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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taiwanese expatriates to help firms reach markets
Hung Shun-wu, center, an adviser to the US-based Friends of the Democratic Progressive Party, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
Hung Shun-wu （洪順五）, an adviser to the US-based Friends of the Democratic Progressive Party, yesterday said he has launched a global marketing program that aims to open up overseas markets to Taiwan’s small and medium-sized businesses through the help of Taiwanese expatriates.
Hung said he has invited Overseas Community Affairs Council and Ministry of Economic Affairs （MOEA） officials to find a new way to open up markets for local businesses.
The program’s first initiative, Taiwan’s Green Industry and Overseas Marketing Forum, was launched on Saturday with a ceremony at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, with more than 200 businesspeople and overseas Taiwanese compatriots attending.
“The program aims to make Taiwan visible. Taiwan is already a nation with sovereignty, but some people in the US do not even know where Taiwan is,” Hung told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The direction of President Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） economic policy is correct, but she is more concerned about research and development while paying little attention to traditional industries, Hung said, urging Tsai to “wake up.”
According to data released by the MOEA last month, there were 1,408,313 small and medium-sized enterprises in the nation last year employing 8,810,000 people.
According to the data, 97.73 percent of the nation’s businesses are small or medium-sized, but their total revenue last year — about NT$11.7 trillion （US$385.2 billion） — made up only 30.71 percent of all business revenue.
The government should not leave those businesses to fend for themselves, because they are the nation’s “lifeblood,” Hung said.
Hsu Ya-chin （徐雅琴）, vice president of the San Francisco branch of the Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce of North America, serves as the program’s chief executive officer.
She pledged to connect different generations, especially younger businesspeople, through the program.
“Young people know better about consumer behavior and they can smell where the market is heading,” she said. “Thousands of young businesspeople worldwide are glad to join the program.”
The platform would be more effective if the government directed more resources and helped young businesspeople understand the needs of local businesses, Hsu said.
The nation’s exports rely on foreigners purchasing Taiwanese goods, but if the buyers are overseas Taiwanese compatriots, they would develop closer relations with the local economy, MOEA Small and Medium Enterprise Administration Director-General Wu Ming-ji （吳明機） said.
The program’s first goal is to promote the nation’s 50 companies from the “green” industry and the circular economy, he said, adding that ministry officials have had the opportunity to talk to overseas representatives at Saturday’s forum.
The program’s participants are planning to set up a headquarters in Silicon Valley and other cities in the US, Europe and Japan, Council Vice Minister Leu Yuan-rong （呂元榮） said.
There were about 1,911,000 overseas Taiwanese compatriots last year, with about 1,202,000 in the US and 613,000 in Asian nations, council data showed in July.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
