The time has never been more perfect to get involved within the medical sector in the United Arab Emirates. In 2018, the UAE government contributed 66% of the country’s healthcare spending of USD 15 billion. According to the International healthcare research centre (IRHC) UAE or Dubai more specifically is considered to be ranked 6 out of the 46 destinations in Global Medical Tourism Index 2020-2021. In addition, from 2018 to 2022 the healthcare spend is set to grow at CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 9.5%. One of the reasons is the aging of population, which is set to see an increase of 29% by 2050 according to the DHA chief (Dubai Health Authority).

A very intense and fruitful business trip to Dubai in April 2021 also led to a meeting with Gulf Resources LLC. Now we are happily announcing our strategic partnership between Expandeers and Gulf Resources!

Gulf Resources conveys and provides financial resources from its wide base network of high-net-worth individuals, family offices and financial institutions. Gulf Resources is well known and established in GCC for providing competent knowledge and market intelligence, business and financial advisory, financing business ventures and managing mergers and acquisitions to its clients.

Expandeers is pleased to welcome Patricia, our new associate partner for France and French-speaking countries in general.

Living in Frankfurt/Germany as a French native she has over 30 years of experience in intercultural communication between France and Germany, as well as with other French-speaking countries, especially in North African markets such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

The French (speaking) markets bear a lot of potential, especially for qualitative and elaborated products and services. Midsize companies as well as startups often hesitate to enter or advance into the French markets. "Working with French or French-speaking partners can sometimes be challenging." Often it is not the language, but the mentality, attitude and the work environment may be different from other markets. Our own particular culture "catches"us and we need to consider what challenges we have to overcome in our intercultural interactions. This should be part of the export strategy.

Nevertheless, one should not be hesitant to enter such a great market. The overwhelming potential can be accessed rather efficiently and sustainable, when done correctly. For that, we are very happy to have Patricia on board, to assist and guide all interested customers into this vast market.

On 6 April 2021, the virtual foreign trade day on “Dubai and UAE - Gateway to the Middle East” took place together with the BVMW, the leading association of German SME. Gerrit Stroomann, managing partner of the internationalization specialist EXPANDEERS in Hamburg, gave an entertaining, practical speech on the potential, future perspectives and about Dubai as a "launching pad" to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Expandeers Global Network GmbH runs the international offices of the BVMW in Dubai (UAE) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Therefore, we feel perfectly equipped to give insights and lead the way to expand internationally.

So what is it with the UAE? Business is the driving force in Dubai.

Reinforced by the current crisis, there is currently a rethinking and reorientation taking place in the United Arab Emirates. Especially for the growth of German startups and medium-sized companies, Dubai is an attractive pillar: On the one hand, Dubai is safe in many ways. It has an excellent infrastructure, free trade zones, investment promotion programs, impresses with extensive tax exemption, is innovative, flexible and agile. On the other hand, Dubai is ranked 16th on the Ease of Doing Business Index (Germany ranks 22nd as a comparison).

Miriam, Associate Partner of Expandeers SouthEast Asia PLT. interviewed by  Asia Law Portal

In her interview Miriam Shastri, founder of consultancy TOP Beraten Malaysia and Partner of Expandeers SouthEast Asia PLT, explains what inspired her to found the company, the key services she offers and prospect opportunities for foreign investors to Malaysia.

Studying law was what led Miriam into advising European markets, mainly German clients,  with bilateral trade, market entry and regulatory compliance in Malaysia. “It’s actually quite a funny story (in my opinion)! As I am Malaysian-German by ethnicity and grew up between continents, I always knew, I would want to do something with an ‘international edge’ to it”. Passion is what encouraged her as a founder. As people are passionate about a company or product, they will add much more value to it than otherwise. “I am also inspired by the humanitarian, charitable angle in business – using the profits made from one’s own labour to help others, can there be a more rewarding thing?”

Miriam states the values of transparency, out-of-the-box thinking and a Personal Approach to service (TOP) are key values to establish her management consultancy firm. The policy of the company focuses on serving a niche market of European-based companies, entrepreneurs and expatriates, as this is the target group where she wants to add more value to shape loyal clients and a respectable reputation, that distinguishes them from other consultancy firms. For Miriam depth rather than breadth of connections are important; a good network is fundamental in business. Many clients request help not only for expertise, but to use an excellent network, which is a game-changer.

In today’s hyper-connected world, word-of-mouth has a larger impact than before and most people trust a recommendation from friends and family over any type of advertising:  “We as a company believe that if a basis of trust does not exist, then we cannot provide services for you – trust and ethics are essential to build close ties, whether it is with clients, suppliers or business associates.” Trust in her reputation, social media strategies and word-of-mouth marketing is what determines her brand and how clients perceived the company.

Der GMRT / German Malaysian Round Table (digital) ist eine Plattform für Unternehmen, deren Geschäftsführer, Mitarbeiter, Dienstleister und Berater, Regierungs- und Verbandsvertreter.

Als Chapter Initiator des GMRT Hamburg, unterstützt Expandeers zusammen mit allen GMRT- Chaptern, MIDA (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), OAV (Ostasiatischer Verein), IHK, AHK, MATRADE (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation) und der Deutsche Botschaft Kuala Lumpur am 23. Februar einen digitalen German Malaysian Round Table, zu dem wir jeden Interessierten gerne einladen.

Expandeers invites you to the DFC. A virtual congress with over 60 exhibitors and speakers, BVMW foreign representatives from 30 nations, impulse generators and door openers on the subject of “GERMAN Mittelstand meets International Business Development and Digitalization”. 

The 5 main topics:

• Online Marketing & Sales
• Process optimization & communication
• New worlds of work & FUTUREthinking 
• Cyber security & data security / IT law
• Digitization & Transformation

The congress targets medium-sized companies from Germany and abroad who are interested in generating new or deepen (business) contacts around the world, expanding their business locally or expanding into other markets / regions and learning more about about recent IT megatrends such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT - Internet of Things, robotics, mobile business and digital marketing. The event also offers extraordinary networking opportunities on a very elaborated level. 

Download our free Whitepaper of Expandeers' Partner Mario Schäfer now

Partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry help gaining access to innovative drugs and allow companies to enter foreign markets more easily than by any other activity. One of the main reasons pharmaceutical companies are looking for potential partners is to gain faster, easier and cost-effective access to new manufacturing technologies. 

Thus, local regulations and high market entry costs make it more challenging for small and mid-sized companies to expand into international markets by their own means. For this reason, pharmaceutical companies seek out local partners as an economical and practical strategy of setting up base in foreign countries. Further, there are high costs for drugs approval. Companies have to consider the high-pitched failure rates into their investment risk. 

Another reason for pharmaceutical companies to be partnering with each other rapidly is the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in R&D. Over the next decade, patients can expect these developments to have a significant impact on treatments. Thus, the partnerships among the healthcare and tech sector and scalable business models will increase the rate of drug discovery and product introductions.  

Click here and learn more about AI in the Pharma Industry.