When Lina heard that M on the Bund - a landmark restaurant in Shanghai - is closing after 23 years, she couldn't miss a chance to interview the owner Michelle Garnaut and learn from her experiences of bringing world-class fine-dining culture to Chinese consumers.

The demand for Western quality in China, has inspired numerous entrepreneurs to travel to China and start a business. However, recently expats say it has become more difficult to work in cross-cultural businesses as the borders remain closed. How can they stay relevant? And how do you pivot and make an exit?

Michelle says in 30+ years of her career, she had only a few bad years, so she remains positive and optimistic. This episode is a conversation between two expat women running businesses with a legacy  – it will be inspiring and useful to anyone in business particularly in F&B looking to understand how to prepare and adapt to the changing market forces in order to tap into the opportunities in China.

On December 8 EU SME centre held their webinar on new major regulations that require all overseas F&B manufacturers exporting to China to have a new registration code printed on the labels of all their F&B products to clear customs since January 1, 2022. The webinar was hosted by Mr. Alessio Petino who invited key China experts Lina Bartuseviciute from LITAO Consultancy Group, Raymond NG with Lavinia Yao from Accestra Consulting, and the China Customs Officer to discuss what will change for SMEs exporting to China.

Lina was nominated to start the discussion by sharing opportunities new regulations bring to EU F&B brands and set the stage for regulatory compliance consultants and China Customs Officer who was the main creator of these regulations. She also explained the context why regulations will come to an effect as soon as next month. There is an urgency for businesses to comply with F&B safety standards following recent media coverage on how COVID break-outs in China were attributed to imported foods and more local counterfeit goods promote false country of origin deceiving the public.

During the event, the regulatory experts from Accestra Consulting clarified the requirements and showed step-by-step guidance for self-registration on GAC’s platform. The speakers together with China Customs Agent addressed questions raised by over 100 participants, including, F&B producers, exporters, business organizations and government bodies such as ministries and embassies from Europe and neighbouring countries. This episode will be particularly useful to understand what will change for SMEs and how to register on the GAC platform for free before the deadline of January 1st 2022.

Numerous imported COVID-19 cases in China were associated with improper cold chain management. Some warehouses were shut down, and the goods were sometimes seized and disposed of by the customs. What can the exporters do to improve their cold-chain management and mitigate the risks? How can you make sure your customers trust your brand?

Lina reached out to an old friend Bjorn van der Veen – a Managing Director at Arctic Solutions – to understand how it affected his ice-cream sales and what were his techniques to keep the Chinese consumers buying imported frozen foods. This episode is a friendly conversation between two people who work with imported foods every day for over 6 years. So it will be quite practical and particularly useful to anyone in F&B business looking to understand what opportunities are available for them in China market.

Today we are sharing the content originally prepared for the corporate training session of a 150-year-old Japanese company. They realized that if they want to be in business for another 150 years, they need to learn from China. Their teams need to see China as a partner and they need to develop the required skills to work without cultural conflicts.

The topic of this training is 'China Business Leadership' and we chose Athena Zhu as she is one of our favorite examples of how to be a truly cross-cultural professional. She is an experienced multicultural, commercial leader with a demonstrated history of working in consumer goods and consulting.

Born and raised up in New Zealand, Athena began her career working with BCG in Australia-Asian, Asia-Pacific group. She moved to China in 2014 to work on Heineken’s M&A and later joined her sister in building a plant-based food brand. The mission of Athena and her sister’s company is to bring functional delicious and nutritious plant-based dairy alternatives and beverages to the Chinese consumers.

After moving to China, she found that many things including economy and culture in China are thought-provoking, vibrant and dynamic. And the results turn out to be very surprising and promising, which made her think about what is good leadership, what is the modern way of working, what is effectiveness, etc.

Today we are sharing the content originally prepared for the corporate training session of a 150-year-old Japanese company. They realized that if they want to be in business for another 150 years, they need to learn from China. Their teams need to see China as a partner and they need to develop the required skills to work without cultural conflicts.

The topic of this training is 'China Business Leadership' and we chose Helen as the first female business leader to interview, as she built up a business selling professional consulting services and has been in the market for over 15 years consistently expanding in new industries, preserving the core of her business and the quality.

Helen Ye is the co-founder of Accestra - a company based in Hangzhou, which mainly specializes in helping overseas companies enter the China market and provides technical consulting services to consumer goods companies and pharmaceuticals. Helen is personally responsible for helping over 4000 products reach Chinese consumers. She has over 15 years of experience in China’s regulatory compliance.

Today we are sharing the content originally prepared for the corporate training session of a 150-year-old Japanese company. They realized that if they want to be in business for another 150 years, they need to learn from China. Their teams need to see China as a partner and they need to develop the required skills to work without cultural conflicts.

The topic of this training is 'China Business Leadership' and we chose Elijah as the first business leader to be interviewed because of his unique ability to blend into the Chinese culture, scale and manage the Chinese team.

He has seen PARKLU where he works as CMO grow from 0 to 1, and now after an acquisition by an international marketing technology company Launchmetrics he is working to grow from 1 to 10. It is a very interesting period of time for the company as it gets integrated within an international business structure, and Elijah talks openly about the lessons he's learned overseeing this process.

Welcome to China Business Cast Episode! Today Lina will invite you to listen to the one of our most exciting episodes. LITAO was able to work with a 150-year-old Japanese company to create more than 9 hours of content about China market and we are allowed to share some of the content (from 13:57) to the listeners of China Business Cast.

In the beginning of this episode, we are happy to invite the Aiste Blaviesciunaite - the mastermind behind the success of the project on the side of GLOBIS Corporation. Founded in 1992, GLOBIS has fostered management ecosystems of people, capital and knowledge. Today, the company is involved in a range of activities, from higher education and corporate training to venture capital. GLOBIS also operates the G1 Institute and the KIBOW Foundation, both non-profit organizations to promote creativity and innovation in society. The GLOBIS MBA and corporate training programs are offered both online and in person across Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, and Thailand. GLOBIS University is the proud home of Japan's No. 1 MBA and is rapidly growing to claim this title for all of Asia.

!!And most importantly - we made 9 videos to show how things get done here, and will be making it available soon. Please subscribe and stay tuned for the upcoming exciting episodes!

On 15 July the EU SME Centre held their webinar on how to best prepare to participate for trade fairs in China. The webinar was hosted by Mr. Alessio Petino. During the webinar, Bart Horsten (Managing Director, Horsten International BV), Lina Bartuseviciute (Founder & Managing Director, LITAO Consultancy Group) and Bruno Lhopiteau (Managing Director, Siveco China) shared their insights and experiences on what to keep in mind when attending trade fairs in China, both prior to and during the fair.

The EU SME Centre is a European Union initiative that provides a comprehensive range of hands-on support services to European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), getting them ready to do business in China.

Experts in the Centre provide advice and support in four areas – business development, law, standards and conformity and human resources. Collaborating with external experts worldwide, the Centre converts valuable knowledge and experience into practical business tools and services easily accessible online.

The EU SME Centre is now managed by five implementing partners who guide the strategic development and management of the Centre through their knowledge and experience of the China market-- China-Britain Business Council, China-Italy Chamber of Commerce in China, Danish Chamber of Commerce in China, EUROCHAMBRES and European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

Alessio Petino has been living in Beijing since 2011 and is very fluent in Chinese. As a frequent speaker and moderator at various meetings and expert-level discussions, he was regularly involved in the activities of various European networks and platforms in China. For the past 5+ years, he has been working on various EU-funded projects in China, mainly doing research and analysis in the following areas: R&D and innovation policy, high-tech zones, investment attraction policies and market access. His key areas of expertise are China’s R&I funding programs at both national (NKPs, NSFC, Megaprojects) and local level, international R&I co-funding mechanisms, government incentives and subsidies, as well as market access and opportunities for SMEs.

Lina Bartuseviciute is originally Lithuanian and has been in Shanghai for almost 12 years. Due to her cultural know-how and language proficiency, as well as International Relations Master's Degree in Fudan, she has been included in multiple high stakes governmental meetings and negotiations, hosted numerous delegations and bilateral talks. Since 2015, she has founded LITAO www.litaogroup.com - a business consulting firm focusing on China Market Entry, which works to bring quality European F&B brands to China market, with support from European Union.

Bruno Lhopiteau is the founder of Siveco China, the country's largest maintenance consultancy and a pioneer in the development of Smart O&M solutions. The company was set up in 2004 in partnership with Siveco Group (France). Based on the strong foundations established in China, their business has expanded overseas, working alongside Asian EPC companies or directly with plant owners, on the “Belt & Road”. Bruno has been active in the Chinese infrastructure and maintenance market since 1999, with a nice track record of setting up, developing and managing high-tech companies, including R&D operations. He is also giving lectures on Industrial Risk Management at Shanghai University.

Bart Horsten is a China entrepreneur and consultant since 1998, who focuses on start-up and early development projects in and with China. Being one of the most experienced and broadly skilled China consultants in the Benelux, he is contributing his China expertise and extensive network to many challenging projects. Over the past 22 years he has travelled to China more than 95 times and has lived in Hong Kong and in Shanghai for about 1.5 years. (Check their websites www.horsten.be and www.mychinaweb.com with more background information and many case studies.) With Dutch as his mother language, he is also fluent in English, German and French and have a basic knowledge of Italian and Chinese. He is a Member of the Board at BCECC, a China expert at the EU-SME Centre, a frequent speaker at China seminars and workshops and guest lecturer at universities and management schools.

In this episode we want to give you an understanding of the importance of health and social benefits in China. This episode is not a commercial pitch for a health insurance broker. It is an understanding of how you can take care of your Chinese employees, colleagues and dear ones living in China. Health is important. Maybe even more important than ever. But what does the health industry look like? How does the health system in China work? And what technology developments are soon a reality. Join me in an interview with long-time health insurance broker Jonathan Chapon.

Welcome to China Business Cast Episode! Today we will be talking to Mr. Matias Zubimendi from China IP SME helpdesk on this episode.

Mr. Matias Zubimendi is now working at China IPR SME helpdesk. He is an IP Business Advisor of European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and an Experienced Legal Consultant specialized in IPR with a demonstrated record of working in Latin America and China.

The China IP SME Helpdesk supports European Union (EU) Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to both protect and enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in or relating to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan through the provision of free information and services. These take the form of jargon-free, first-line, confidential advice on intellectual property and related issues, plus training, materials and online resources.

Today we will be sharing inspiring cases about what problems did foreign brands encounter when entering China market in terms of trademark registration and Chinese naming and, what are the possible solutions to these problems.