What a great experience: This years' Global Partners Meeting of Expandeers took place in in Dubai for four full days. Over 25 partners from more than 12 nations gathered in Dubai, discussing options, opportunities, new strategies, Expandeers growth path, new ideas and business models. This year, focus was on sustainability. Making crude oil efficiently from recycled plastic (Thailand), recovering mobile phones after water contact (Mexico) that reduces electronic waste, Freshpacks that preserve food more effectively and thus reducing food waste and plastic usage (Mexico), a Laser technology for measuring profiles of tires so they last longer and take less time to check are just few of the opportunities. These were presented, discussed and planned for global market entrance. The two day workshop was also offering many 1:1 exchanges about bilateral import/export from and to around the world. 

The meetings took place in conference venues of Shangri-La and Voco Hotel alongside Sheik Zayed Road in Downtown / Financial District of Dubai. Beside the work meetings, quite a bit of time had been reserved for socializing and networking, once again focussing on the core assets of Expandeers, i.e. personal exchange and contact for doing reliable and trustworthy business together. Welcome Dinner and cocktails at "La Mer" at the beach, a guided city tour, networking dinner in Bur Dubai, the old part of the city, followed by cocktails and live DJ in a scenic rooftop bar on 43rd floor and many other relaxing activities formed the frame for a great Arabic happening.

Presently we already started planning our next years' event, taking place in September 2020, presumably in Istanbul / Turkey.

Dear Friends of GMRT, 

sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

es ist uns eine große Freude und Ehre, Sie zum 3. Hamburger German Malaysian Round Table (GMRT) am Mittwoch, den 4. Dezember 2019 um 14:00 Uhr, bei der Rödl Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH, Kehrwieder 9, 20457 Hamburg, einladen zu dürfen. 

“Which country is the most attractive market for my expansion in Latin America?” -

“What is the best strategy to enter and conquer this market?” -

“How do I find the right partner to support my business in Latin America?” -

“What are the costs and risks involved in our market entry and how can we control them?” - 

"We want to stress out the economic importance of Russia". As we said on our German-Russian Roundtable in June this year, we now let action follow: Expandeers is very pleased to welcome our new partner for Russia and adjacent countries. Olga is another expert for Russia with over 10 years of practical experience as a managing director of a German company in St. Petersburg. Rely on her expertise regarding all affairs of Russian business: sales, marketing, import and export, corporate management and leadership.

Her places of residence are in Russia and Germany and she has of course an excellent knowledge of the Russian, German and English language. Please contact us for getting to know how we could support your business development activities from / to Russia and beyond.

We are very excited for that we will be holding our annual Global Partners Convention in UAE this year. From 14th until 17th of November, all EXPANDEERS members and strategic partners - this side along with spouses - are invited to join our meet-up in Dubai. 

In workshops and discussions we will evaluate new global opportunities for midsize companies from all over the world.

Expandeers is very pleased to welcome our newest member and partner for Turkey. Wolfgang lives in Istanbul and it has been his home for over 25 years now. During that time he established and cultivated a unique local network with various contacts to authorities and entities in economy and industry across sectors.

Since 1999 he has been the managing director of a consulting firm and since 2008 he developed Business Process Outsourcing activities for foreign investors in Turkey. In addition to that, Wolfgang has been representing The German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW; Bundesverband der Mittelständischen Wirtschaft) in Turkey for over 10 years now. And Wolfgang is the official partner of the Federal State of Lower Saxony in Turkey as well. If interested in and aiming at the Turkish market, Wolfgang is at your disposal with his vast experience and expertise.

On June 3, 2019, the Expandeers' German-Russian Round Table in Hamburg took place on the premises of Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH. The 30 participants got a detailed overview with speeches on the current economic situation in Russia, insights in effective law enforcement and securing foreign investment and what to take in consideration when expanding into Russia.

The Russian market is still rather stable and the bilateral trade between German and Russia amounted to 65 billion USD in 2018. That however still means a lower level than before sanctions kicked in, where trade volume equalled 75 billion USD (2013). Problems of the Russian markets are in majority of political nature, to a lesser extend economically. In his key note General Consul Sharashkin pointed out that Russia is not to be seen as a country but as a continent: On federal level different instruments as special investment contracts can be obtained and decisions are taken quite fast on regional level. But for state tenders and public contracts a company must be registered as a Russian company. For example Klaas and Daimler are treated as Russian companies. Production in Russia for Daimler starts this year. Also he emphasized that although sometimes very hurtful and some business partners are unpredictable, sanctions can also be an opportunity. The Russians deal with European sanctions by either finding new substitutes, e.g. from China, making up with own resources or letting European companies setting up their own subsidiaries in Russia, so sanctions are not working at all. In the eyes of Mr. Sharashkin, sanctions primarily harm the German SME that used to work on the Russian markets. The lecture about positive experiences but also challenges that were faced (Meesenburg Gruppe Flensburg) demonstrated other aspects, e.g. if a Russian business partner reports insolvency it is very unlikely to get paid or that being too successful in Russia can result in a reduced margin over all.

CAMEN's U-Fresh products are food storage bags made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and DuPont™ Tyvek® which increases the life of your fruits and vegetables by approx. 20 %. It reduces food weight loss up to 15% and controls the internal atmosphere. U-Fresh food bags are resistant to punctures and a barrier to microorganisms. They can be printed on, are recyclable and organic-oriented. 

Secondly, another innovative product will be brought to the European markets within the next weeks: Dr. Dry mobile phone recovery sets. Dr. Dry ® is a dehumidifier made for electronic devices, it uses hyper-silica to rescue most devices from getting damaged by water. It has a 360° wrap-up drying technology that completely covers the device, increasing the probability of full recovery and functionality within 72 hr. 

After running a hundred inmersion tests, as well as tests in a climate chamber, Camen concluded that, in water related accidents, Dr. Dry was capable of preventing corrosion in electronic microcircuits when the device was highly saturated with water, therefore rescuing most devices with an 82% success rate (In controlled conditions).

The study determined that when the device did not fully recover, the main causes of the malfuction were: the device was dropped in other liquid different from water, the time prior to using Dr. Dry exceeded 48 hr and the device was inmersed for a period of time longer than 10 minutes.

www.camen-q.com

Solutto-Group (Mexico)  has appointed Expandeers exclusively as their official business development partner for Germany and further European countries.

Solutto is a company legally based in the city of Querétaro,  Mexico, dedicated to support industrial Gear Processes (Bevel and Cylindrical) with more than 10 years’ experience in Gear Process Application and Service. Solutto has the first ACCREDITED laboratory specialized in gear measurement and ISO certifications.

Founder and CEO Abraham Hurtado Gutierrez had been in Germany for the initial workshops, Control Messe and intercultural training with Expandeers' Partner Nancy Bravo. Expandeers takes care of the company foundation in Germany and helps to establish Hurtado Getriebetechnik GmbH in the German market as a leader for support of industrial Gear processes.

www.solutto.com.mx

In recent months, articles and news captures about yellow-vest movements dominated newspapers all over the world when France was concerned, leaving a picture of instability and violence dominating in France.

More specifically, it identifies the national response of our neighbor to a necessary reform of the economic and social systems with the aim of strengthening France nationally and making it internationally competitive and thus attractive to foreign investors.

The state of the nation

The German entrepreneur associates France with the 35-hour week, a maximum employment protection and a retirement at age of 62 years, with high non-wage labour costs and a not entrepreneur-friendly tax legislation. To align these privileges of the French with the level of European neighbors is the aim of the package of measures implemented by Emmanuel Macron since the beginning of his term of office. It is understandable that this meets with only little sympathy of their own people.

These reforms, which have earned Macron the reputation of the "President of the Rich," show clear successes in the economy. In 2018, after stagnating for a long time, economic growth has risen to 2%, with a forecast of 2.3% in 2019. Unemployment has recovered from 10.7% to 8.7% within three years. Reforms in the French tax law such as the abolition of wealth tax (except for Real Estate) and the reduction of corporation tax from 33.33% gradually to 25% by 2022 contributed to this. To relieve the middle class, Macron announced in late April a significant reduction in income tax. The Labour law has been made more entrepreneur-friendly, e.g. through extended termination possibilities or restrictions on the level of compensation to pay for unfair dismissals. Work councils are not mandatory anymore in companies with minimum 50 but only from 100 employees. The adjustment of the retirement age to 64 years and an increase in weekly working hours are central reform issues of Macron; due to resistance from the yellow-vest movement decisions were postponed to the summer.

Einladung zum Deutsch-Russischen Round Table, Hamburg

Es ist uns eine große Freude und Ehre, Sie zum Deutsch-Russischen Round Table am Dienstag, dem 3. Juni 2019 um 13:00 Uhr im Hause der Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Gänsemarkt 45, 20345 Hamburg, einzuladen. 

Nachdem sich die deutsch-russischen Wirtschaftsbeziehungen seit 20 Jahren positiv entwickelten, gibt es seit 2012 einen spürbaren Einbruch, basierend auf der allgemeinen russischen Wirtschaftskrise, dem Ölpreisverfall und der Rubelschwäche, verstärkt durch die Sanktionsregime der EU und Russlands anlässlich der Ukraine-Krise. Russland hat sich inzwischen hierauf eingestellt, fördert die Produktion im eigenen Land und sucht nach neuen Geschäftspartnern und Lieferanten. Deutsche Unternehmer sind nach wie vor beliebte, wenn nicht die begehrtesten Partner. Russland hat zahlreiche Anreize für ausländische Unternehmen geschaffen, in Russland wirtschaftlich tätig zu werden oder ihr Geschäftsfeld zu erweitern. Trotz aller Schwierigkeiten wächst die russische Wirtschaft weiter; der Handel mit Deutschland steigt seit 2017 wieder.

We will be attending Hannover Messe beginning of April 2019. Over 6.000 exhibitors and more than 200.000 visitors are expected to come together at one of the largest industrial trade fairs in the world. Industry 4.0, robotics, artificial intelligence, Cobots and 5G before the background of production form the major focus. 

Expandeers will be attending with several of our business developers. If you are interested in expanding your business country- or product wise, get in touch with us and meet with one of our managers at Hannover Trade Fair ground.