It is the first time we have Mr. Elias here and delivering a speech for the seminar in business management course hosted by IBMBA. The topic of today is all about entrepreneurship. First things first, Mr. Elias encourages everyone to speak up. He believes the interaction will make the time more valuable and students are able to gain more. Mr. Elias has an international background which makes him think differently. He is born in Sweden, raised in America and exchanged in different countries. When he is a teenager, he already tries to be an entrepreneur through a ‘bread subscription’ which he found people like to have breakfast at home. After that, his business go bigger and bigger. Till now, he is a successful entrepreneur with companies in different areas.

A comment problem of digital marketing is the outdated website. Mr. Elias shares that most of their customer think that having a website is enough. However, they never renew or check the usability of the website. Because of it, many business opportunities will be passed away. One of Mr. Elias’ companies, Enspyre, helps with problems like this and it has been successfully built up for 20 years. His success as a foreign entrepreneur in Taiwan inspire many people, foreigners started to ask Mr. Elias how to start up a business. Since there are too many people asking the same picture, Mr. Elias wrote a book ‘How to start a business in Taiwan’. Unlike other entrepreneur books, it is a practical book that guides you step to step through the problem of complicated regulation in Taiwan. His past experience and being a foreign entrepreneur in Taiwan make him believe that Taiwan needs to be more friendly to foreign entrepreneurs. Let an example of Yahoo, is found by Taiwanese immigrants to the USA. Taiwan should pay attention to immigrant entrepreneurs as they can bring new ideas into the market. Providing more innovation and power to the whole country.

While introducing different companies invested by Mr. Elias, he also points out the problem faced by entrepreneurs. Mr. Elias indicates that it is hard to find money for your new business idea and ask the student how will they gain that money. Some students answer that can be gained by the pitch event. However, Mr. Elias experience told him that it is hard to do so in Taiwan as the environment is still growing. After that, he also gives out some practical suggestions to students. Another difficulty that he faces is building a solid image and building trust in order to gain money from the government. To make it real, he focuses on social media and image building. In the end, he and his team gain the government fund with a new company successfully.

Next, Mr. Elias shares his observations of the business environments in Taiwan. It is great that foreigners can own 100% of the company and have no paid-in capital limited. Also, Taiwan is an edge in hardware development and a growing startup community. However, the regulation makes lots of entrepreneurs step down or try to register in other countries but headquarter in Taiwan. Besides, Mr. Elias shares some tips for foreigners starting a business in Taiwan. Picking a business entity and registering in Taiwan. Pay attention to work permit and ARC issues for entrepreneurs or employees' insurance issues. The money, backing and invoices system in Taiwan is pretty unique to study.

During the section, Mr. Elias encourages students to speak up and not hesitate. There are many interesting questions and valuable feedback from both Mr. Elias and the students. It is a special opportunity for students to know more about foreigners starting businesses in Taiwan. In the end, Mr. Elias encourages students to explore entrepreneurship. Do not need to realize it or do it now, but it will benefit you when you try to explore more in that.

Guest Lecture - Entrepreneurship