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EDB appoints economic envoys to offer advice on S’pore, Asia

MUNICH — Consumers may not be familiar with Dr Heinz-Juergen Bertram’s company, Symrise, but chances are they have tasted flavours or used fragrances produced by the firm.

MUNICH — Consumers may not be familiar with Dr Heinz-Juergen Bertram’s company, Symrise, but chances are they have tasted flavours or used fragrances produced by the firm.

The German company — whose clients range from high-end luxury retailers to fast-moving consumer goods giants, including Chanel, Hermes, Nestle and Procter & Gamble — recently expanded its regional headquarters in Singapore, said Dr Bertram, its chief executive.

He was one of three prominent German-speaking business leaders appointed yesterday by the Singapore Economic Development Board to help spread the word and offer advice to fellow small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their countries about investing in Singapore and the rest of Asia.

Also appointed were Dr Erich Erber, founder and president of Austrian food technology company Erber, and Dr Roland Gerner, senior adviser for German technology group Heraeus, which produces components for pacemakers and solar panels, among other products.

They join six other business leaders under the Singapore Economic Ambassador programme that was launched in 2015 with the aim of building a trusted “Asia insider” network for SMEs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In the past two years, the six ambassadors have reached out to over 900 of these SMEs — known collectively as Mittelstand — by speaking at major conferences and other channels, said EDB managing director Yeoh Keat Chuan.

One of them, Rohde & Schwarz president Peter Riedel, helped convince automation company Pilz to set up its regional headquarters in Singapore.

Germany’s Mittelstand companies are world-renowned for being technology driven and for their deep engineering expertise.

“My understanding is that the Mittelstand community is a very close-knit one and they rely a lot on personal recommendations,” said Mr Yeoh at a press conference with Dr Bertram and Dr Gerner yesterday.

The economic ambassadors are very familiar with Asia and Singapore, and the companies of the three new appointees have been in Singapore for more than two decades.

The ambassadors do not get funding from the EDB and take on the roles in their personal capacity, added Mr Yeoh.

The ambassadors said they took on the role because they relished meeting people from other companies, underlining the need to be flexible and agile in a fast-changing world.

Companies should give themselves time to develop relationships in Asia and be prepared to invest for at least three years, said Dr Bertram, adding that Western companies can also learn from new technologies emerging in Asia.

More than 3,000 German, Austrian and Swiss companies are present in Singapore. For Western companies, Singapore is “Asia for beginners” because of the ease of setting up operations, its strong research focus and intellectual property protection, said Dr Bertram.

China is the most important market in Asia for Symrise, he said, adding that Indonesia, India and Pakistan are also significant.

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