ONE-STOP SERVICE GIVES WINGS TO DESIGN START-UP

Between 2000 and 2016, IPIM’s “One-Stop Service” assessed 2,809 investment plans

Loving Macau Ltd. sells products that embody its pride in the city. The company is known for using certain motifs in its signature products: the lotus symbol of Macao; the Portuguese expression of gratitude, obrigado; and the international telephone code for Macao, 853. The “One-Stop Service” provided by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) for facilitating investment was pivotal to the establishment of cultural and creative brand Loving Macau.

Loving Macau uses certain Macao motifs in its signature products

Loving Macau was founded by Josephine Lam and Miguel Miranda in 2015. The company has adopted street culture and Macao’s cultural icons and uses them to create T-shirts, accessories and souvenirs bearing its brand. Guidance on issues related to trademark protection and intellectual property rights was much needed when the brand started, Ms Lam tells Macao Image.

“I went online and I checked out the IPIM website for companies. We met the staff in charge of the ‘One-Stop Service’, which guided us through all the legal matters,” says Ms Lam.

IPIM staff did more than just answer questions about trademark registration and protection of intellectual property for Loving Macau’s design products. Ms Lam says the staff also helped provide swift notarial services to register the company.

She says the IPIM “One-Stop Service” promptly addressed all the doubts the founders had about starting the company.

Since establishing its brand, Loving Macau has been reliant on online sales. The business model for the company takes into consideration the high cost of renting a bricks-and-mortar shop in Macao and the online shopping behaviour of consumers. Apart from retailing products bearing its own brand, Loving Macau makes products to order for other manufacturers.

Popularity burgeons

Loving Macau says most of the buyers of its souvenirs and clothes are Macao consumers. The popularity of the brand lies in the fact that consumers love to share the products’ Macao elements with their friends.

Josephine Lam co-founded Loving Macau in 2015

“The most challenging is the beginning,” Ms Lam says. “We didn’t yet know what people liked. But after one to two months, we knew which items would sell.”

Ms Lam says Loving Macau is now gradually expanding its retail network as the brand has begun this year to see its products being sold in shops selling cultural and creative products. Since last year, Loving Macau’s products have also been on display in Macao Ideas, a product display centre run by IPIM.

“We were invited by the ‘One-Stop Service’ staff in 2016 to take part in the Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), which was our first time,” Ms Lam says. “It was very good for us to showcase our products there.”

Between 2000 and last year, the IPIM “One-Stop Service” liaised with 21,149 investors and considered 2,809 investment plans for businesses, excluding offshore services. The “One-Stop Service” has helped provide notarial services for the establishment of 2,484 companies.

The “One-Stop Service” offers comprehensive support for Macao investors and external investors alike. It answers enquiries by would-be investors about their proposals, provides guidance about the administrative procedures for investing in Macao and follows up on the implementation of investment projects.

IPIM “One-Stop Service” team takes on investors’ enquiries and assesses their investment plans. There are also personnel in charge of a notary service, which handles all the procedures necessary for company registration.

The “One-Stop Service” also provides guidance on the procedures for applying for the licences or permits needed to establish a business, helps investors find a partner both locally and overseas and provides other assistance in navigating the administrative procedures to implement an investment project here.

IPIM also co-ordinates the Investment Committee, which includes major government departments involved in licensing and approval processes. The committee helps guide investors through the administrative procedures required to achieve a project.

To run the “One-Stop Service” effectively, IPIM recommends investors provide a detailed project proposal that outlines all of the information linked to the applicant company.