Dear SCS members, partners and friends

The Swiss Center Shanghai hopes you all had a good start of the year 2011. The SCS embarks its own new-year adventure with a fresh and strong management team including General Manager, Mr. Zhen XIAO, a Chinese national with extensive Switzerland experience, and Ms. Michèle Haymoz, a Swiss young professional residing in Shanghai, who will take care of the SCS office in Shanghai. The new SCS team strives to upgrade our value-added services and ensure the high quality and dynamism, through close collaboration with our service partners, government bodies and related organizations.

SCS will also host the China representative of GGBa (Greater Geneva Berne area), Ms. LIAO Chunming, who has extensive knowledge and experience of outbound investment and European market.

SCS also welcomes the new member company to join our family, Bertrams Chemical Plants Ltd, and wishes it a great start of the operations in China.

Last but not least, we wish all our members, partners and friends, a great leap forward into the year of Rabbit!

New General Manager Zhen XIAO

The 32 year old Chinese national is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he has recently worked as China Relations Coordinator for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).The graduate from Nanyang Technological University worked and lived in Switzerland for eight years. “We want to further increase the visibility of SCS in Switzerland and cooperate closely with our clients and partners. We also plan do develop new services to support our members and other interested SMEs in China and in Switzerland”, explains Xiao.

contact: zhen.xiao@swisscenters.org

 New Operation Manager Michèle Haymoz    

In January 2011 Ms Michèle Haymoz took office as Operation Manager to support and lead the SCS Team in Shanghai. The 28 year old Swiss national has a solid background in the hospitality and service industry and holds an executive diploma in SME management from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The past 5 years she worked as a Front Office Manager at ****sHotel Hof Weissbad, Switzerland, and will therefore ensure and develop the high quality standard of the SCS services.

contact: michele.haymoz@swisscenters.org 

New SCS member: Bertrams Chemical Plants Ltd.

SCS welcomes a new member company. The Bertrams Chemical Plants Ltd. opens up a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE) in Beijing to serve the growing Chinese market. “Our company in Beijing will start operations in February 2011 – with twelve employees and the goal of growing quickly”, explains Bertrams CEO Dr. Axel Goth. The Swiss experts for Alkali concentration and other chemical plants are active in the Chinese market for 17 years already. 70 plants of Bertrams are at work all over China. “The competition in this huge market is growing rapidly, with many Chinese companies trying to expand. That is the main reason for Bertrams to set up a WFOE in Beijing. We want to keep our market shares in the long term, be closer to our clients and provide better service”, states Dr. Goth. Bertrams will continue to do the basic planning in Switzerland. The company in Beijing will be responsible for the detailed planning and will purchase and sell the plants in China.

GREATER GENEVA BERNE area will be represented in China by Ms Liao Chunming

Ms Liao Chunming, a Chinese native, has an extensive knowledge of the Chinese and European Markets and will represent the Greater Geneva Berne area (GGBa) in China. She will be hosted at Swiss Center Shanghai. With the extensive network and expertise of SCS and GGBa, we are ready to offer customized solutions for Chinese investors and entrepreneurs to set up their business in Switzerland. Please visit www.ggba-switzerland.com for further information.

Swiss Center Shanghai: the China experts

Booming Swiss exports to China – Swiss September exports to China and Hongkong grew ten times faster than the overall exports – point out China’s increasing importance for Swiss companies. SCS, by far the largest cluster of Swiss companies in China, offers a network of experts to support these Swiss enterprises. “Especially SMEs need guidance entering the complex Chinese market. SCS offers not only workshop and customer service space, but also legal support, strategy consulting, government relations, and more”, states SCS Managing Director Nicolas Musy. Earlier in 2010, SCS opened its Machinery Center in Shanghai’s Xinzhuang Industry Park, providing 2300sqm additional workshop space adapted for the promotion of Swiss equipment. Mr Musy: “The SCS Machinery opens the door for Chinese potential clients to Swiss manufacturing excellence.”

 “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Chinese philosopher Confucius said thousands of years ago. Make your first step and contact the SCS Team – we are looking forward serving you and your company soon.

We wish you and your company all the best and a Happy Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.

Best regards,

Xiao Zhen                       Michèle Haymoz
General Manager         Operations Manager

About Swiss Center Shanghai

Founded in 2000, SCS is by far the largest cluster of Swiss enterprises in China with a rich experience in business set-up and China operations management. SCS, a non-profit organization, not only offers instant workshop, machinery center, office and desk space, but also supports the companies with government relations and a broad network of experts. SCS served more than 100 companies in China – both SMEs and large enterprises. Among other, the SCS experts performed set-ups of 20 production companies and more than 30 offices and trading companies. For more information, please visit: www.swisscenters.org.