Choy's podcast - Life and business in Asia

EU has its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) since 2016 and China issued the draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) - what do the 2 have in common? Which companies should take careful notice of this and how? In this episode I found my co-partner Zach Lichtblau in Shanghai and Mr. Ronnen Gaito in Luxembourg willing to discuss this heavy topic in a relatively light conversation. Ronnen explains how in the EU companies were affected in their daily management by the GDPR, what you should take into consideration with cross border transfers and how it was implemented and executed and Zach compares that with the expectations of the PIPL in China. 

Ronnen's firm is RJ Gaito Law Firm and Zach's is Bonnard Lawson International Law Firm & Equasia. 

After a corporate career with decades in Asia and involvement in big deals, Bas Fransen takes a big bold step by deciding to become a start-up entrepreneur. With his third start-up EcoMatcher, Bas combines all his experience with his passion to contribute to a better world by convincing companies to incorporate tree-planting in their organization. In this interview Bas tells about the ambition to plant 1 billion trees by 2023, the ups and downs he experienced and gives tips to those who are just starting their adventure.  

Bas' book "Ideas to Fight the Climate Crisis: Sustainable Resolutions for a Business" can be found here and you can reach out to Bas by email [email protected] 

At the end of the interview, I asked Anja Ong, Ecomatcher's ambassador in Hong Kong to shortly explain what companies can do. You can reach out to Anja by email as well: [email protected].

Michael G. Ehlert is a true entrepreneur with all sorts of businesses in the financial industry. His companies are spread all over the world but have a special focus on Hong Kong. Michael will tell us all about his entrepreneurial journey and his latest passion project: the importance of intrapreneurs. Michael explains in our interview what it means to be an intrapreneur. We also discuss the difficulties entrepreneurs are facing when they are dealing with banks in Hong Kong. So loads of interesting information waiting for you in this interview! 

You can find Michael's businesses on

- mge.group

- https://bfi.hk 

- https://paycompliance.com 

- https://paycapital.hk

With two special guests, lawyer Raquel Garcia-Argudo Mendes in Spain and sinologist Valérie Hoeks in the Netherlands, I discuss the impact and the meaning of the controversial EU - China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Listen to this episode to hear our different take on the agreement, how it is received in the countries where my guests are located, the political turmoil it has caused and so much more! We are also considering to have a discussion on Clubhouse about doing business in China to exchange views and experience. What do you think? 

Contactinfo: 

Valérie: [email protected] 

Raquel: [email protected]

Artist Marcel Heijnen received a lot of publicity with his Chinese Whiskers series - photos of cats in traditional shops in Hong Kong, and mainland China. Reason enough to find out more! There was indeed more, a lot more actually. Marcel is graphic designer, musician, and photographer, he published multiple books in the Chinese Whiskers and the Residue series and had multiple solo exhibitions. He is originally from the Netherlands, lived in Singapore where he had a design studio and art café and is now living in Hong Kong. During this interview, I keep on discovering and learning from his attitude and mindset of being open to new experiences and his creative ways of dealing with challenges and seeing opportunities. So lean back and enjoy the interview!

You can find more information about Marcel and his work and books here and he has an Instagram account Chinese whiskers with 34.500 followers so he is also a social media star! 

Starting a footwear brand with wool slippers in tropical Siem Reap, Cambodia... sounds like a challenge! Not only did Godie van de Paal succeed to do that with her slow fashion brand Kingdom of Wow but she also made sure that it is produced as responsible, sustainable and ethically as possible. In this interview Godie tells about the start phase 6 years ago after a life around the globe in different identities like teacher, policy officer light weapons, policy advisor re Afghanistan, Vice Consul Economic and Commercial Affairs in Shanghai, the choices she had to make and the lessons she learned along the way. Going with the flow in combination with believing in finding solutions to make it work: be inspired by the journey of this amazing entrepreneur! 

You can find Kingdom of Wow here, on Instagram and Facebook and Godie on Linkedin. 

Oskar Valles came to Hong Kong 9 years ago as a regional finance executive for a multinational corporation but then he changed his life in order to give back to the community. Together with Aggie Lam, he created the amazing art book "Dear Hong Kong" with 200 pages featuring inspiring people from different countries living in Hong Kong with beautiful pictures. Exactly what Hong Kong needs in these turbulent times and as a matter of fact, exactly what the world needs right now: a must have or at least a must read! 

Together with my friend and colleague, Krystle Morris, originally from Columbia, we ask Oskar about the lessons learned from creating this piece of art and we discuss the importance of showing society the stories of people around them who at first seem unfamiliar.

A perfect mindset to start the new Year of the Ox! 

With special thanks to Nerice Gietel who is featured in the book and through whom I learned about this project! 

You can get more info about "Dear Hong Kong" here.     

For this Dutch Business Lawyers Abroad episode, I am going to Antalya in Turkey! All the members of DBLA are legal experts in the country where they are located but they are originally from the Netherlands. We give companies, entrepreneurs and individuals who are not familiar with the local environment the help they need. Often legal support but also sometimes referrals to reliable relations or practical advice about cultural differences or how things are done in that country.

I am interviewing Selma Ören who has been in Turkey for over 20 years. Selma tells us about her early wish to leave the Netherlands and explore the world and how that led to her decision to start a law firm in Turkey. She also gives tips about the best way to deal with the business culture, gives a juicy anecdote and explains how covid-19 actually improved the legal system in Turkey. Also, did you know that the lockdown in Antalya is quite strict as people are not allowed to go outside during weekends and between 9 pm - 6 am weekdays? Hear all about it in this episode!

Selma's firm is Ören Law Firm and she also writes a blog in English and a blog in Dutch. More podcast episodes on Choy's world. 

Thank you for listening!

Simon de Raadt has been in China for over a decade and he became an expert in cross-border trade and logistics from and to China. This expertise also includes deep knowledge of e-commerce, the most relevant sales channel in China. 

In this episode we talk about so many relevant topics: the impact of the pandemic on e-commerce, the Chinese eco system, the new VAT rules that will apply in the EU soon, the attitude of Chinese companies going to Europe and the other way around and so much more!

Simon speaks often at events, is a podcast host of the China Business Cast, managing partner of MAiNS International and the VP Business Development Europe at HyperSKU. I know Simon quite a while now, cooperated on several occasions and became friends so I am happy to introduce you to Simon!

Contact Simon through Linkedin, Instagram @simonderaadt and he is also on Youtube with HyperSKU.

Arpita Vyas (20), is doing an internship at our Equasia office right now and we often find ourselves exchanging our views about life and career choices. She, like most 20 year olds, can’t wait to get the answers of what life has in stock for her while also having feelings of uncertainty. 

I almost forgot as a 45 year old how it felt like to be 20 something so our exchanges were so interesting! Arpita decided to gather some questions from her friends that they wanted to know the answers for, and I tried to answer them to the best of my humble knowledge! 

If you are a young person, let me know if you have any other questions. And if you are a rather experienced person, let me know what is the advice you would give to your 20 year old self! Looking forward to reading the responses :)

Arpita is a 3rd years student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Apart from her interest in the field of marketing and management, she has recently co-founded a silver jewelry business, Aroha (check out her website at: www.arohajewelry.com)!