Made in China Podcast: International Business | Crowdfunding | Entrepreneurship

In this episode, Renaud Anjoran, partner and CEO of Sofeast Ltd, sits down with Rico to talk about Factories improvement, Inspections, Risk Management, Prototyping, Supply Management, Factory Vetting, Production Management. There has been a shared experience of their companies growing their business through multimedia and exporting/importing Medical PPEs.

Episode Notes:

Foreign Trading Companies opening their own Factory

Clients’ struggle on finding suppliers, Transparency in Manufacturing-Consulting

Convincing the clients how Chinese factories work and transparency with Chinese factories

Trust and Transparency gets things moving on your relationship with your client

Media growing their business, SFA’s podcast and Renaund’s blog

Factory on Quality Control and Transparency to their customers through a report

Factory jumping into manufacturing Medical PPE products as soon as they re-open

Risks and loss of opportunity when doing medical PPE’s business

Learning about the Certifications and Policies on Medical PPE’s

Global Business and Industry Climate — what to look out for

In this video, Rico and ChinaMike enlist their good friend, Alan Scanlan of Newlands Sourcing. They discuss what it’s like to be in Hong Kong as a foreigner with tight health protocols from the government. An interesting exchange they have is how they look forward to emerging small businesses and how people get creative on business ideas.

Some important points:

Wearing masks in HK is a big deal to locals, Coronavirus in HK compared to other countries

COVID-19 symptoms and friends that they know who got sick, Tracking Bands for monitoring in HK, Contact Tracing on other countries

Breaking Quarantine Protocols in HK, Alan jumping in Medical Supplies business, Factories jumping into producing masks

Pivoting the business to address the demand, the sense of security that SFA provides to our clients

Health Protocols that companies are complying, Flexible work arrangements in HK, Medical Supplies situation in Ireland

No new standards when exporting products to Europe, Denmark inspection issues for personal shipments

Unrealistic Standards imposed to meet some requirements in exporting, customers that buy the Medical Supplies are not expert of the products, filtering business leads

Business in general in terms of sourcing, Medical Supplies business as a safety net

Getting creative and coming up with a business idea during a crisis, emerging businesses online starting from homes, the “New Normal” after the pandemic

In this episode, Rico sits down with one of his good friends, Michael Michelini, as they talk about building an online presence on social media and Mike starting a 3-month program on how to navigate business during the pandemic. They also had a funny exchange of the stigma if you’re a foreigner that has travel history from China. They also talk about how the pandemic affected Mike, personally.

Some important points:

Mike talks about Alpha Rock Capital, Getting verified pages on Social Media, Becoming a Public Figure

Mike on “Coronavirus Coaching” 3-month Program, Navigating factory difficulties during the pandemic

What would SFA do if factories don’t re-open in May, working with part-time employees in China

Residency situations in other countries as a foreigner, being away from the family with a crucial situation

Quarantine situations in China, Media and Customs in China, being stuck in the Philippines

After the pandemic, what to consider/think moving forward in the following years

In this episode, Rico and ChinaMike catch you up with the COVID-19 transactions they face at this point. With them is their most trusted Operations Manager, Immigen Lam. They discuss how crazy it was when they got back to business since February’s lockdown in China and how this crisis gave them growth.

Topics:

Getting back to business in China, foreign trade companies selling masks, and Chinese government policies

Profitable Mask Business

The Challenges of people not able to understand Foreign Trade and Sourcing Process

Difficulties in this line of business during a crisis, best practices for shipping goods in this pandemic

SFA Growth, Working with people on different timezones, Remote work as a normal working set up for SFA

In a previous video, Rico talks about navigating the madness in import-export policies. In this episode, Rico and ChinaMike catch you up with the climate of shipping medical supplies. They discuss the challenges they face in this line of business and how they felt doing this for weeks but it felt like a month — must be the quarantine, boys.

Some important points:

Difference between US and Europe requirements Factory climate, their current capacity, and certifications

US Customs, holding shipments, and taxes

Client’s trust and processing orders

Shipping best practices

The COVID-19 crisIs has created a huge shortage of protective supplies all over the world which has lead to panic buying by inexperienced buyers, who are unfamiliar with the Asian market and unable to identify the red flags that can occur during deals.

Rico Ngoma tries to clarify some of the ethical questions that arise when sourcing goods to supply people in need, the dilemma of profiting off a crisis, and how to add a social agenda when potentially profiting. Below you find some highlighted minutes for you to navigate the interview. Watch the video if you are curious about the sourcing process behind the protective supplies that are necessary to fight the pandemic.

Some important points:

Source Find Asia’s product focus on this crisis

Importance of ‘guan xi’, keeping promises and building trust

Shortage of protective supplies

The ethical questions arising when ‘profiting’ on a crises

Transparency in the supply chain

Questions regarding the work conditions in the factories supplying the goods

How to get in contact and setting up sourcing channels

In this episode, Rico and Nick launched an episode straight from their cozy couch of their apartment. An apartment that misses some fixtures, like literally. They talk about their lockdown experiences on day 17 of their quarantine, business climates from sourcing and manufacturing standpoint, routines for quarantine, and cheers for the positivity.

Some important points:

- Coming to the Philippines

- How Coronavirus Affected Businesses - Manufacturing Climate

- Lockdown in the Philippines

- Living in BGC, Taguig

- Crisis Opportunist in this COVID-19 Pandemic

- Routines to keep you motivated in quarantine

In this episode, Rico calls one of his mentors, Andy Church. It has been two years since Andy has been in this podcast. This episode reunites them as Rico jots down notes from his sensei as they talk about working remotely, past experiences, Coronavirus, expanding out of China and more.

Topics:

Remote Work, going 100% remote

Importance of getting the work done

Business in Southeast Asia countries other than China

Challenges on lacking knowledge of the industry

Andy’s experience in Southeast Asian Countries

Establishing a relationship with a client and factories

Expansion outside of China

Strategic Partnerships in strategic places

In this episode, Rico and Mike talk about getting involved on the demand of Protective Medical supplies on a global scale. They both recognize the following: the importance of helping people, putting up content to educate people, the process and some forecasts.

In this podcast, Rico and ChinaMike talk about:

Helping people and getting involved

Orders of Medical Supplies SFA handles

The vetting process of the factories

Restrictions implemented to the factories by the Chinese Gov’t

Transparency in Sourcing, the rapid changes of quotations

Educating everybody involved in sourcing and factories

Qingming Festival, Price Hikes

Updates, Business Climate for the next 2 weeks

In this episode, Rico and Mike talk about getting involved in the demand of Protective Medical supplies on a global scale. They both recognize the following: the importance of helping people, putting up content to educate people, the process and some forecasts.

Topics:

Helping people and getting involved

Orders of Medical Supplies SFA handles

The vetting process of the factories 

Restrictions implemented to the factories by the Chinese government

Transparency in sourcing, the rapid changes of quotations

Educating everybody involved in sourcing and factories 

Qingming Festival, Price Hikes

Updates, Business Climate for the next 2 weeks