We were warmly welcomed by the Director, International Education and Training Department Mr. Stephen J H Lee, Taiwan ICDF and were introduced to the New Southbound Policy by Mr. Daching Yang, Senior Executive Officer, Office of Trade Negotiations and Ms. Kristen HSIEH, Program Officer  of International Education and  Training Department, Taiwan ICDForiented us on New South Bound Policy and the course of the training organized for the next two weeks respectively.

Lectures and orientations were conducted with question and answer sessions which really helped us to understand the practical functioning of the Government and the NGO’s for the cause of Women’s Development in all the above mentioned countries including Taiwan.

Ms. Shu-Hui SHIH, Director,   Workforce   Development   Innovation   Center, Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor spoke on Women-owned Enterprises Development, Guidance andCounseling   Resources   –   Phoenix   Micro   Start-upPrograms. Essentials are

1. National Development Fund for start – ups in Taiwan
2. Consultancy – Training, Incubation and follow up for start-up
3. Training provided is free of cost and also fund given free for certain types of start-ups that have cultural value.
4. The innovations in existing products, be it a fan or a purse was a WOW factor to us.

An Introduction to Taiwan was done by Prof. Chen-shen J. YEN, Ph.D, Research Fellow, America-Europe Division, Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University and he stressed the need to develop the country’s human resources independent of China, though the present political and social scenario seems to deter the progress of the younger generation. His passion to make his students achieve in life globally was deeply felt.

Introduction to Flying Geese Program was delivered by Ms. Hannah CHOU, consultant, Sun Yat-Sen Management EducationFoundation and it allowed us to understand the need for women consultant professionals to mentor and monitor the progress of women start-ups. She was also the moderator for participants report and it helped each one of the participant to deeply understand their country’s stand compared to the global ranking.

Orientation on Start-up  Capacity  Building  and  the  Development  ofWomen Potential was delivered by Ms. Yueh-Chin CHIANG,Secretary-general , Taipei Awakening Association and concepts of clothing for life- be it the first or the last cloth is the concept of happiness clothing that is a wing of TAA, was rightly dealt with. It was interesting to see that many Taiwanese have the skill in clothing, food andhandicrafts similar to India.

A seminar on Women’s Enterprises Innovation and Incubation Systemin Taiwan was conducted byMs. Chungui YANG, Program Manager, Innovation and Incubator Center, National Taitung University,which is a county in the south-eastern Taiwan and falls under the hilly areas. The people belonging to the county are mentored to produce mainly the agri, poultry products that are eco-friendly and organic and are innovations in Technology developed by the university students are incorporated in the practices.These innovations are incubated and made to achieve better products. But due to the physical and geographical constraints marketing the consumable products becomes a challenge.

Start-up Financing and Guidance and Credit GuaranteeMechanisms in Taiwan were dealt by Mr. Yun-sen JIANG,Head of Client Services Dept.,Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fundof Taiwan, Ministry of Economic Affairs. He explained the various steps and policies that are available for the Nationals to start up business in Taiwan to contribute to the Economic Development of the country. EXIM Bank for International finance and Insurance was also focused on for International visitors who get Entrepreneurship visa to Taiwan. The Government of Taiwan has approved 2.6 billion dollars as CG for the past 3 consecutive years.

Seminar on Ventures in Women Enterprises was delivered by Peter LIN, Managing Director, Catalyst Capital Group. He explained about the steps taken by the Taiwan Government in funding Entrepreneurs through loans, connecting Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs and Crowd funding platforms. Government regulates it all, where as in India, we have a lot of private platforms providing the necessary Venture Capital through Angel Investors and Crowd Funding.  Entrepreneurs with a vision should approach the Investors with a proper business proposal and make their dreams into reality.

PRESENTATIONS:

COUNTRY REPORTS:

Participants from six different countries viz., Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and India presented the present position of the women start-ups in their countries, the challenges associated with it, and the role and support of the Government and it was a huge awakening for me to realize that out of 54countries assessed worldwide for women start up eco-system, Vietnam stands in 7^th position globally and India in 49^th position

FIELD TRIPS:

KOAHSIUNG CITY GOVERNMENT

Visits were also arranged by ICDF to understand the practical application of the Women start-up ecosystem in Taiwan. We visited the following places

Kaohsiung City Government: Kaohsiung county is in the southern Taiwan and we reached there by speed train that took us exactly 1hr and 30 mins, which normally takes 6 hrs by road. We were warmly welcomed by the director general Yao, Yu-Chingand the meeting was headed and convened by Ms. Yeh, Yu RuDeputy director general of the social affairs bureau of the KCG and we had practical insights about the work of the Government and NGO’s since an introductory session as well as interactive sessions were arranged. Participants included representatives from SHE ECONOMICS-Kaohsiung Female Economic Empowerment project comprising of Social Affairs, KC women, children and Youth center, Tien- Ching’s Association- health in a stick team, KCWomen’s Vision association, KCWomen’s Right’s Commission, KC story mama association, KC Charity association, KC Entrepreneurship Association and other representatives. It was a great privilege to speak our country India and the state of Tamil Nadu in the session. The officials were interested in the Industry-Institute linkages and creation of Industrial hubs for economic empowerment in Villages through our NGO, SEEK Foundation.

Green-in-hand: A brand of organic products that procures agricultural and allied products like rice, honey, tea grown organically and sells it under after branding and attractive packaging. The farmers get three times more price than what the government procures for because of methodology adopted and hence both have win-win situation, farmers and also the farm is pollutant free. The products are five times more costlier, since ware housing, designing, packaging, branding, advertising cost is included and also job is created since many people from the miller, warehousing, designers, packers, people at display stores work to make this product attractive enough to convince people to buy it though it is costly. A kg of rice costs 350 NTD equivalent to approximately Rs.850/-

Anewei Shop: This shop is a story of a woman survivor who created her own brand in clothing through the natural dyes-mainly the indigo blue dye and creates patterns and designs using batik and tie and dye practices by learning through books after facing a lot of personal difficulties. She now outsources designs, printers and her products are on display and sale in airports and other malls.

XIE XIE TEA: This is a brand created by a lady who specializes in Natural process in producing the different types of tea – ginger, chamomile, rose , charcoal roasted, oolong tea and the packets are in a box which is designed like a book and they also specialize in cold tea. Her customers are international and they mainly procure it to gift it to their loved ones.

10artbio

This is a manufacturing company specializing in plant based health care products.

The branding, licensing, decorative packaging are done and marketing worldwide thorough online. These are high end products mainly for women-products such as face masks, cream-anti-wrinkle, anti-aging, babies –lotion, oil, cream and so on.

FLYING GEESE PROGRAM – TC YACHTS -CASE STUDY

TC yachts is a 100 year young ship building company which has built more than 2500 fisherman, catamaran, ferry, cruise, travel boats and ships for local and global customers and also provide for tourist operations in Taiwan waters for pleasure and recreation. Right from designing to manufacturing, they operate on the core values of honesty and safety.

Cultural Trip:

Taipei 101

We visited the Taipei 101. As the name suggests it has 101 floors and an observatory is built in the 87^th floor. People visit this iconic place to view the world from the top. The lift to the 87^th floor takes exactly 35 seconds. Shops selling natural stone and coral jewelry like diamond, jade, emerald, blue and yellow sapphire, red & green coral are located there.

National Palace Museum

It was an enriching experience to visit the museum. The foundation of Taiwan dates back to the 1947when all the collections were brought back from China after the surrender of Taiwan to China by Japan.It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks, which are of high quality and of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

It was wonderful to experience how Taiwanese associate all products to their history and heritage and encourage their younger generation to adopt best policies in life to create a sustainable eco-system.

Taiwanese Government is also very particular to increase the population either by child birth ratio or also by accommodating people belonging to other Nationalities. They also have a great love and a sense of gratitude for their own country and it is apparent by the attitude that everyone exhibits-wanting to give back to their community and their country.

My sincere thanks to  ICDF, Director- International Education and Training Department Stephen J H lee, ProgramCoordinator Ms. Kristen Hsieh, Program Officer MrXiao Shen, Student Volunteers Miranda and Lorenzo, and my heartfelt gratitude to Mr, Charles Lee, Director General, TECC and Mr. Steven Chung – Director in Chennai.

My heart felt gratitude to our Correspondent & Secretary, Mrs. Vimala Britto, for nominating me, believing in me and constantly being a pillar of support for this programme on sustainable community development and to be awarded the best Participant from among 12 by a panel of Judges consisting of Mr. Stephen, Director of IETD, Ms. Tania – MOFA, Ms. YouneYand, Programme Officer, Education and Training, and Dr. Jhang–Client Services Department, SMECGF,MOEA Together we will make our society economically viable.