DRGAON NEWS 2018 #2

Membe r maga zi n e f or th e Swed i sh Chambe rs of Comme rce i n Hong Kong an d Ch i na i s sue 2 • 2 018

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Kevin Rogers Digitalisation forces Elanders to diversify

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Eva Molina Biörck A life adventure she hadn’t expected

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A new era for man and machine Artificial intelligence and other high-tech innovations are reshaping today’s industries and we’re on the verge of a new industrial revolution.

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Publisher The Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China For advertising inquiries, please contact respective chamber’s office The opinions expressed in articles in Dragon News are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

CONTENTS

Editorial management, design and printing Bamboo Business Communications Ltd Tel: +852 2838 4553 www.bambooinasia.com bamboo@bambooinasia.com Art director: Johnny Chan Designer: Victor Dai English editor: Chris Taylor

No.022018 16

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Editorial

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Opinion: Tobias Glitterstam, Business Sweden

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Focus story: A new era for man and machine

16 Executive talk: Kevin Rogers, Elanders

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18 Feature: Eva Molina Biörck, Moka Bros

Cover: iStock INQUIRIES Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Room 2503, 25/F, BEA Harbour View Centre 56, Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2525 0349 Email: chamber@swedcham.com.hk Web: www.swedcham.com.hk General Manager: Eva Karlberg Event Manager: Rebecca Netteryd Finance Manager: Anna Mackel INQUIRIES Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China Room 313, Radisson Blu Hotel 6A, East Beisanhuan Road, Chaoyang District Beijing 100028, People’s Republic of China Tel: +86 10 5922 3388, ext 313 Email: beijing@swedcham.cn Web: swedcham.cn General Manager: Martin Vercouter Office Manager: Erika Staffas Member Service Manager: Jaycee Yang Finance Assistant: Tian Yiling Shanghai contact Level 5, The Executive Center, 159 Madang Road, North Block, Huangpu District, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Office Manager Shanghai: Marianne Westerback Tel: +86 21 6135 7229 Mobile: +86 185 0170 3307 Email: shanghai@swedcham.cn

20 This is Sweden: National Day 22 Young Professional interview: Nano Lozevski 24 Chamber activities in Hong Kong 26 Chamber activities in Beijing

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28 Chamber activities in Shanghai 30 Chamber news 32 New members 37 Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong

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38 Annual General Meeting in Beijing 40 The chamber and I: Products/services you may miss abroad 42 Directors and committee members

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EDITORIAL

C a Kristian Odebjer Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Lars-Åke Severin Chairman Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

When Big Data meets Big Brother Dear Reader, Supported by facial recognition techniques, a child abducted from his home in central China in his youth is re-united with his parents as an adult. Pedestrians are fined in real-time as they jaywalk across a busy intersection in Shenzhen. These are but two examples of the rapid technological transformation that are underway in China.

Business is not unaffected by this change, and many industries will be unrecognisable if we go away and then come back to visit, say, 10 years down the line.

As artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data reshape the cores of our lives, there are at least three major stakeholders whose interests need to be balanced: individuals, corporations and government.

Arguably, the three principal markets in the world are weighing the interests of those stakeholders somewhat differently.

The EU has just enacted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), legislation that is setting a new, higher, standard for the protection of personal data. The United States is still the home to the world’s leading internet companies, and has until now given these corporations relatively free reign in how they go about their business. China, on the other hand, has been very quick to put the power of cutting-edge technology at the disposal of the state.

In China today, we see government throwing significant resources at making the country an AI leader. This is done at

a strategic level, which means that money may be poured into projects that lack an immediate application if it is deemed that they have a potential future benefit for China. The examples quoted above illustrate how China has already begun harnessing innovative breakthroughs to serve its desire for control and increased law and order.

We should of course be grateful for the incredible feats of technology that are being brought into our homes and phones, and onto our wrists, by entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley, Stockholm and Shenzhen. At the same time, we cannot afford to be naïve about the potential consequences of powerful technologies that might be used for purposes we are not even yet aware of.

The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica saga illustrates how problematic this can be. All signs indicate that even if governments have the tools to keep a “Big Brother” eye on its citizens, companies whose business models revolve around monetising user information will go about utilising such business models and our privacy rights are at risk without laws and a workable enforcement regime that keeps them in check.

Through the GDPR, Europe is attempting to assume global leadership when it comes to protection of personal data online.

Business has had no choice but to comply (as evidenced by the endless stream of policy updates and requests for consent hitting our inboxes). A lesser known fact is that China is in the process of implementing its own set of laws and regulations in the same area.

It is likely that over time, Chinese voices demanding improved protection against illicit use of online data will grow louder. Will Beijing be prepared for this, and would the political leadership be prepared to sacrifice any of the control mechanisms it enjoys in order to placate those concerns?

At the end of the day, we as citizens need to ask ourselves whether the overall purpose of ever-more-powerful technology should primarily be about tackling age-old problems such as improving our environment, ridding the world of disease and fighting poverty, or harnessed for more sinister objectives such as exercising control over people to a degree previously unknown. Some commentators have argued that the latter outcome would mean “the end of good humanity”.

Also, will it be possible for the rest of the world to compete with China in this arena so long as China is able to allocate almost unlimited funds towards research into AI and related fields? Implementation of facial recognition is taking place today in benign circumstances (few people will complain about using the technology to catch jaywalkers). For now, little is said about other more controversial areas of its use.

The connected world will continue providing us with amazing opportunities to improve life for billions of people on the planet. Citizens, corporations and the governments of the world must work together to build trust and develop frameworks that ensure that mankind does not squander the promise of a brighter future delivered by technology.

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Op Wh are rea in t yo of the co ba

Co am

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Care for ambition Opportunities in Asia are vast and varied.

Whatever your ambition is for the future, we are uniquely positioned to help you turn it into reality. As the leading Nordic corporate bank in the area, we are on the ground to support you every step of the way. With decades of experience, and with offices throughout the region, we are well-placed to meet your corporate, financial institution and private banking needs.

Contact SEB now and find out where your ambition can take you. sebgroup.com/corporations-and-institutions china@seb.se

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o pi n i o n

Sweden’s L Asia footprint – nothing more than a good start Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population and accounts for one third of total global GDP, but only 20 per cent of leading Swedish companies’ global sales were generated in the Asia-Pacific region last year. Every such company should have a “Double Asia” plan in place and transition it into full execution, writes Tobias Glitterstam, head of Business Sweden’s Asia-Pacific operations.

Text: Tobias Glitterstam, tobias.glitterstam@business-sweden.se

Tobias Glitterstam is vice president and regional head of Asia-Pacific at Business Sweden. Based in Shanghai, he is leading the organisation with 11 trade commissioners, 15 offices and 150 market expansion consultants in the region.

Glitterstam was appointed to VP Asia-Pacific in 2016, after having first joined Business Sweden as trade commissioner to China.

Glitterstam has operated in Asia since 2003, with a particular focus on the Chinese

iving and working in Asia, it’s easy to understand the size and importance of this region. But some facts deserve to be repeated. Asia is home to more than half of the world’s population, contributes to almost two-thirds of global economic growth, and accounts for one third of total global GDP. The region is home to the majority of the world’s megacities and a rapidly expanding middle class. There is no doubt in my mind that this will be the Asian Century.

All of this means opportunities for Swedish companies, which are strong in the very fields Asian countries are investing in heavily – such as transportation, infrastructure, energy, digitalisation, healthcare and smart cities.

These are well known facts, so the question is how are these opportunities going to be converted into real business? Are we, as Swedish companies devoting enough attention and investments to Asia? Are we ready to take the necessary risks? Do we have enough Asian exposure?

In order to get a clear picture of Swedish companies’ performance in the Asia-Pacific region, Business Sweden is systematically gathering data on Swedish companies’ sales in the region. This provides a good view of the overall footprint of Swedish companies in Asia.

The results show that even the most global, large Swedish companies on average generate 20 per cent of their sales in the Asia-Pacific.

The companies in our sample, 56 of the largest and most global Swedish companies, had a combined sales volume of around SEK780 billion in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017. Compared to 2016, this represented a growth rate of 9 per cent – indeed more than double the growth rate compared to other regions – or in absolute terms a total net growth of SEK70 billion in Asia-Pacific sales in 2017.

Some business leaders would say that the 20 per cent Asia exposure is “good enough” – but I am convinced that we need to aim a lot higher.

If we aim to capture the full growth opportunities of the region and stay relevant in the global economy it’s simply not good enough to have just one-fifth of global sales in a region with some of the fastestgrowing economies and more than half of the world’s population.

Some companies have adopted a “wait and see” strategy – waiting for the right moment to enter key Asian markets, when they are “ready” for our products. This is too reactive. Without a strong footprint to begin with, we will not be there when the local markets become ready for our products – which may happen faster than expected. It is probable that international competition will have arrived earlier, or that local competition has grown too strong already.

The competition aspect is especially important in China. Domestic competition is already fierce and as these companies venture out of China we now see how competition from Chinese companies outside of China is rapidly intensifying. We are discovering equivalents to

market, and was previously partner at the global consulting firm Accenture. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Lund School of Economics and Management. He lives in Shanghai with his wife Karin and their three children.

Business Sweden’s purpose is to help Swedish companies to grow their global sales and international companies to invest and expand in Sweden. It provides Swedish companies with strategic advice, sales execution and operational support to help them grow their international revenues.

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ININ 2017, SWEDISH COMPANIES HAD MORE THAN 781 2017, SWEDISH COMPANIES HAD MORE THAN 781 0 BSEK SALES ININ THE APAC REGION BSEK SALES THE APAC REGION ASIA* Size ofSize balloons illustrate of balloons illustrate Asia*in APAC total revenues in APAC total revenues

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781+781+ bSEK revenue 20172017 bSEK revenue +9% +9% fromfrom 20162016 20% 20% of global revenues of global revenues in average

And it’s not just about our large companies.

There are thousands of Swedish companies with solutions for many of Asia’s challenges. With an Asia strategy and local partners these companies are fully able to benefit from Asia’s booming economies. And conversely, smaller companies are just as vulnerable to Asian competition. Avoiding Asian exposure does not mean avoiding competition – again, it means missing out on Asia’s growth opportunities and ultimately putting global market leadership at risk.

One possible objection to this “Double Asia” step-change is that the strength of Swedish companies is normally in the premium segment, which isn’t as big in most Asian markets as it is in Europe and North America. Yet some of the most successful Swedish companies, and other multinationals, have proven that it’s possible to expand beyond premium. Others have proven their relevancy of their premium solutions even in these low- and middle-income countries by providing superior value.

Some of the common traits among these trailblazers should act as inspiration for others looking to dramatically accelerate growth in Asia.

These companies often share a sense of urgency and an “Asia mind-set” with bold targets, speed, flexibility and willingness to adapt at the centre of their core strategy – without losing their core identity, technology leadership and brand values.

They also have global leadership teams and boards that take Asia very seriously – devoting considerable attention and resources to the region, making long-term investments and giving local Asia management leeway to explore the full potential of their markets.

Sweden’s 56 largest international companies with a current presence in the Asia-Pacific, based on 45% 45% publicly available data from companies’ annual reports.

Huawei in more and more industries – companies that are fully able to compete internationally, even in the premium segments.

Facing these new competitors can be daunting for companies that are used to a more slow-paced environment in Europe and North America. The new competitors from the East are not only costconscious, but fast-moving and very customer-focused – they are hungry and willing to make strategic bets through investments, and are increasingly innovative in their own right.

My view is that Swedish companies with a strong foothold in China and the rest of the Asia region will be much better equipped to also face competition from Asian companies on global markets. These global markets – many of them in Europe and considered our home markets – will without doubt be under attack from the East, with market dynamics becoming more and more similar to the ones we see in Asia today.

In other words, Swedish companies with deep experience from new Chinese and Asian competitors’ home markets, and ideally even with Chinese partners and own local Asian brands in their global product portfolios, will be much better positioned to face this new competition on global markets.

In short, we cannot expect to benefit fully from Asian market growth without a significant market exposure, and without it we will not only miss out on the Asia business opportunity, but be at risk of being caught by surprise by new competition in our home markets.

To be considered a leader in Asia there is reason to aim even higher. In terms of a benchmark, Fortune 500s have an average of almost half of their global business volume in Asia, where companies such as BMW, Airbus, Cisco, GE and Apple all generate more than one-third of their total revenue in the region. I can see no reason why our Swedish companies cannot perform just as well.

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It’s simply not good enough to have just one-fifth of global sales in a region with some of the fastest-growing economies and more than half of the world’s population.”

So, if 20 per cent is not enough, what would a more ambitious target be?

At Business Sweden, we believe a reasonable goal is that Asia should contribute to at least one-third of major Swedish companies’ global sales within the next three to five years. Considering rapid underlying Asia market growth, this means a doubling of current sales volume in Asia. Consequently, in my view we need to abandon the current trajectory of 5-10 per cent annual growth. Instead every company should have its “Double Asia” plan in place and transition it into full execution.

Acquisitions, alliances and joint ventures often play a key role in expanding market reach through offerings that span more segments or effective sales channels with wide coverage. This does not come without risks but when done right it has proven to have transformative potential.

Digitalisation is also a key enabler for growth in Asia, both for consumer-oriented and business-to-business companies. Finding success in Asia is almost impossible without online success. E-commerce is booming across the region but is very different from the e-commerce of Europe and North America – with different platforms, operating models and consumer behaviour. China and Asia require and deserve a tailored digital strategy as well as empowerment of the local Asia market organisation to adapt global solutions.

The good news is that our Swedish companies still have an edge in many regards thanks to global technology leadership, relevant solutions and strong brands – but the clock is ticking. Now we need to act and seriously strengthen our foothold in Asia. Let’s join forces to “Double Asia”. b DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018 7

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A new era for man and machine Artificial intelligence and other high-tech innovations are reshaping today’s industries and we’re on the verge of a new industrial revolution.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com

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Future trends (2): Tomorrow’s industries

I

magine you would like to get a loan and then you go to the bank just to find out that it is only managed by robots?

Science fiction? Not really. China Construction Bank, the nation’s second biggest lender, has opened a branch in Shanghai only managed by robots and relying on pure technology, including facial recognition, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR).

Or could you think of going to a convenience store and just grab what you need and go? No queues and no checkout. No staff in the store.

Well, it’s already here. Cashier-less stores have recently opened in both China and the US where customers can enter showing a quick response (QR) code and then shop for what they need or even have a meal. Sensors recognise the goods and the customers pay on their way out using mobile banking such as AliPay or WeChat Pay.

There are even speculations that in the near future AI will even be able to solve the riddle of cancer itself.

In the summer of 2017, China unveiled a plan to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, challenging the United States in its dominance of the technology. China is already making progress.

Digitalisation is the key word. Artificial intelligence is another.

China already has a 42 per cent share of global e-commerce transactions, processing 11 times more mobile payments than the United States, according to the global consultancy McKinsey & Company.

China is also home to one-third of all the world’s unicorns, or technology startups valued at more than US$1 billion.

The Chinese government has even introduced a textbook, called Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, to 40 secondary schools, according to the South China Morning Post. It describes the history of AI and how We are on the verge of a new evolutionary the technology can be apchapter in the history plied in areas such as facial of man and machine. recognition, autonomous Secondary schools in China have started using textbooks about AI. The arrival of AI, big driving and public security. data, Internet of Things, The book was published autonomous vehicles, facial recognition, at the request of the government after it 3D printing, sensors, blockchain, VR, asked the country’s education policy makers augmented reality (AR), cloud computing, to include AI courses in primary and seconddrones, robots and much more will not only ary schools. change the way we live and work but also change a large number of industries.

In April 2017, Baidu – the Chinese tech IBM’s supercomputer Watson made giant – was able use its facial recognition headlines in 2011 when it defeated several technology to find a 33-year-old Chinese multiple-times US champions in the classic man in Fujian province 27 years after he was game show Jeopardy. Seven years later, Watson abducted and reunited him with his biologican do much more than that. It is probably, tocal parents in Chongqing. day, the best cancer diagnostician in the world, That is just one example of how far Baidu helping doctors identify treatment options for has come in its research and development in cancer patients that humans have failed to see.

AI. Facial recognition technology is also tested

I can’t really think of one single industry that will not change radically over the next 10 years.”

Tomas Larsson, Kairos Future

Rapid urbanisation, environmental challenges and technological breakthroughs are reshaping the world we live in, the markets we do business in and the companies we work for. For this year’s four issues of Dragon News, the Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and China have chosen, as the magazine’s overall theme, to look at some of the more notable of tomorrow’s trends.

We will analyse current developments and interview representatives of member companies and others that in one way or another are involved in these trends.

In this issue, we look at tomorrow’s industries. The development of artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things, cashier-less stores and much more will transform many of today’s industries and most companies probably have to adjust whether they like it or not.

at airports for passenger identification and Baidu believes that, in the near future, facial recognition could replace boarding passes.

Baidu is the operator of China’s biggest search engine and has access to real-time search data from 700 million internet users in China. By using big data, AI and cloud services it can analyse individual users preferences and sell them to marketers.

The company’s former chief scientist Andrew Ng, who also has a background at Google, has said that we are on our way to entering a new industrial revolution and that “artificial intelligence is the new electricity”.

Tomas Larsson is director of Kairos Future’s ChinaLab in Shanghai, which is closely following all the new technology trends. He says: “There is a lot of talk about AI right now, and AI will definitely change a lot, but there are other important things happening in several areas as well, for example in materials such as plastics. Only 10 per cent today are recycled, some 40 per cent go to landfills and a third end up in the sea.

“In this area, there is much going on – for example research into biodegradable plastics that decompose naturally in the environment and will be much less harmful than traditional plastics,” he says.

Larsson believes that many industries will see great changes: “We will see solutions within the energy sector that will be cheaper than today’s energy. Smart farming will give us better food. The fifth generation of wireless networks (5G) is on its way and it will mean that we can do so much more when the connections are so much faster and everything can be saved in the cloud.

“I can’t really think of one single industry that will not change radically over the next 10 years,” he concludes.

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Schools are taking it to the next level Even if many schools around the world are already digitalised, the growth of educational technology applications could revolutionise the day-to-day work for students, teachers and school administrators.

Digitalisation in schools is nothing new, since many schools worldwide have worked with computers and tablets as educational tools for a number of years. However, today a large number of startups and other companies around the

world – not least in Sweden – are using educational technology, or simply edtech, to provide solutions that can revolutionise teaching platforms in the future.

“Sweden is in the forefront compared to other countries when it comes to digitalisation of the educational system, but the education system is still only at an early stage of the development, a kind of 1.0 version,” says Jannie Jeppesen, CEO of Swedish Edtech Industry, an independent non-profit industry association with some 70 member companies.

“Schools in Sweden have had Wi-Fi for quite some time and we have a high ratio of computers per student. However, with artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology trends, it is time for the Swedish educational system to move to the next level,” she says.

Sweden is in the forefront compared to other countries when it comes to digitalisation of the educational system, but the education system is still only at an early stage of the development, a kind of 1.0 version.”

Jannie Jeppesen, Swedish Edtech Industry

2030

technology could be limitless,” says Kevin Rogers, Another area is generative design. Designers or engineers input design parameters, such as materihead of the Elanders Group’s print and packaging als, size, weight, strength, manufacturing methods and operations in Asia (see also pages 16-17). cost, into generative design software and the software explores, with the help of AI, all the possible combiThe healthcare sector accounts for 10-15 per The year when China aims nations of a solution, quickly generating hundreds or cent of the GDP in most developed countries. It is to be the world leader in even thousands of design options. Such new products an industry in transition, in which health technology artificial intelligence. can then be produced by 3D printing. apps and big data are transforming the industry.

“Instead of human beings designing products there will be People will be able to use health trackers, much more advanced computers that do it with the help of AI and will find new types of than the fitness devices we see today, which can count the number of designs that a human designer could possibly never had invented,” steps and monitor the heart rate. Tomorrow’s devices will be able to Larsson says. track, through sensors, glucose levels and signs of cancer.

“We have to get used to the idea that objects in the future may This could allow medical professionals to focus less on diagnosis not look the same as the ones we are used to now,” he adds. and more on finding the best solutions for treatment.

3D printing is definitely a technology that will have plenty of “There are, however, big risks if people let their apps do the diagnoimpact in the coming decade. Once 3D printers go mainstream, ses,” says Larsson. “Wrong data could come up that will make people consumers will be able to select and manufacture the items they worry. It is also a risk that traditional actors, such as public hospitals, want, reducing the need to ship the item to them. This also brings will be more marginalised while private players will get more control, custom design into play, allowing consumers to personalise an item which could lead to important information being lost to research.” like clothing or jewellery, then print it out immediately.

“3D printing will have a very big impact on a number of indusEducational technology, or edtech, is one of the fastest tries. We’ve already seen it in a number of sectors, such as consumer growing industries in the world, according to Jannie Jeppesen, CEO electronics and healthcare, but I think it will touch every sector at of Swedish Edtech Industry, an independent non-profit industry assome point in the future. I’ve been to some closed-door sessions about sociation with some 70 member companies.

3D printing and what I’ve seen so far indicates that the future for this “Sweden is in the forefront compared to other countries when it 10 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018

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The Swedish edtech delegation found out from its visit to Hong Kong that Sweden and Hong Kong have similar challenges but different strengths.

The delegation also visited Shenzhen and the city’s speed of innovation was a real eye-opener for the Swedes.

Edtech is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and, according to Jeppesen, the number of applications has even surpassed those within financial technology, or fintech.

The members of Swedish Edtech Industry vary from AI startups to established global companies such as Microsoft but also traditional Swedish educational giants such as Liber, Natur & Kultur and Gleerups, as well as companies like Tieto and IST, which offer services for system administration – for example to handle student schedules, school buses, assessment reports and so on.

The Swedish Edtech Industry is only a one-year-old association and when they decided to send a delegation abroad for the first time, they chose Hong Kong. This was in conjunction with the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong in December 2017, to which Sweden also sent a design delegation, led by the Swedish Prince Carl Philip.

“We could see in our conversations with educational people in Hong Kong that we have similar challenges but different strengths,” says Jeppesen.

“In Sweden, we are good at soft skills, which means cooperation, creative solutions and entrepreneurship. But we have lost our position in knowledge results, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, where Hong Kong is very strong. They have challenges with creating talents with innovative ideas, but they are speeding up, already talking about AI literacy,” she says.

The Swedish delegation also visited Shenzhen, a city that has

been dubbed a challenger to Silicon Valley.

“We were in Shenzhen for two days and their speed of innovation was really an eye-opener for us,” says Jeppesen.

During the visit to Hong Kong, the Swedish Edtech Industry signed an agreement with Hong Kong Education City, which is a wholly-owned Hong Kong government organisation that has a mission to enable to better adapt to changing curriculum initiatives through technology.

“The agreement means that our member companies will be able to test their technology in Hong Kong public schools.

If it works out well, it could become a regular platform in Hong Kong schools,” Jeppesen says.

Public schools in Hong Kong are in general far behind when it comes to digitalisation and new solutions. Most things are done manually, including system administration, tests and homework.

I’ve been to some closeddoor sessions about 3D printing and what I’ve seen so far indicates that the future for this technology could be limitless.”

Kevin Rogers, Elanders

comes to digitalisation of the educational system, but the educational system is still only at an early stage of the development, a kind of 1.0 version,” she says (see separate article).

Digitalisation has opened up a wide range of opportunities for education systems worldwide. It paves the way for new learning experiences and provides innovative ways to achieve core goals. Already today, many schools are using cloud-based technology, so that students can easily save their assignments, share them more easily and securely store them on the cloud.

There are many benefits to educational technology. It will make

teaching easier through audio-visual presentations, it will be easier to track the students’ progress, and so on. The new technologies could also mean that more students around the world can get easier access to qualified education, for example through distance learning.

Within the financial sector there has, in recent years, been a boom in financial technology, or fintech, applications. The fintech industry is thriving globally with a large number of startups involved in the process but also several of the world’s leading banks.

Fintech companies utilise technology that is widely available, from payment apps to more complex software applications that include artificial intelligence and big data.

Fintech is not a new phenomenon. It has been around in one form or another virtually as long as the financial services sector has. However, over the past decade fintech has evolved to disrupt and reshape commerce, payments, investment, asset management, insurance, clearance and settlement of securities and even money itself, with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and its distributed ledger blockchain.

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approvals, and free person-to-person payments – all innovations that fintech has made popular. And while they may not dominate the industry today, fintech has succeeded as both standalone businesses and vital links in the financial services value chain,” according to a report

by Deloitte and the World Economic Forum (WEB).

The retail industry is also going through big changes. Here, as in most sectors, new technologies are leading the way, in a race between China and the US. In January this year, US-based Amazon, after long delays, finally opened its first unmanned Amazon Go grocery store in Seattle.

The store concept utilises several technologies, including computer vision, deep-learning algorithms and sensor fusion to automate much of the purchase, checkout, and payment steps associated with a retail transaction.

However, in July, 2017, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba had already opened its first cashier-free retail store, Tao Café, in Hangzhou.

As with Amazon Go, customers can enter the store after obtaining a machine-readable QR code entry ticket through their Taobao account and going through the facial recognition system at the store.

Customers can not only dine in the café, but also purchase various products both physically in the store and online by using interactive screens at each table. Customers pay automatically as they exit through the checkout sensor door. There are no queues at the cashier and no need for cash or even mobile payments.

Several other unmanned convenience stores have also emerged in China, such as the French retailer Auchan’s BingoBox stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

The concept is part of what has been described as “New Retail”

by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. It is the transformation of traditional retail into a seamless experience between the online and offline world.

“Pure e-commerce will be reduced to a traditional business and replaced by the concept of New Retail – the integration of online, offline, logistics and data across a single value chain,” Jack Ma predicted at an investor briefing in 2016.

“New Retail is an area where development is taking place so fast and where the big players in China are pushing it forward,” says Larsson of Kairos Future.

“Alibaba invented the term but then the other players are moving in quickly. Jingdong [JD.com] is talking about borderless retail, while Suning calls it smart retail. New Retail is a big experimental workshop for finding new ways of creating value in retail and more efficiently building new things around the customer.”

Felicia Lindoff is the co-founder of the Sino-Swedish Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre in Beijing. She believes that the ecommerce market will continue to develop and change: “It is already a mature industry and it’s all digitalised. When this it is integrated with features such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), we will see many new ways of shopping.” (see separate article)

Artificial intelligence is the new electricity.”

Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera and former chief scientist at Baidu

Pure e-commerce will be reduced to a traditional business and replaced by the concept of New Retail – the integration of online, offline, logistics and data across a single value chain.”

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba

Larsson believes that “China will be at the forefront in many businesses that combine hardware with internet-based business models. China already has half of the world market in smartphones. Most industries in the future will see a strong Chinese champion as one of the market leaders. Today, China is an experimental workshop for Internet-based business models,” he says.

The sharing economy is also reshaping and challenging traditional industries. In the past few years, consumers have embraced services such as Airbnb and Uber. The sharing economy will probably continue to spread into other markets or industries, such as services in which people may be able to offer or trade skills with each other.

“The difference between what in the West is called sharing economy and in China where it’s called a rental economy is quite important. The sharing economy was, at least in the beginning, a peerto-peer phenomenon that shared underutilised resources. In China, there are companies that have these resources and find new ways to use them,” says Larsson.

“Mobike and Ofo have realised that they earn considerable amounts of money on some bikes and users but less money on other bikes and users. So at night time they use trucks to move all these bikes around to put them where they are more likely to be used. All this is done using computerised information about the bikes and the customers.

“Another area in China is that you can charge your phone for one yuan per hour while you’re eating. But there have been backlashes too. An umbrella sharing system was launched, in which you could rent an umbrella for one yuan per hour, but 300,000 umbrellas were stolen in just a few days,” says Larsson.

In the fashion industry, there are some new startups now renting out clothes that are too expensive to buy for most people.

“We will see the same thing with cars. For daily transportation needs, more people will pay for usage – that is for getting from A to B in an autonomous vehicle, instead of buying a car. This will also mean that we will see new kinds of cities. They will be more quiet, more efficient and will have less traffic jams. We can even imagine offices and schools that use autonomous driving by organising lessons with people in a vehicle,” Larsson says.

12 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018

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2018-06-05 09:30 18/6/20 下午4:26

focus STORY

A platform for innovation Swedish SMEs need to understand that doing business in China is not the same as doing business in Europe, says Felicia Lindoff, co-founder of the SinoSwedish Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre in Beijing.

As co-founder and chief operating officer of the Sino-Swedish Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre (SSIEC) in Beijing, Felicia Lindoff works actively with several Swedish tech startups that are interested in testing their products on the gigantic Chinese market.

Lindoff, who first came to China in 2007, has a background in Chinese language studies in Ningbo, running a retail business in Kunming, when she was importing clothes from South Korea, and having worked as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme officer at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing. She has also founded a Scandinavian interior design studio called North of North and she is a member of SwedCham China’s board of directors.

The idea to start an entrepreneurship centre in China for Swedish companies came up when she met Zhang Ling, who founded the Sweden Alumni Network in China (SANC) some years ago. It is the biggest Swedish alumni network outside of Sweden.

“We realised that there aren’t many platforms in China where Swedish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can get assistance for entering Chinese markets so, in 2016, we decided to start SSIEC,” says Lindoff.

They received backing from Zhongguancun Yonghe

Hangxing Science Park, which provides a comprehensive variety of resources and also SSIEC’s facilities. Zhongguancun – which has been dubbed China’s Silicon Valley and hosts tens of thousands of tech companies, among them Baidu and Lenovo – is providing SSIEC with important resources such as guidance of local policies, funding and other necessary support SMEs need when entering the Chinese market.

The centre has also built a network of advisers, of whom many are SANC alumni.

“Our customers have different reasons for approaching us,” says Lindoff. “Some just need more information about the China market for their products while others are open for attracting investors and entering joint ventures.”

Some Swedish tech startups are already world leaders in their niches but to have a good product is not enough to be successful in China.

“In China, you have to be flexible and open-minded.

Swedish SMEs need to understand that doing business in China is not the same as doing business in Europe. China has another business culture and other business models,” says Lindoff.

“The Chinese are adaptive, they are quick to test new technology, they challenge the ways things are being done and everything moves very fast. Look for example at the market for e-commerce. Today, everyone has Alipay and WeChat Pay and when you order something it will be delivered within an hour,” she says.

She believes that the e-commerce market will continue to develop and change: “It is already a mature industry and it’s all digitalised. When this is integrated with features such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) we will see many new ways of shopping.”

The Chinese are adaptive, they are quick to test new technology, they challenge the ways things are being done and everything moves very fast.”

Felicia Lindoff, Sino-Swedish Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre

There are of course not only winners in this race – there are also losers.

“The pace is so fast at the moment. And the biggest companies are normally the ones who that will be the last to change. Today, I wouldn’t invest in the traditional fossil-fuel industry, for example,” Larsson says.

“The big threats are not from these companies’ traditional com-

petitors, they come from totally new players. In this game, we will see many winners and losers. Winners are the ones that can adjust to the new rules of game. But this is not just about one-off change, but about changing to new things all the time,” he says.

“Those that cannot adjust and those who think they can still continue to live on old merits, they will probably be the big losers.” b

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e xecu t i ve talk

Digitalisation forces Elanders to diversify Printed packaging and digital printing will continue to show strong growth, while traditional printing will plummet even more in the future, according to Kevin Rogers, head of Elanders Group’s print and packaging business in Asia.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com

E

arly in January 2015, when Kevin Rogers was working operations, which are headquartered in Singapore, represent the major in his office in Newcastle, where he was the head of part of our business. We take care of warehousing, pick-and-pack, Elanders’ operations in the UK, he got an email from container consolidation, exports, freight forwarding, and so on. We Magnus Nilsson, CEO of Elanders Group. The subject also assemble some products for our clients such as personal computing line of the email was: “Something to think about”. equipment and automotive parts,” says Rogers.

What Nilsson wanted Rogers to think about was whether he Elanders are focusing on some selected industries, such as would be interested in becoming the head of the company’s print and automotive, electronics, fashion and lifestyle, healthcare and life science packaging operations in Asia, based in Beijing, and also a member of and industrial. Some of the company’s major Swedish customers in China the group management team. include ABB, Clas Ohlson, Seco Tools, Volvo Car and Volvo Trucks.

“These were indeed two very interesting things to consider,” says Rogers. “After the initial excitement, I started to wonder what my wife Rogers believes that traditional printing will continue its decline: Vanessa would think about this, because we had just got married the year “With the escalation of digital media the future for printing will be before. So I called her to discuss it and we decided we should turbulent and I expect that in the next five to 10 years, we will go on a scouting trip to Beijing. On the journey back home we see a big reduction in demand. The younger generation are decided that I should take this opportunity.” much more comfortable reading and accessing information So he moved to the Chinese capital with his wife. His on their smartphones, tablets and desktops,” he says. stepson Drew, 17, joined for the two first years but is now “Printed packaging is probably the only safe and The number of studying at a boarding school in England while Rogers’ two sustainable part of traditional printing that has a future,” years that Kevin children from a previous marriage – daughter Neeve, 13, and says Rogers.

Rogers has son Jay, 10 – stay with their mother in the UK. Digital printing is, however, still growing and will worked with continue to grow, he believes. Digital printers can now handle digital printing. big sheet sizes and the printing speed has also improved.

Rogers, who was born in Newcastle in 1969, has been in the printing industry all his working life and joined “The quality of digital printing is improving year-on-year Elanders in 1999, when the Swedish company acquired the UK-based and can now even be compared to offset. Today, most people can’t tell Hindson Print, where he was digital print manager. Today, this UK the difference,” he says. facility is five times the size it was when Elanders bought it.

The packaging business will probably increase, because of the rise “When I started working with digital printing some 30 years ago in domestic consumption and the Chinese government’s initiative on we used magnetic tapes and big floppy drives”, says Rogers. “Then the the environment. internet came and changed everything.”

“We can see clearly in Beijing that government pressure on Elanders established itself in China in 2005, when the current environmental issues is really intense and many printers are being CEO Magnus Nilsson set up the print and packaging operations in Beijing, following in the steps of one of its key clients, Sony Ericsson. At that time, Elanders was mainly a printing company, but with rapid digitalisation and, as a consequence, a decreasing demand for printed matters, Elanders embarked on a transformation into a more diversified company by acquiring a number of companies within supply-chain management and e-commerce.

“Today, we have more than 1,000 employees in China with 10 facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The supply-chain

30

Printed packaging is probably the only safe and sustainable part of traditional printing that has a future.”

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The quality of digital printing is improving year-on-year and can now even be compared to offset.”

From a printing company to a supply chain specialist

forced to leave Beijing. Being a Swedish company that is very focused on being green is definitely an great advantage for us,” says Rogers.

3D printing is a growing technology that will have plenty of impact in the coming decade. In 2017, Elanders established a megahub in Singapore for 3D printers.

“It is actually a global distribution centre for 3D printers. One of our customers is a leading producer of 3D printing equipment. When the machines are manufactured, the customer sends them to us and we take care of the global distribution “3D printing will have a very big impact on a number of industries. The obvious issues are design and prototyping but I also think we will see localised 3D printing centres that can produce spare parts on demand locally, which will reduce costs and improve lead time,” says Rogers.

Elanders was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1908 and was for more than 80 years a family-owned company with most of its business in Sweden, producing among other things telephone directories for the government and technical manuals for big corporations.

In 1989, Elanders was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and with the businessman Carl Bennet as new owner the company grew into an international player through several acquisitions in Europe and, later on, also in North and South America.

When digitalisation hit the printing industry, Elanders reacted quickly and diversified the company’s businesses.

The acquisition of the Singapore-based Mentor Media in 2014 meant that the Elanders Group doubled in size from a turnover of around US$250 million to almost US$500 million and it gave the company a true supply-chain platform to continue to build on.

In 2016, the German company Logistics Group International (LGI) was acquired and Elanders doubled its turnover again to almost US$1 billion.

In 2017, Elanders signed a contract for the acquisition of 80 per cent of the shares in the Hong Kong-based company Asiapack, which also has operations in Shenzhen.

Today, the company calls itself an integrated provider of supply-chain solutions, print and packaging solutions and e-commerce. The supply chain business represents around three-quarters of the turnover.

“We already see it in a number of sectors, such as consumer electronics and healthcare, but I think it will touch every sector at some point in the future. I’ve been to some closed-door sessions about 3D printing and what I’ve seen so far indicates that future possibilities are almost limitless,” he adds. b DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018 17

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feat u re The entrepreneur

Moka Bros can easily transform from a healthy lunch meeting space to a happening hangout spot.”

A life adventure she hadn’t expected After living and working 22 years in China, Eva Molina Biörck has learnt both how to set up successful companies and close down businesses. Today, she focuses on developing and expanding the healthy food restaurant chain, Moka Bros, which already has seven locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

Text: Jan Hökerberg, jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com PHOTO: MOOI Studio

T

oday, more and more young Swedes are moving to China to either study, be part of an entrepreneurial company or simply just taking the chance and looking for opportunities when they are there.

Twenty-two years ago this wasn’t common at all, but one who took the chance at that time was Eva Molina Biörck, who, in 1996, when she had just graduated from Stockholm University, decided to pack her bags to go to China to find a job.

“It was a dream come true when I soon could get a position with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in Beijing. It was the perfect start and it connected me with both worlds immediately,” she says.

After seven years with SAS as sales representative and sales manager she decided to leave the airline to focus on her own startup.

“Working for SAS was a true pleasure and a great learning platform. The organisational culture was inspiring and positive.

However, I wanted to create something of my own. The travels to different Asian countries combined with visiting local antique markets made me think of producing own interior design objects. My

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Eva Molina Biörck and her husband Alex are focusing on expanding the Moka Bros restaurant concept.

best friend, India Chang, shared this passion and together we started Chang & Biörck. We had the amazing opportunity to work with some of Scandinavia’s best-known designers and we opened a store in Beijing,” says Molina Biörck.

She was born in 1970 in Sydney, Australia, where her father, who was an engineer, worked at that time. As very young she also spent some time in the US before that a fast reaction is sometimes the most important moving back to the city of Falun in Sweden where she in China, so she decided to close Modo and focus her grew up. After finishing upper secondary school, she attention on the new restaurant. took a couple of courses in social and political science “Moka Bros has turned out to be a welcome at Stockholm University, until she found their East concept.

It is the brand we are now focusing on to The number of Moka Asian studies programme. develop.

We have five restaurants in Beijing, located Bros locations that Eva “It intrigued me as it was about something in Sanlitun, Solana, The Place, Joy City Xidan and Molina Biörck and her unknown to me at the time. It seemed like a great our most recent addition in Shuangjing. We have one partners plan to have in adventure, so I applied and was accepted. I had a location in Shanghai (K Wah Centre) as well as one in place within five years. romantic view of China from a novel I’ve read from my Chengdu (Taikoo Li) and we are looking to grow in grandma’s library that changed abruptly when I first these markets. We are also thinking of expanding to visited 1991. Quite innocently and ignorantly I thought China would Hong Kong,” says Molina Biörck. look like the Forbidden City. But it didn’t disappoint me, instead it “Our plan is to open two or three new Moka Bros restaurants took me on a life adventure I hadn’t expected,” she says. per year within the next five years. We always strive to reinvent our In Beijing in 2007, she met her future husband, Alex Molina, a concepts and stay current. Not being afraid of change,” she adds. b Colombian who worked in the food and beverages (F&B) industry and had come to China in 2006 for consulting work at a restaurant.

Advice to young entrepreneurs They got married in 2008 and the couple have a daughter, Edda, who is eight years old today, and two three-year old twin boys, Dante and Milo.

After living 22 years in China and having established a “Soon after we met, we talked about opening our own restaurant number of startups, Eva Molina Biörck shares some of her in Beijing,” says Molina Biörck. “At that time, there were only a few experiences as advice to today’s young entrepreneurs: options in casual fine dining so there was a market and a need. There • Setting up a shareholder agreement between partners was almost nothing in-between high-end dining and fast-service Pizza really saves a lot of potential trouble and misery.

Hut type of eateries, so it was really the perfect moment. We wrote • Make sure you are on the right side of the law in terms of a business plan and looked for investment and within six months we labour contracts, fire, hygiene and environmental license. opened Mosto. That was in the midst of the 2008 Olympics and it • Set short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. It really was very challenging as there were many restrictions at the time. In helps to prioritise your work.

August this year, Mosto will be celebrating its 10th anniversary.”

• Always review and refine your standard operation

20+

Being more and more engaged in the restaurant business, Molina Biörck found it difficult to concentrate on developing Chang & Biörck at the same time and, in 2013, when her interior design partners had left China they decided to transfer the firm to a longtime Chinese colleague who still runs it.

After successfully establishing Mosto, the three owners – Molina Biörck as business developer, her husband Alex as general manager and sommelier, and the Venezuelan chef Daniel Urdaneta – wanted to try another restaurant concept. In 2010, they opened Modo, an urban deli concept of small dishes to share, and in 2013 they launched Moka Bros, a concept based on healthy eating.

“With Moka Bros we introduced the term ‘power bowls’ in China – healthy bowls with bases such as brown and black rice, salads and different toppings. But we also serve waffles, ice cream, desserts and drinks and Moka Bros can easily transform from a healthy lunch meeting space to a happening hangout spot,” says Molina Biörck.

With the birth of Moka Bros, many of the customers who used to frequent Modo migrated to the new and popular restaurant. After five years’ experience in the F&B industry, Biörck Molina had learnt

procedures, but make the changes swiftly and move on.

Don’t get stuck in processes and administration.

• Employ people that fit your organisation in spirit as well as merit. I would say, surround yourself with doers.

• Do not over-analyse decisions. It’s particularly difficult making decisions that will have a huge impact on your business. It might be the wrong decision, but then you change and you keep moving forward.

• Have disciplined accounting practices and a solid financial plan in place. Cash flow and budget forecasting is key.

• Keep on learning. Whatever field or discipline, it contributes to growth that inevitably will influence your business too.

• Don’t underestimate the power of guanxi and losing face.

• Don’t let yourself get side-tracked or insecure about other people’s opinions. Stay focused.

• Finally, building your own business is challenging but it should make you happy. If the pressure is too hard and you lose the spirit it’s OK to stop. From failure comes new opportunities to grow.

DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018 19

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T his is S weden

PHOTO: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se

The National Day marks Sweden’s independence Sweden’s National Day, which falls on 6 June, wasn’t a public holiday until 2005.

TEXT: Fabian Lundberg, fabian.lundberg@swedcham.com.hk

S

ince 1983, Sweden has celebrated its National Day (Sveriges Nationaldag) on 6 June. Prior to that, the day was, for more than 100 years, celebrated as the Swedish Flag Day (Svenska flaggans dag). However, the history behind the celebration is little known among Swedes even themselves.

It refers to the date on which Gustav Vasa was crowned king in 1523 which meant the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it marks Swedish independence. It also marks the day on which a new constitution was adopted in 1809.

Sweden made 6 June a public holiday in 2005 after years of resistance from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, which argued that the addition of another public holiday would have a negative effect

on the Swedish economy. A compromise was reached by having 6 June replace Whit Monday (Annandag Pingst) as a public holiday. This decision was highly criticised both by the church and labour unions, which argued that Whit Monday always falls on a Monday while 6 June does not necessarily fall on a workday.

The National Day is one of seven days in the Swedish calendar year designated as an official flag day, which means that the Swedish flag flies on all public flag poles, although the hoisting of the flags is not legally required.

As there are few traditions around this holiday, Swedes usually use the day to relax and socialise with family or friends. b

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It takes courage to take on a challenge.

Even when it comes for free.

Together with The Carl Silfvén Foundation, Stockholm School of Economics is proud to present a scholarship, giving you the opportunity to earn an Executive MBA in Stockholm, Sweden. Covering the entire tuition and additional expenses. All you need is courage.

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Big King conquers Beijing Five years ago, Nano Lozevski established the martial arts gym Big King in China’s capital and now he is thinking of opening another branch. Consistency and high-quality instructors have been key to his success.

Text: Max Schnabel, swedishypbeijing@swedcham.cn

N

ano Lozevski is a Swedish entrepreneur who came to Beijing five years ago to start a martial arts gym called Big King. Before that, he worked as a personal trainer and Thai boxing coach in Norway, where he also received his personal trainer license from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

What were your motivations for coming to China and starting Big King?

“The first time I came to China was in 2010, for something called Combat Sports, which is essentially the Olympics for martial arts. I quickly recognised that there was a market for a high-quality combat sports gym, especially when it came to Thai boxing and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ). While there were a few gyms, mostly catering to

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yo u n g pro fess i o nal i n t e rv i e w

foreigners and offering BJJ and Thai-boxing courses, the offerings were otherwise very slim, especially for high-quality instructors. In fact, at that time there was only one black-belt BJJ instructor in all of Beijing, so when we brought over the second black-belt instructor, that immediately put us at the top, in terms of the quality of the instructors. I also felt that it would be safer from a legal and business standpoint to start a business in Beijing, as opposed to, for example, Thailand, which I also considered.”

What is the main difference between the Swedish and the Chinese martial arts scene and how has it evolved in China?

“The primary difference between China and Sweden is that martial arts are a lot more known and practiced in Sweden compared to China. While China does have its own martial arts, it usually isn’t practiced purely for fitness. But this is rapidly changing. As going to the gym or fitness clubs becomes more and more popular, there is a very clear trend for gyms to incorporate martial arts movements into their fitness routines.

The health and nutritional knowledge that people have has also increased dramatically in the last few years.”

How has the business environment changed in the years that you have been here?

“From a practical standpoint, it’s gotten easier. There is a lot more English-language information available to the prospective entrepreneur, and China is slowly but surely changing its system to accommodate foreign startups. From a business perspective, we have been greatly helped by an increase in awareness of fitness and health in general and combat sports in particular. As I already mentioned, there’s been a large increase in the number of combat-sports related gyms, which has made it much easier for us to market ourselves, especially since we have been active longer than most.”

What were some of the main challenges when you first started Big King in Beijing?

“The biggest and most obvious was the language barrier. When we first set up shop in Beijing, there was very little information available in English for foreign entrepreneurs. The second biggest challenge that still persists to some extent today is that people tend to see training and nutrition as two completely separate issues. Convincing people to change their diet, especially when they want to get ready for an actual fight, has always been a challenge.”

It has become a lot more socially acceptable to train actual fighting.”

Convincing people to change their diet, especially when they want to get ready for an actual fight, has always been a challenge.”

What would you say has been the key factor in your success here in Beijing?

“That would definitively be our consistency.

We have consistently delivered the highestquality training to our clients, and through that we’ve been able build a very loyal customer base. Most of our customers have been training with us for at least a year, and some since the very beginning.

This is especially satisfying to see as many competitors have opened up (many times literally down the street) and then closed within six to 10 months because they just didn’t have the trainers and the commitment to deliver the quality that we have become known for.”

How have the Chinese people’s attitudes towards combat sports changed in the last five years?

“There have been several shifts. The most prominent change would be that it has become a lot more socially acceptable to train actual fighting such as muay Thai and BJJ. The second largest change is a growing awareness about self-defence.

While Beijing is an incredibly safe city by international standards, there has nonetheless been an increase – particularly for women – that people feel they need to be able to defend themselves better.”

What does the future hold for Big King?

“The biggest project right now is opening another Big King branch in the city centre. There will also be a slight shift towards what one could call ‘fitness training that incorporates martial arts moves’ as opposed to simply fighting. This is primarily in order to satisfy the growing demand for combat-oriented fitness training, without the end goal of actually engaging in a BJJ or muay Thai fight.”

What things should every prospective entrepreneur do before coming to Beijing to start a business?

“Learn the language as quickly as possible. Just knowing the basics will make your life immeasurably easier. You also need a lot of patience. China tends to do things in its own way, so don’t expect everything to work just as it does back home. Everything will take longer and sometimes be more complicated than you expect.” b DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018 23

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chamber activities hong kong

No time to waste n On 24 May, the Sustainability Committee of SwedCham Hong Kong launched its position paper on plastic waste.

The event attracted many international chambers and a total of 75 people. At the event, both the consul-general of Sweden, Helena Storm, and the deputy director Vicky Kwok of the Hong Kong government’s Environmental Protection Department gave keynote speeches.

The Sustainability Committee would like to thank all guests, speakers, and panellists for participating and moving us one step further towards a world with less plastic.

From left, Kristian Odebjer, Eric Swinton, Dana Winograd, Steve Wong, Moonkyung (Moon) Kim, Lisa Boldt-Christmas and Alexander Mastrovito.

Handelsbanken’s 30th anniversary n Congratulations to Handelsbanken, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in Hong Kong. SwedCham Hong Kong wishes you many more successful years to come!

On the day, Thursday, 24 May, Handelsbanken hosted a fun cocktail mingle at the Bankers Club together with friends and customers.

Walpurgis Junk n On 1 May, SwedCham tossed the anchor and headed out for a day at sea together on a junk boat with a crew of excited members. During the day people swam, chatted and relaxed in the sun and by the day’s end happy, smiling participants returned to the Central pier.

Handelsbanken’s Mikael Westerback and Johan Andrén talk to the audience.

Tax information from SEB n It was a full house when SEB Singapore visited Hong Kong to talk about Swedish tax news. Thanks go out to Jörgen Grönlund, head of wealth planning at SEB International Private Banking in Luxembourg, for his interesting presentation.

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chamber activities beijing

Easter mingle in Beijing n This Easter, SwedCham Beijing colleagues, members and friends gathered to celebrate Easter together with the Stockholmbased choir, Stockholm Cantus.

The guests enjoyed egg painting, Swedish Easter candies, and of course some classic Swedish choir singing.

How women succeed in China n SwedCham Beijing hosted an inspiring Sharp Talk together with Hung Huang, also known as “the Oprah Winfrey of China”, who shared her experience of being a successful business woman in China. Hung Huang talked about the importance of self-esteem and the difference between economic liberalisation and cultural and emotional liberalisation. Without the later, Hung Huang said, there will never truly be a gender-equal society.

Hung Huang is sometimes called “the Oprah Winfrey of China”.

Another successful Swedish Career Fair n The annual Swedish Career Fair, organised by the Swedish Young Professionals, took place for the fifth time in Beijing on 14 April. This year, the theme was Future Sweden, which was reflected through interesting seminars, networking and great matches between the 16 exhibitors and more than 500 job seekers.

Young Emerging Leaders Training n During this spring and summer, SwedCham Beijing has the honour to host a Young Emerging Leaders 6 Module Training. The training has been targeting emerging or middle management Chinese employees at our member companies and the modules will cover subjects such as social influencing, problem solving, strategic thinking and time management.

Belt & Road opportunities n In early April, SwedCham hosted an evening session about the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), with a specific focus on European and Nordic investment opportunities under the BRI. The panellists – Mats Harborn, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, Xavier Sans Powell, director of governmental affairs at the EU SME Centre, and Gu Xue of the China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) – discussed opportunities and challenges that are specific to European companies.

The Young Emerging Leaders will graduate from the training in the end of July.

Why influencer marketing works n Since the emergence of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), the digital age has seen a shift in marketing. To keep up with the changes. SwedCham invited Elijah Whaley, chief marketing officer at the Chinese influencer marketing platform Parklu, to discuss KOL marketing and how to implement it in the right way.

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180509 Atla

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chamber activities shanghai

Building brands through influencer marketing n On 25 April, SwedCham organised a Sharp Talk event about key opinion leaders (KOLs) and influencer marketing at Maya restaurant in Shanghai. We were guided through this ever-changing phenomena by four field experts with four different angles. The speakers were Echo Gao (Empower Communications), Julia Tao Chen (KOL in China), Tanya Cai (United Media Solution) and Sofia Norén (SwedCham China and mat.se). They presented the subject from different points of view to give us the full understanding in how to use KOL and influencer marketing the right way.

Challenges in industrial manufacturing n In one of the first of SwedCham’s Executive Dialogue events hosted in Shanghai, Francis Liekens, head of Atlas Copco for Greater China and Mongolia, facilitated an engaging discussion around current challenges and opportunities for industrial manufacturing in China. In attendance were executives within different industries, contributing to frank exchanges of experiences and information.

Francis Liekens, vice president at Atlas Copco, talks about manufacturing in China.

After Work at Senab n On 11 May, SwedCham wrapped up the week with drinks, food and Scandinavian design at our monthly Swedish After Work, this time hosted by Senab, one of our member companies that showed us the office solutions and workplaces of tomorrow.

Current trends that are changing retail n The buzzword New Retail and the concept of going online to offline, O2O, was discussed during our breakfast seminar on 24 May in Shanghai. Four experts – Phoebe Kung (Alibaba Group), Jacob Johansen (an independent business advisor), Johan Wikander and Helena Svensson (both from Johan & Johan) – shared their opinions, knowledge and future outlook on the topic. We were glad to see so many participants and would like to give a special thank you to the Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai, which sponsored the event.

G f

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“Better paperboard can add another gear to your packaging.”

Phil Baggley Technical Service Manager, Iggesund Paperboard

Innovation can be as simple as a better paperboard. Made from virgin fibre, to the highest specifications, it can add completely new properties to your packaging. Which, in turn, may make your products into winners on the market.

Why not stop and try Invercote?

CARE BY IGGESUND Our care for our customers and their businesses goes far beyond offering two of the world’s leading paperboard brands, Invercote and Incada.

Get in touch with Iggesund Paperboard Asia at phone: +852 2516 0250, fax: (852) 2516 0251 or visit iggesund.com

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285x210

chamber news

Launch of Plastic Free Challenge campaign in China n Inspired by SwedCham Hong Kong, SwedCham China is now challenging its members to say no to plastic waste in the Plastic Free Challenge campaign.

Plastic Free Challenge was launched at the Swedish National Day celebration in Beijing, where SwedCham had prepared a quiz about plastic waste and the opportunity to win a chocolate box from Fillidutt, as well as a chart on which guests could write down their own ideas on how to minimise plastic waste, in order to raise awareness of this issue.

The duration of the challenge will include both online campaigns and offline events, where SwedCham will promote SwedCham members’ plastic free initiatives on social media and arrange events on the implications of plastic waste. In our offices, we are no longer using any disposable plastic materials, such as plastic bottles and plastic cutlery. Also, at our events you will no longer find any plastic bottles, since we ask the venues specifically to use water carafes instead.

Amongst SwedCham’s member companies, the following companies

SwedCham China celebrates 20 years in business

have so far joined the Plastic Free Challenge: Arenco, Bamboo, Elekta, Epiroc, Ericsson, Greencarrier, Handelsbanken, IKEA, KappAhl, Lyckeby, Nilorn, Nord-Lock Group, North of North, SEB, Sigma Technology, Stora Enso and Volvo Cars.

No time to waste – Let’s recycle together!

n This is a milestone that will play a part in all of our activities throughout 2018, SwedCham’s 20th anniversary. To celebrate, we will host an Anniversary Gala on 20 October in Beijing, an evening to honour the past and inspire for the future.

National Day and Midsummer party in Hong Kong PHOTO: Thomas Kung

n In the afternoon and evening of 8 June, some 4,000 people visited Hong Kong’s creative hub, PMQ, in Central, where Team Sweden hosted a National Day and Midsummer celebration event, which was inaugurated by Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam. The crowd turned out to be a good mix of adults and children.

People enjoyed different fun stations, dancing around the maypole, tasting Swedish sandwich cakes and meatballs, having sustainable drinks and much more.

We would like to thank all the sponsors and all of you who came and made this a great day. We hope you had as much fun as we had!

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© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2018

285x210+5

FOR YOUR BUSINESS IKEA can help you create a better life at work through the way you furnish your office.

From small replacements to major remodeling, our specialists offer expert advice and convenience to help you plan, pay, deliver and assemble your dream office. All at a very affordable price.

IKEA BUSINESS service points (Hong Kong): Monday to Friday 10:30am – 7:00pm (except Public Holidays) Causeway Bay Store: UB, Parklane Hotel Kowloon Bay Store: L4, Megabox Shatin Store: L6, HomeSquare Tsuen Wan Store: Level 3, 8½, 388 Castle Peak Road IKEA.business@IKEA.com.hk IKEA.com.hk/IKEABUSINESS

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new members HONG KONG ORDINARY MEMBERS >>>

Andrea Bjorsell Photographer Ltd Web: www.andreabjorsell.com Email: info@andreabjorsell.com About us Andrea Björsell is a Swedish photographer with experience in both advertising and freelance photography. She has many years of working experience with a great variety of subjects, making it possible for her to take on any photography job quickly and effectively. She combines a long professional career with dedicated freelance photography ideals and loyalty.

Previous clients include the Swedish Royal family, Cancerfonden, Stockholmsmässan, Eton Shirts, IKEA, Ellos, Panos Emporio, Cross Sportswear, Svedbergs, Xpress, Inrikes, Aftonbladet, Allt i Hemmet, Amelia, MåBra, Hus&Hem and Hotel Bel Air magazine.

Chamber representative Andrea Björsell, Founder

Bank of China 6/F, Bank of China Tower, 1 Garden Road, Hong Kong Tel: 852 2160 6099 Web: www.bochk.com Email: sme_account@bochk.com About us Firmly rooted in Hong Kong for over 100 years, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited is a leading listed commercial banking group with strong market positions in all major businesses. We are one of the three note-issuing banks, the sole clearing bank for the renminbi business in Hong Kong and a Chairman Bank of the Hong Kong Association of Banks on a rotational basis.

Capitalising on our most extensive local branch network and diverse service platforms, we offer a comprehensive range of financial, investment and wealth management services to personal, corporate and institutional customers. In recognition of our outstanding performance, we have been named the Bank of the Year in Hong Kong by The Banker for the third time and the Strongest Bank in Asia-Pacific and Hong Kong by The Asian Banker for four consecutive years from 2014.

Chamber representative Thomas Wong, Head of Business Partnerships Management

Blucrew Limited Unit 2302, 23/F, New World Tower 1 18 Queens Road Central, Hong Kong Tel: +852 6276 2836 Web: www.blucrew.eu About us Blucrew aims to be the best choice for recruitment, training and staffing solutions within the aviation industry. Our offer of quality local solutions in a global market provides high levels of service and flexibility. Our focus is always to bring quality and cost efficiency to your organisation.

We are dedicated to building strong relationships with clients and candidates alike by providing high-quality services and premium support to the people of the aviation industry.

Chamber representative Klein Fasth, CEO

Josefin C Web: www.josefinc.se Email: josefin@josefinc.se About us Josefin C is a celebration of the warmth often present when surrounded by good company and great champagne. The brand embodies Josefin’s modern and energetic character, and is designed for those who enjoy a refreshing approach to handbags that are daytime or evening versatile.

Adorning every piece is the four-leaf clover emblem formed by intertwining hearts. It symbolises blessings of Love, Happiness, Hope and Luck that Josefin created her brand with, and is now signified through her creations.

Chamber representative Josefin Cheung, Founder

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new members

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Living Accessories Ceannis Ltd Unit 01, 21/F Ka Wah Bank Centre 232 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2725 2714 Web: ceannis.com Email: ann-louise@ceannis.com About us Ceannis, specialising in handbags, was founded in 1988 in Hong Kong. The company works with design to production of bags and home accessories. We source, design and produce for our own brand as well as for a number of fashion brands, interior design companies and hotels.

Chamber representatives Ann-Louise Andrén, CEO and Founder Claes Andrén, Director Tam Wai Ling, Director

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Morling Studios 10/F, Unit 1, Cheung Hing Industrial Building 12P, Smithfield Road Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Tel: +852 5531 8453 Web: www.morlingstudios.com Instagram: morling_morling About us Morling Studios is an independent fashion platform working towards sustainability. To achieve this, we are taking a conscious choice of materials selection to reduce waste.

We are now providing a “crossover fashion business model,” which provides made-to-measure and remade clothes as a ready-to-wear collection.

Morling Studios’ main market is focused on Asia but thrives to work towards a global awareness.

Pernod Ricard HK/Macau 12/F, Sun Life Tower, 15 Canton Road, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2378 690 Web: www.pernod-ricard.com About us Pernod Ricard is No 2 in the world of wines and spirits.

Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the company owns and produces 16 of the world’s Top 100 brands with global distribution to more than 80 markets.

The company holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector, including Absolut, Ricard, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, The Glenlivet, Jameson, Martell, Beefeater, Kahlua, Malibu, GH Mumm, Perrier-Jouët, as well as Jacob’s Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo and Graffigna.

Chamber representatives Vivian Li, Head of Finance Patrick Fong, Community Marketing Manager

Prime Cargo Room 608, 6/F Nam Fung Commercial Centre, 19 Lam Lok Street Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2756 6800 Web: www.primecargo.com About us Prime Cargo is an international forwarding company and we offer tailored-freight, warehousing and logistics solutions to both small and large companies. We take pride in taking an active responsibility for your value chain and always provide the optimal logistic solutions that ensures that your company delivers the goods to customers on time, every time.

Chamber representative Ray Yip, General Manager, Hong Kong and South China

Chamber representative Charlotte Mörling, Founder

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new members

Savetime 7D Cherish Court, Peninsula Village Discovery Bay Hong Kong Tel: +852 9799 4177 Web: www.savetime.se www.xikoart.com www.artdesignmarketontour.com About us Savetime offer services within marketing and communication with a strong focus in the areas of sponsorship, social media and digitalisation. A relatively large part of the business focuses on lectures, workshops and seminars. A strength of this is that much time is spent on research to always stay updated on trends and what is going on.

Chamber representative Christian Bergenstråhle, Founder & Owner

HONG KONG OVERSEAS MEMBERS >>>

Kapitel 8 Västra Trädgårdsgatan 15, Tändstickspalatset, Stockholm Sweden Tel: +46 76 677 22 41 Web: www.kapitel8.se About us Established in 1997, in Stockholm. Kapitel 8 specialises in office and conference space. With more than 20 years of experience, Kapitel 8 offers conference and meeting rooms, offices and membership clubs and can provide the perfect location for your company’s event or private party. You find us at two attractive addresses: Klara Strand in the very centre of Stockholm, and Tändstickspalatset, a palace with office space, conference rooms and a rich history.

In the autumn of 2015, we launched a membership club, ”The Club”, at Tändstickspalatset. The Club is based on our members’ requirements and we offer a lifestyle approach.

Chamber representative Marie Elmlund, Club Executive

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The Swedish Ice Hockey Association Tjurhornsgränd 6, Box 5204 Johanneshov Sweden Tel: +46 8 44 90 400 Web: www.swehockey.se Email: info@swehockey.se

About us Since 1922, The Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) has been organising and developing ice hockey at all levels. As the representative of one of the world’s leading ice-hockey nations, the SIHA has a responsibility and history of helping other countries in evolving the great sport of ice hockey.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, China. The mission of SIHA in Hong Kong and Asia is to share our views of how we develop ice hockey and implement the Swedish model and incorporate it with local conditions and local culture.

The SIHA offers education and consultation to players, coaches, officials, and management, to the local hockey community, clubs, organisations and federations. In Hong Kong, SIHA will work with local partner the Hong Kong Academy of Ice Hockey.

Exchange programmes will be a cornerstone of the collaboration.

Chamber representatives Mikael Lundström, Senior Advisor/Project Manager Martin Lundby, Sport Assistant/Deputy Project Manager

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HONG KONG INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS >>> Philip Penaloza penalozaphil@yahoo.com Tel: +852 9222 9445

Winnie Tam winnieny6@icloud.com Tel: +852 9759 2963

Fredrik Johansson freddie.johansson@hilton.com Tel: +852 6996 7552

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new members CHINA COMPANY MEMBERS >>>

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CoastZone China Ltd 3/F, #139 Ruijin Road No 1, Shanghai 200020 PR China Tel: +86 158 0193 2041 Web: www.coastzone.dk/cn

About us We offer team-building training, workshops and outings.

Chamber representatives Eric Jürgensen Geraci, Sales Manager Email: ejg@coastzone.cn Mobile: +86 158 0193 2041 Brian Christiansen, Owner & Founder of CoastZone Email: brian@coastzone.dk Mobile: +45 31 71 98 94

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Investment AB Latour Shuangjing Shuanghuayuan Nanli Sanqu 7-2202, Chaoyang District Beijing 100022, PR China Tel: +86 159 0115 8727 Web: www.latour.se About us Investment AB Latour is a listed investment company that makes long-term investments in sound companies with their own products that meet growing international demand. Its operations are primarily carried out in two business lines: a wholly-owned industrial operation and a portfolio of 10 listed holdings of which Latour is the principal owner or one of the principal owners.

The industrial and trading operations comprise some 100 companies that are organised in four business areas, Hultafors Group, Latour Industries, Nord-Lock Group and Swegon. Portfolio management primarily consists of an investment portfolio concentrated on substantial holdings in Alimak Group, ASSA ABLOY, Fagerhult, HMS Networks, Loomis, Nederman, Securitas, Sweco, TOMRA and Troax.

Chamber representative Bokai Huang, China Representative Email: bokai.huang@latour.se Mobile: +86 159 0115 8727

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Epiroc No 2, Hengtai Road, Economic & Technological Development Zone, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, PR China Tel: +86 25 8696 7800 Fax: +86 25 8696 7850 Web: www.epiroc.com

About us Epiroc is a leading productivity partner for the mining, infrastructure and natural resources industries. With cutting-edge technology, Epiroc develops and produces innovative drill rigs, rock excavation and construction equipment, and provides world-class service and consumables. The company was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, and has passionate people supporting and collaborating with customers in more than 150 countries.

Learn more at www.epiroc.com.

Chamber representatives Mavis Wang, Marketing Manager Email: mavis.wang@epiroc.com Mobile: +86 139 5103 8030 Joanna Yao, Marketing Communications Manager Email: joanna.yao@epiroc.com Mobile: +86 137 7656 2587

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STIGA Sports Beijing Co, Ltd Room 1805, Sanlitun SOHO Tower D, No 8 Gongti North Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100027, PR China Tel: +86 10 5935 9726/27/28/29 Web: www.stigasports.cn About us STIGA, the classic Swedish table tennis company with both hobby and professional products, started production in 1944. Today, STIGA is one of the world’s largest brands in table tennis. In 2010, STIGA Sports Beijing Co, Ltd was established as a subsidiary, with six agencies and over 200 distributors in mainland China. Owing to over two decades of cooperation with the China national table tennis team, STIGA has continuously supported the world’s top-ranked players by developing products according to their growing needs. STIGA has been official sponsor of the national table tennis teams of China and Singapore, as well as the table tennis teams of Hong Kong and Macau.

Chamber representative Huang Dawei, General Manager Email: huangdawei@stigasports.cn Mobile: +86 139 1167 4700

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new members

Semcon (Beijing) Information & Consulting Co, Ltd Room A-907, Tower 1, Wangjing SOHO No 1 Futong East Avenue Chaoyang District Beijing 100102, PR China Tel: +86 10 6439 9312 Fax: +86 10 6439 9372 Web: www.semcon.com About us Semcon in China produces market and after-market information for telecom, automotive and other industries.

Our offerings and expertise cover the full range of information products and services such as user information, maintenance information, parts information and technical training, including management and control of information.

In addition, we offer development and engineering services. Our services also include project management training based on one of the leading models called PROPS.

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Dibi Academy Oy/ Dibi Academy Co, Ltd Papinkatu 19, 305, 06100 Porvoo, Finland Tel: +358 50 517 32 24 Web: www.dibiacademy.com 2/F, Kids Town, Blue Harbour Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park, Chaoyang District, Beijing, PR China About us We specialise in early education centres and kindergarten services.

Chamber representatives Johan Storgard, Chairman and Co-Founder Email: johan.storgard@dibiacademy.com Miranda Zhang, General Manager Email: miranda.zhang@dibiacademy.cn Mobile: +86 135 8170 2381

Chamber representative Johnas Rundgren, General Manager E-mail: johnas.rundgren@semcon.com Mobile: +86 185 0176 5683

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UFAB Building 7, No 318, Xiaowan Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai, PR China Tel: +46 522 982 00 Fax: +86 21 3756 6730 Web: www.ufab.se

About us UFAB has long experience as an OEM supplier and contract manufacturer. Our areas of expertise are the development, design, welding, processing and assembly of advanced components and machinery systems. Each production solution is optimised for each customer’s specific conditions and needs. We can achieve this thanks to our standardised business systems, simple flows and strong employee commitment, along with our focus on continuous improvement.

Chamber representatives 1 Per Ohlsson, General Manager Email: per.ohlsson@ufab.se Mobile: +86 133 0198 0366 2 Chris Ma, Quality Manager Email: chris.ma@ufab-china.com Mobile: +86 133 0196 8166

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Sirius International Insurance Corporation (publ) SE-113 96 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: +46 8458 5500 Fax: +46 8458 5599 Web: www.siriusgroup.com/ about/sirius-international

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Sweden Sirius International Insurance Corporation Shanghai Representative Office Unit 1003, 10/F The Bund Square 100 South Zhongshan Street Shanghai 200010, PR China Tel: +86 21 3335 3280 Fax: +86 21 6333 9780 Web: www.siriusgroup.com/ locations/china-shanghai

About us Representative office, marketing the Sirius International Insurance brand.

Chamber representatives 1 Luke Liu, Chief Representative Officer Email: Luke.Liu@siriusgroup.com Mobile: +86 157 2667 1778 2 Zhongyi Xiang, Chief Representative Assistant Email: Zhongyi.Xiang@siriusgroup.com Mobile: +86 158 5066 6193

CHINA ASSOCIATE MEMBER >>> Holger Ruebsam Production Manager, Wandfluh Hydraulic System Co, Ltd Shanghai No 450 Beihengshahe Road, Minhang District Shanghai 201108, PR China Mobile: +86 183 1705 0071 Office: +86 21 6768 1216 Email: holger.ruebsam@wandfluh.com

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Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong 2018 Photo: Andrea Björsell, info@andreabjorsell.com

O

n Thursday 3 May, SwedCham Hong Kong held its Annual General Meeting at The Murray in Central.

The chamber thanks Per Ågren, who resigned from the board after seven years of hard and dedicated work as a director and as the chairman of the Editorial Committee.

We also warmly welcome Caroline Djurvall, regional finance manager at EF Education First, and Emma Lind Gardner, associate director management consulting at KPMG China, who were elected as new directors of the board. We also welcome the re-elected return of Katarina Ivarsson, co-founder of Boris Design Studio.

Daniel Wellington was praised as the winner of the SwedCham Annual Award 2018.

“Daniel Wellington is an outstanding representative for SwedCham: a fresh brand that is establishing its Asian hub in Hong Kong. With its twin presence in Shenzhen, it is also a pioneer in taking advantage of the strengths of the Greater Bay Area,” the chamber said in its motivation.

The board now consists of the following directors: Kristian Odebjer (chairman), Karine Hirn (vice chairman), Petra Schirren (vice chairman), Anders Bergkvist (treasurer), Jimmy Bjennmyr, Karin Brock, Caroline Djurvall, Katarina Ivarsson and Emma Lind Gardner. b

SwedCham’s new board, from left: Karin Brock, Katarina Ivarsson, Kristian Odebjer, Petra Schirren, Emma Lind Gardner and Caroline Djurvall.

Absent: Karine Hirn, Anders Bergkvist and Jimmy Bjennmyr

Jay Lam, general manager for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan at Daniel Wellington, receives the award.

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Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

Annual General Meeting in Beijing 2018

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n 20 April, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China was held in Beijing, at George’s Bar & Restaurant at Hotel Éclat.

Lars-Åke Severin, chairman of SwedCham China and CEO of PSU, opened the meeting and was followed by the ambassador of Sweden to China and Mongolia, Anna Lindstedt, who briefed the audience about the latest developments in trade relations between Sweden and China.

SwedCham’s general manager, Martin Vercouter, reported on the previous year’s finances and activities, describing 2017 as “the year the Swedish chamber geared up”, being “much better prepared to respond to the current trends”.

Severin was re-elected as chairman of the board and Joakim Hedhill of Handelsbanken and Lucas Jonsson of Mannheimer Swartling were both re-elected as vice chairmen. One new director, ZZ Zhang of Sandvik, was also elected.

Dan Landegren (Inspire) was elected new chairman of the electoral committee together with Sara Wramner (Executive Board China). replacing the existing chairman Björn Berggren (Boyd Corporation) and Mats Harborn (EUCCC and Scania), who had both asked to step down. We thank you for your strong support and contributions to

SwedCham over the years.

The annual Honorary Award was awarded to Birgitta Ed for her long-standing service as director of the board, building bridges between Sweden and China through her engagements in SwedCham and the Sweden-China Trade Council as well as initiatives such as Almedalen’s China Day. The Young Professional of the Year award was awarded to Michelle Qin, in recognition of her leading position as H&M’s head of online marketing for mainland China, and in particular of her role in leading the launch this year of the Swedish fashion giant’s shop on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall.

Sofia Norén, Anders Wall Scholarship recipient 2017-2018, was thanked for her strong contribution to the chamber and Carl Johansson was presented as the new scholarship recipient. The Anders Wall scholar will start the nine-month internship at the Shanghai office in April this year.

We would like to extend a big thank you to our generous Dragon Partners – Syntronic, Volvo Cars, Atlas Copco, Mannheimer Swartling, Handelsbanken and Finnair. We would also like to thank Fillidutt. which generously contributed delicate pralines to all the participants at this year’s AGM. b

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Flexible We are truly service minded and always on our toes, never assuming a standard solution is enough. We look to make the impossible possible in logistics.

www.apclogistics.com

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T he chamber and I

Missing something Swedish?

Living abroad often means that you have to sacrifice certain products or services that you have been taken for granted back in your home country. However, if you live in the big cities in mainland China, or in Hong Kong, there are still possibilities to get at least some of your favourite food and products from stores that specialise in selling Swedish items.

However, there might be certain things that you are really longing for and that are difficult to find.

This was the question we asked some of our members: Which Swedish product or service do you miss in China?

And here are the answers.

Antonia Adele Daniel Wellington, Hong Kong “One service I miss in Hong Kong is something equivalent to the Swedish payment system named Swish. It’s used for transferring money between all Swedish banks and as a payment solution in stores and online.”

Andreas Reibring Kairos Future, Shanghai “Are there any services in Sweden that don’t exist here? But oh, I do miss whipped cream, of the Swedish fresh and well-tasting kind.”

Isabell Lönnqvist Young Professionals, Hong Kong “I wish Hong Kong had flavoured quark, or better dairy products in general. It is the best quick meal to have after a nice workout!”

Andreas Gustavsson Volvo Cars, Shanghai “The only thing I miss is the Swedish food. Anything from pea soup to ”en halv special” [a hot dog in bread with mashed potato on top]”.

Alma Ek Young Professionals, Hong Kong “I miss high-quality plant-based products in the supermarkets. Plantbased butter and cheese, havre fraîche (crème fraîche made of oats), vegan sausages and beefs and oumph. And of course: vegan fast food.”

Madeleine Asplund Nordea, Shanghai “Swedish caviar! I used to rely on IKEA but I guess the demand of the Swedish delicacy is a bit too low. So now I have learnt to eat my eggs without caviar. It actually works, and is a lot healthier too!”

Min Li Six Year Plan, Beijing “I do miss the special Swedish cake princessbakelse (Princess Cake) when I am back in China. Last summer in Sweden, it was the first time I ate it when I visited a good Swedish friend in the south of Sweden. They told me that it was a Princess Victoria Cake they especially bought for me. They did not have this often and got this for me to try. I felt so blessed and grateful to taste this delicious, sweet and beautiful cake. Now, I always remember them (my good friend’s parents) when I taste some cakes… It reminds me of love and caring from faraway Sweden.”

Huang Dawei Stiga, Beijing “The first thing that came out of my mind is the surplus spare time with my family that I appreciated most when I lived in Sweden. Moving back to China, I have less time to stay with my kids due to the busy business. But when it comes to food, blueberry pie with vanilla custard and semla buns are the best food that I miss the most in China.”

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Swedish banking in China We feel at home in the Chinese market and want you to feel the same. It’s a large and fastgrowing market. As a result, more and more Scandinavian companies need banking solutions, such as cash management, financing in local and foreign currencies, trade finance and treasury solutions in China.

We’ll help you – bringing our 25 years of experience of business in China.

If you have the opportunity, please visit us in Shanghai where we’ve been located since 2001.

Swedbank Shanghai Citigroup Tower 601, 33 Huayuanshiqiao Rd, Shanghai, China +86 21 386 126 00

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DIRECTORS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD Kristian Odebjer, Chairman [Odebjer Fohlin] Karine Hirn, Vice Chairman [East Capital] Petra Schirren, Vice Chairman [Ericsson] Anders Bergkvist, Treasurer [Stora Enso] Jimmy Bjennmyr [Handelsbanken] Karin Brock [Daniel Wellington] Caroline Djurvall [EF Education First] Emma Gardner [KPMG] Katarina Ivarsson [Boris Design Studio] CREATIVE SWEDES Katarina Ivarsson, Chairman [Boris Design Studio] Filip Bjernebo [South Lane] David Ericsson [VOID Watches] Anders Hellberg [Boris Design Studio] Alexis Holm [Squarestreet] Anna Karlsson [Boris Design Studio] Pontus Karlsson [Happy Rabbit] Johan Persson [C’monde) Mikael Svenungsson [M2 Retail Solutions] EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Kristian Odebjer, Chairman [Odebjer Fohlin] Jan Hökerberg [Bamboo] Eva Karlberg [SwedCham] Johan Lennefalk [Business Sweden] Ulf Ohrling [Mannheimer Swartling] Johan Persson [C’monde Studios] Peter Thelin [Today Group] Per Ågren [APC] EVENTS COMMITTEE Jimmy Bjennmyr, Chairman [Handelsbanken] John Barclay [Primasia Corporate Services] Karin Brock [Daniel Wellington] Cyril Fung [Cyril Fung & Associates] Ove Joraas Eva Karlberg [SwedCham] Calle Krokstäde [DORO] Fabian Lundberg [SwedCham] Rebecca Netteryd [SwedCham] Casper Olden [Antique Scandinavia] Magdalena Ranagården [BlueWater] Moa Svensson [Young Professionals] Andreas Wannervall [SEB]

FINANCE COMMITTEE Anders Bergkvist, Treasurer [Stora Enso] Eva Karlberg [SwedCham] Anna Mackel [SwedCham] MARKETING COMMITTEE Emma Gardner, Chairman [KPMG] Lisa Boldt-Christmas Anders Hellberg [Boris Design Studio] Katarina Ivarsson [Boris Design Studio] Eva Karlberg [SwedCham] Linda Karlsson [Happy Rabbit] Rebecca Netteryd [SwedCham] Johan Olausson [Bamboo] Johan Persson [C’Monde] Sophie Sophaon [Kreab] MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE Karin Brock, Chairman [Daniel Wellington] Eva Bostam [Consulate General of Sweden] Anders Brage [Handelsbanken] Caroline Ergetie [House Hunters] Katarina Ivarsson,[Boris Design] Eva Karlberg [SwedCham] Fabian Lundberg [SwedCham] Fredrik Nyberg [MIQ Logistics] Ulf Sundberg [SEB] SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE Alexander Mastrovito, Chairman [Scania] Anders Bergkvist [Stora Enso] Lisa Boldt-Christmas Jonathan Crompton [RPC] Cheryl Gilbert [Dairy Farm-IKEA] Cheryl Hall [Nilorn] Hanna Hallin [H&M] Jens Helmersson [QuizRR] Karine Hirn [East Capital] Stefan Holmqvist [Norman Global Logistics] Andrew Lee [Fergas] Fabian Lundberg [SwedCham] Magnus Mattsson [KappAhl] Erik Moberg [Stadium] Rebecca Netteryd [SwedCham] Kristian Odebjer [Odebjer Fohlin] Magdalena Ranagården [Blue Water] Jeffrey Siu [Envac] Björn Wahlström [Current Consulting] YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE Rebecca Netteryd, Chairman Claus Björkgren Josefin Cheung Fabian Lundberg Sofia Wigholm Jenny Zeng

Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China DIRECTORS OF THE MAIN BOARD Lars-Åke Severin, Chairman [PSU] Joakim Hedhill, Vice Chairman [Handelsbanken] Lucas Jonsson, Vice Chairman [Mannheimer Swartling] Peter Ling-Vannerus, Treasurer [SEB] Anders Henningsson [Mastec] Daniel Karlsson [Asia Perspective] Per Lindén [Scandic Foods Asia] Felicia Lindoff [North of North] Anna Löfstedt [Volvo Cars] Niklas Ruud [Konecranes] Mikael Westerback [Handelsbanken] ZZ Zhang [Sandvik] David Hallgren [Business Sweden] Maisoun Jabali [Embassy of Sweden] Martin Vercouter, General Manager [SwedCham China] BEIJING CHAPTER Joakim Hedhill, Chairman [Handelsbanken] ZZ Zhang, Vice Chairman [Sandvik] Per Hoffman [Ericsson] Felicia Lindoff [North of North] Kevin Rogers [Elanders] Claes Svedberg [AB Volvo] Edith Wang [Bulten] Max Schnabel [Young Professionals] Martin Vercouter, General Manager [SwedCham China] Erika Staffas, Office Manager [SwedCham China] SHANGHAI CHAPTER Lucas Jonsson, Chairman [Mannheimer Swartling] Anna Löfstedt, Vice Chairman [Volvo Cars] Mette Leger [Grow HR] Lisette Lindahl [Consulate General of Sweden] Claes Lindgren [IKEA] Daniel Melin [New Wave] Niina Äikäs [SEB] Andrea Staxberg [Business Sweden] Martin Vercouter, General Manager [SwedCham China] Marianne Westerback, Office Manager [SwedCham China]

42 DRAGONNEWS • NO.02/2018

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Our Promise: The quest for easy

In a world that is increasingly complex, we are on a quest for easy.

We create game-changing technology that is easy to use, adopt, and scale, enabling our customers to capture the full value of connectivity and IoT in the evolution towards 5G. Networks Digital Services Managed Services Technology & Emerging Business

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er, er, er, ager, ager, ager,

Anders Anders Bragée Bragée Anders Bragée Corporate Corporate Account Account Corporate Account Manager Manager Manager

Shui Shui Yim Yim Chin Chin Shui Yim Chin Senior Senior Trade Trade Finance Finance Senior Trade Finance Manager Manager Manager

Johan Johan Andrén Andrén Johan Andrén General General Manager Manager General Manager Hong Hong Kong Kong branch branch Hong Kong branch

Florence Florence Chan Chan Florence Chan Senior Senior Account Account Senior Account Manager Manager Manager

Jimmy Jimmy Bjennmyr Bjennmyr JimmyofBjennmyr Head Head of Corporate Corporate Head of Corporate Banking Banking Banking

Your Your Nordic Nordic Bank Bank in in Greater Greater China China Handelsbanken has been operating in Handelsbanken Handelsbanken has has been been operating operating in in Greater China for more than 35 years.

Greater China for more than 35 years.

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Today we are the Nordic bank with Today Today we we are are the the Nordic Nordic bank bank with with the largest presence in the region. the largest presence in the region. the largest presence in the region.

Our offering includes full-service Our Our offering offering includes includes full-service full-service corporate banking, from all types of corporate banking, from corporate banking, from all all types types of of fifinancing to a wide range of cash nancing to a wide range of cash financing to a wide range of cash management services. management management services. services.

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As an experienced member of the As As an an experienced experienced member member of of the the local clearing system, our payment local clearing system, our payment local clearing system, our payment services are second to none. services services are are second second to to none. none.

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Shanghai Shanghai -- Mikael Mikael Westerback Westerback +86 +86 21 21 5331 5331 7888, 7888, Jimi Jimi Flodin Flodin +86 +86 21 21 5331 5331 7821 7821 Shanghai - Mikael Westerback +86 21 5331 7888, Jimi Flodin +86 21 5331 7821 Hong Kong Johan Andrén +852 2293 5388, Jimmy Bjennmyr +852 2293 5326 Hong Kong - Johan Andrén +852 2293 5388, Jimmy Bjennmyr +852 2293 5326 Hong Kong - Johan Andrén +852 2293 5388, Jimmy Bjennmyr +852 2293 5326 Taipei Taipei -- Amy Amy Chen Chen +886 +886 2 2 2563 2563 7458 7458 Taipei - Amy Chen +886 2 2563 7458 Beijing Joakim Hedhill +86 10 6500 Beijing - Joakim Hedhill +86 10 6500 4310 4310 Beijing - Joakim Hedhill +86 10 6500 4310

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