such as the submission of the required Certificate of Origin,” Ms Lee says.

Gabriela Cheang Choi Wan, Manager of Loja das Conservas Macau

Loja das Conservas Macau, a food retailer, is another IPIM “One-Stop Service” client. With the assistance of designated IPIM staff to follow up the business establishment, Loja das Conservas opened its Macao branch at the end of March this year, selling more than 300 types of tinned food. The parent company, Loja das Conservas, has been in business in Portugal for more than 200 years.

According to an agreement signed with Portugal’s National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fish, the shop has a commitment to sell the products of the association’s members. Its shop in Macao is its first in Asia.

“IPIM helped us to expedite the application process for the company’s establishment. Portuguese-speaking staff were assigned” to help with the process, says one of the shop managers Gabriela Cheang Choi Wan.

Ms Cheang says IPIM also provided a notary service. “Once the Portuguese company had submitted all the necessary documents, they began to follow up and assist with every administrative process to put the investment plan into action,” she says.

Establishing a shop in the tourism city of Macao has given Loja das Conservas a presence outside Portugal that attracts visitors, a flow of traffic that should help promote the parent company’s business elsewhere in Asia. “There are over 900 kinds of tinned fish products, so the range of products in our shop will vary continuously,” she says.

Loja das Conservas Macau is advertising vigorously in print and online. It is making plans for monthly food tastings in an endeavour to drum up sales, Ms Cheang says.