IPIM SERVICES

IPIM’s Service Helps SMEs to Expand Their Business

• News Room

“The growth of an enterprise is like a seed that becomes a shoot, that shoot grows two leaves and then grows into a full blown plant.” IPIM’s SME Service Centre (hereinafter called the Centre) supports the growth of SMEs, with its theme being “Centring on services and making SME’s the priority “. It provides a range of services and information, actively helps SMEs obtain a wide array of resources, supports them in brand building and assists with the new business opportunities for enterprises at different stages of their growth.

Design Esta Studio Ltd, established in 2002, is a local fashion garment design firm, covering R&D, manufacturing, sales and consulting areas. In the beginning it was a fashion garment design studio but with changes in the market, Macao is co-operating more with mainland companies the firm began to expand into the mainland and provide fashion garment design and consulting services. In recent years Macao’s economy has grown rapidly, therefore the demand for uniforms has been growing in different industries due to a larger workforce,, thus the firm began manufacturing.

Eva Wong, Sales and Marketing Manager of Design Esta Studio Ltd., explained that, this is the natural direction of growth for the firm, during the process the company is looking at covering both local and overseas markets. But as an SME, it doesn’t have enough resources, so IPIM’s support is very helpful to them.

Wong says, the firm tried the Centre’s e-commerce service and set up a site on the Internet. Then the company made use of incentive measures to participate in exhibitions and joined business delegations organised by IPIM to attend local and overseas exhibitions and visit markets. This has helped the company to introduce its products and services to the world and also give it the opportunity to pick up market information from all over the place and get in touch with different suppliers and potential buyers.

With availability of the incentive measures, the firm has attended many professional exhibitions in the past two years, such as MFE of 2011 and 2012, CHIC 2012 in Beijing in early 2012 and MIF in the latter half of 2012. Wong says these exhibitions are very important, representing opportunities for the firm to “go global”, through mainland and international markets.

In 2011, IPIM opened “Macao Ideas”, in which local producers can display their products, providing another platform and doorway to overseas markets. Wong thinks that this kind of collective display area, compared with separate displays by individual companies, can save on costs and improve efficiency.

MX Trading was established by local businesspeople originally from Fujian province in 2000 and has its headquarters in the city. In the early years the company relied upon export quotas from Europe and North America and the reputation of Macao enterprises globally to obtain orders and trade textiles and garments.

Sam Chan, Manager of MX Trading, says, with the constant changes in the market and the gradual improvement in the company’s operational capability, it has opened a branch in Guangzhou and set up a factory in Jinjiang, Fujian province. The product portfolio has been expanded to cover products, such as umbrellas, bags and suitcases.

Chan says, that the company has used its resources to take advantage of a series of supportive services for SMEs provided by Macao SAR Government, including attending different exhibitions organised by IPIM. It also used the e-commerce service provided by the Centre to establish an online communication platform.

This e-commerce service platform has helped the company to promote itself and expand into new markets. Chan says, “Gradually the e-commerce service has become an essential working tool for us.”

Currently MX Trading products are mostly exported to Africa, Brazil, the Middle East, the Philippines, and Western Europe. Chan says that the company has a solid customer base overseas and a stable supply of orders. The company will, as always, stick to its development principles of “honesty and integrity in business” and the philosophy of “innovation and expansion”, and expand along with the economic growth of Macao and the mainland.