24 October 2023

To kick-start October, SEA CAPE ran two Market Immersion Programmes in Hamilton and Nelson, engaging 44 eager businesspeople and students.

The workshop in Hamilton on 7th October focused on Malaysian and Singaporean markets for the University of Waikato Management School MBA students, who are set to travel to Malaysia and Singapore over the coming weeks.

The session was an introduction to the broad trading environments of Malaysia and Singapore before they headed overseas to immerse themselves in the region and form their own experiences. We exposed the students to the importance of cultural adaptation, distribution methods, and understanding competition in these countries. The participants engaged fantastically despite the session running on a Saturday – their recognition of the session value was a testament to the hard work of our workshop staff.

“Thank you all so much for the session on Saturday, we all benefited from the insights that were shared!”

For the first time, we hosted a workshop in Nelson and it was a similar success! In partnership with ExportNZ, and with the expertise of Dr. Grigorij Ljubownikow and Benjamin Fath, 24 businesspeople were able to delve deeper into their understanding of ASEAN markets. Networking, sharing first-hand experiences, and identifying future market strategies made this workshop an invaluable insight into Southeast Asia for our participants. We saw some excellent group discussion, and participants appreciated the variety of academic theory and practical business insights in the session.

Understanding of cultural market components in the southeast Asian region was highlighted as a key focus area for many participants. Not only is the session beneficial for gaining these type of insights, but also for developing a wider network of likeminded businesspeople. First-hand stories and interaction are vital to piece together New Zealanders experiences and understand how to increase our share of market success in this area!

“Excellent session, tailored well to the group. We’d love to see more workshops like this in the future in Nelson.”