John Kellenberger says a lack of access to funding is the greatest obstacle foreign entrepreneurs face when opening a business in Taiwan.
“There’s no way to get regular funding from a bank,” he says. “They’ll kind of laugh [at your proposal], unless you have a local spouse to co-sign for you.”
Kellenberger should know. A long-time Taiwan resident and founder of Reach to Teach, an education company, he’s been through those tough early days of starting a business.
Photo courtesy of Business Next Magazine
That’s why he and Josh Yang (楊智斐), both from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Taiwan, teamed up with marketing company Enspyre to start Dragon Chamber Taiwan, a competition strictly for foreign startups — the first and only of its kind in Taiwan.
The aim of the event, which is in its second year, is to provide a sorely needed platform for foreign entrepreneurs to collaborate and share ideas.
It’s critical, Kellenberger says, for startups to have access to expert feedback, business mentors and a chance to network with other young companies.
Photo Courtesy of Business next magazine
Dragon Chamber Taiwan, part of Meet Taipei, the largest startup event in Asia, takes its inspiration from the US TV show Shark Tank. Held live on stage, participants have 10 minutes to pitch their startup plan to four “Dragon” judges who will then pepper them with questions, checking for any flaws in the plan.
The judges will evaluate teams in an open discussion on stage, which Yang says will give the audience and participants greater insight into what makes a strong business proposal.
Last year’s winner, Podride, an alternative transport company whose flagship product is a weatherproof four-wheel e-bike, has now raised over US$95,000 on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding Web site.
Photo courtesy of Business Next Magazine
Off the back of last year’s success, the event has expanded and this year will feature more prizes, high-profile judges and a talk by Elias Ek, cofounder of Enspyre and author of How to start a business in Taiwan. Also, with the aim of drawing larger crowds, entry this year will be free.
Kellenberger hopes the event will bring exposure for the teams, but also shine a light on the obstacles that foreign entrepreneurs face in getting started.
“There are lots of foreigners here with great ideas, but without the upfront cash, they can’t get started,” he says.
ENTREPRENEUR VISA
Kellenberger says the new legislation passed by the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration aimed at easing entry requirements for foreign startups is “a step in the right direction.”
But, he says, the entrepreneur visa, started in July 2015, hasn’t proven popular.
Indeed, one year after the scheme was launched, only 30 applications had been made and 18 visas issued.
Kellenberger says that applying is a painstaking process, and that cutting red tape further would make a difference.
Right now, he adds, an Alien Resident Card is still tied to a work visa, making it illegal to start a company while still working as an employee. Most must wait until obtaining an Alien Permanent Residency Cards before starting up.
“Relaxing the process further would really help,” he says.
Kellenberger has plans to grow the event in the years to come, including televising and holding it biannually. Most importantly, he wants to double the number of teams.
“The greatest benefit for the teams,” Yang says, “is the feedback and the chance to develop their ideas to the next level.”
July 1 to July 7 Huang Ching-an (黃慶安) couldn’t help but notice Imelita Masongsong during a company party in the Philippines. With paler skin and more East Asian features, she did not look like the other locals. On top of his job duties, Huang had another mission in the country, given by his mother: to track down his cousin, who was deployed to the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II and never returned. Although it had been more than three decades, the family was still hoping to find him. Perhaps Imelita could provide some clues. Huang never found the cousin;
Once again, we are listening to the government talk about bringing in foreign workers to help local manufacturing. Speaking at an investment summit in Washington DC, the Minister of Economic Affairs, J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), said that the nation must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high end manufacturing by 2040 to offset the falling population. That’s roughly 15 years from now. Using the lower number, Taiwan would have to import over 25,000 foreigners a year for these positions to reach that goal. The government has no idea what this sounds like to outsiders and to foreigners already living here.
Lines on a map once meant little to India’s Tibetan herders of the high Himalayas, expertly guiding their goats through even the harshest winters to pastures on age-old seasonal routes. That stopped in 2020, after troops from nuclear-armed rivals India and China clashed in bitter hand-to-hand combat in the contested high-altitude border lands of Ladakh. Swaths of grazing lands became demilitarized “buffer zones” to keep rival forces apart. For 57-year-old herder Morup Namgyal, like thousands of other semi-nomadic goat and yak herders from the Changpa pastoralist people, it meant traditional lands were closed off. “The Indian army stops us from going there,” Namgyal said,
A tourist plaque outside the Chenghuang Temple (都城隍廟) lists it as one of the “Top 100 Religious Scenes in Taiwan.” It is easy to see why when you step inside the Main Hall to be confronted with what amounts to an imperial stamp of approval — a dragon-framed, golden protection board gifted to the temple by the Guangxu Emperor that reads, “Protected by Guardians.” Some say the plaque was given to the temple after local prayers to the City God (城隍爺) miraculously ended a drought. Another version of events tells of how the emperor’s son was lost at sea and rescued