Inward Investment to the Midlands Property Market,
Thursday 24 November
Seminar
Browne Jacobson hosted this event at its brand new office at 103 Colmore Row on 24 November, a joint event with England China Business Forum. This was an extremely successful event with members of the Birmingham China Business Forum attending, alongside our external contacts and members of the Browne Jacobson Real Estate team.
The key speakers were Chris Lau (International Markets Lead from West Midlands Growth Company), Tommy Chan (Company Director and Founder of EaseHome) and Mark Holbeche (Director of Development at Regal Property Group). The event was led by Zo Hoida, Browne Jacobson Partner, and Chair of the Birmingham China Business Forum, and her Co-Chair Angela Huang.
The speakers discussed inward investment into the West Midlands property market. Alongside showcasing Birmingham’s global coverage, with a recent 75 million reach during campaigns at the Commonwealth Games, and reasons why Birmingham is such a valuable investment opportunity, they also highlighted the support offered to existing and prospective new investors. The figures speak for themselves – 85% of recent buyers in Birmingham are purchasing properties for their primary residence. It was interesting to hear in particular about the uptake of people relocating from Hong Kong on BNO visas.
The drive from inward investment creates significant opportunities within the Birmingham property market. As such, a number of projects and developments are being built across our city, such as the South Central development coming to Chinatown and the Morville Street development coming to the Ladywood Regeneration district.
The seminar ended with an engaging Q&A session led by Zo and Angela Huang and a networking session for all attendees.
The Ambitious Entrepreneur – Investing in the UK
秉承企业家精神 创业英伦
Wednesday 2 November
Hybrid
BDO and England China Business Forum (ECBF) co-hosted an inward investment themed hybrid event: The Ambitious Entrepreneur. The event considered the UK – China/ASEAN trade and investment landscape, discussed how businesses with a growth mindset can call on a team of experts to tackle the unique business challenges they are facing, and to transform their growth strategy into action.
Dr. Zhouchen Mao, Asia House, Head of Research and Advisory provided an overview of UK and China/ASEAN trade and investment landscape.
Xinna Wang, Director of Business Services and Outsourcing at BDO LLP discussed the barriers faced by businesses looking to expand into the UK
Wei Wu, Senior Associate of Dentons specialising in cross-border M&As shared insights on five important matters to consider when investing in the UK
Kevin Lin, CEO of Tuspark Investment UK discussed how Tuspark has successfully established in the UK from building science parks to incubation, innovation and investment ecosystem.
The event was co-hosted by Dentons, the world’s largest muti-national law firm. It’s a hybrid event with dual language support (English and Mandarin). Guests at Dentons London office enjoyed the event over breakfast with networking opportunities both before and after. The seminar was also lived streamed to business owners and investors based in China and ASEAN countries.
Working for Net Zero in the Automotive Industry
Tuesday 26th April
Webinar
David Bailey, Professor of Business Economics at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham has written extensively on industrial and regional policy, especially in relation to manufacturing and the auto industry.
He shared insights on how the auto industry in the UK is making the transition to EVs and zero emissions. He also highlighted some of the key policy issues if we are to make the 2030 target work and commented on the West Midlands relationship with the automotive industry in China.
England China Business Forum Annual Dinner 2022
Tuesday 15th February
Chinese Community Centre - Birmingham
This was our first face to face event since early 2020. We met at the Chinese Community Centre - Birmingham for ECBF Annual Dinner. Due to Covid-19 precautions we limited numbers to a maximum of 40 people.
Dr Yeow Poon, President of ECBF, shared his thoughts on how ECBF can go forward given the current geopolitics around China. He emphasised that ECBF should continue to encourage business, trade and investment between UK and China. ECBF can without taking political sides speak up for the interests of businesses and also the impact of geo-political rhetoric and Sinophobia on the British Chinese, East and Southeast communities.
Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority, gave some examples of trade and investment between the West Midlands and China and his thoughts on future opportunities. James Wong, the Patron of the Chinese Community - Centre, shared a vision on how Chinatown could develop in the next 20 years, followed by Zo Hoida, President of Birmingham China Business Forum who presented a lifetime achievement award to Dr Yeow Poon.
Speech by Dr Yeow Poon
Speech by Andy Street
Speech by James Wong
Speech by Zo Hoida
