On 7 February, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) joined hands with the Korean Franchise Association (KFA) to organise a training seminar on the “Best Practices of Branding, Marketing and Human Resources Management of Korean Enterprises”for Macao SMEs at IPIM’s Macao Business Support Centre, with the aim of encouraging them to learn about the marketing, promotion and management strategies of overseas enterprises. The seminar attracted the participation of over 160 representatives from business associations and SMEs in different sectors. Echo Chan, Executive Director of IPIM attended the opening ceremony of the event. Other participants included Antonio Chui Yuk Lam, Director General of Association of Industrial Association of Macao, Suki Iao and Tim Sio, Director General and Deputy Director General of Macao Chain Stores and Franchise Association, Sidney Mok, Vice Chairman of Association Small & Medium Enterprises United Macao, etc. The organisers hoped that by arranging such events, will help better meet SMEs need for sustainable development and influence their business capacity, thus building a stronger foundation to establish their brands. IPIM will also organise a series of events suitable for SMEs in the next few months, including seminar on the “Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone”, E-commerce workshop as well as presentations on business opportunities in Portuguese-speaking countries.

The speaker of the seminar was Hahm Junghoon, Managing Director and Policy Team Manager of KFA. During the seminar, Mr. Hahm covered various topics such as the Korean franchise industry development and trends, shop and human resource management, technology applications and case sharing. Two major Korean brands, Kim Ildo, CEO and founder of 1℃ Family Restaurant and Bae Myoungsook, International Business Director of Korean restaurant brand “Namzatang” shared on the pains and gains encountered during their brand development. During the question and answer session, participants sought advice from the speakers on issues such as franchise operations, training, shop location strategy and financial management.

A study trip to Seoul will be organised by IPIM in the second quarter of the year. The course contents and itinerary of the study trip will be planned by KFA, including site visits to Korean franchise brand stores. The delegation will consist of Macao SME representatives from different industries and it is hoped that this will further enable Macao SMEs to learn from the successful management and operations of Korean enterprises.