10 FOCUS The first years of MGCC were quite different from what we are used to today The Chamber only had its first computer in 1993 Before that all ledger accounts as well as membership listing were done manually remembers Ms Lee Huang The Chamber also maintained a library where business directories were kept Members who were interested to connect with other companies would walk in to the Chamber to search for their business partners through the directories That s how the business was conducted and we would create opportunities through connection of the member companies Ms Lee Huang further explains Everything was much slower those days adds Heinz Müller If you needed information about a country you would read a book or ask someone who already had been there When asked about the difference between then and now Ms Michelle Lim MGCC Senior Marketing Officer who joined the Chamber in 1996 reveals that there used to be more inquiries from Malaysian companies about Germany due to the difficulty of accessing information and communication barriers Ms Michelle highlights that the number for this kind of inquiries has greatly reduced nowadays as information is easily accessible For example members can now reserve hotel rooms by themselves through the internet if they would like to visit a trade fair EXPANSION OF THE CHAMBER One of the roles of the Chamber was to expand Kuala Lumpur as a business hub for foreign investors bringing German companies into Malaysia while at the same time assisting Malaysian companies venturing into the German market MGCC receives more German inquiries on market entry in Malaysia compared to Malaysian businesses nowadays This may be due to the fact that German businesses receive stronger support from the government to expand their market and as Malaysia is a strategic business location in the region many German companies are interested to venture into the Malaysian market elaborates Mr Thomas Brandt the General Manager cum Head of DEinternational who has been a part of the MGCC team since 2001 With a larger number of German investors coming to Malaysia the Chamber has often been approached to assist the companies especially during the start up phase Therefore the Chamber slowly expanded from a few staff to around 35 staff from one department to six departments and from 100 members to around 400 members today The launch of DEinternational the service brand of all German Chambers abroad in Malaysia in 2006 the establishment of the CSR Competence Center in 2013 as well as the formation of the department for German Dual Vocational Training GDVT in 2014 and other ongoing initiatives and projects e g in the area of green technology all bear witness to the successful development of MGCC which today is proudly carrying the title of being the largest bilateral European Chamber in Malaysia PENANG ANOTHER IMPORTANT LOCATION FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS IN THE EARLY DAYS OE Design was founded in 1974 by Erich Oeding Erdel whose family had been in the jewellery business in Münster Germany since 1906 Due to the rising human resource cost in Germany Mr Oeding Erdel started looking for other suitable locations for his business At that time the German government also encouraged German businessmen to invest abroad He therefore took the opportunities to scout for places while purchasing machines in Asia In the same year he started a company in Penang called German Jewellery which is today s OE Design For our company Penang was chosen over Kuala Lumpur for a few reasons As a European Penang gave the feeling of a small but planned city The people are friendly and most of them could speak English But most importantly it was a free port that attracted foreign investors explains the Managing Director of OE Design Sdn Bhd Dato Herbert Weiler Another important reason was the policy of Penang s Second Chief Minister Tun Dato Seri Dr Lim Chong Eu He encouraged businessmen to open shop in Penang and persuaded graduates to work in Penang According to Dato Weiler this was a very smart strategy to promote Penang as a well known business location MGCC s long serving staff Michelle Lim L2 Heng Lee Huang R2 and Thomas Brandt R1 reminiscing past Chamber events

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