Entrepreneurs Say: Jiahe Shengde Investment Holdings

Carol Y. YAO, Project Manager of Jiahe Schengde Dutch team, elaborates on how hard work and team efforts are their main attributes to their journey to success.

Jiahe Shengde Investment Holdings B.V. (Jiahe Shengde B.V.) also known as Guangzhou International Automotive (GIA) is a subsidiary of a Chinese listing company, Guangxi Softto Group Co., Ltd. in China. A company that is strategically involved in the global automotive aftermarket which as well carries out projects regarding several auto parts, accessories trade, exhibition centres, scrapped car dismantling and parts remanufacturing platform which are currently covered in China. The Dutch subsidiary is currently set up specifically for the project in The Hague, which is to ultimately cover the whole European market

What are the services offered to your clients?
Jiahe Schengde is owner of the trade and exhibition centre. Therefore, on one hand we sell and lease showrooms and on the other hand we facilitate the trading business between China and Europe by organizing exhibitions specifically in relation to automotive parts, components and truck parts in aftermarket.

How was the integration of Jiahe Shengde Investements Holding to the Dutch market? And how did you decide on the location for your business?
In the initial stage, we did a great amount of market research. Our company did not only recruit local graduates (both Chinese and Dutch) but also engaged with advisors who had lots of experience in the automotive industry. As a result, we were well prepared in adapting Jiahe Schengde to the Dutch Market.

We chose The Hague as our business location due to being quite nearby the Rotterdam Harbour as well as its easy access to various governmental authorities, such as Westholland Foreign Investment Agency.

What has been the most challenging aspect of starting up a business in the Netherlands? What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
Specifically for a Chinese company, the most challenging part in initiating a business in the Netherlands was adapting a brand new tax law and legal system. Jiahe Shengde has not faced any real failures for the moment. The initial project is still ongoing and is still in the preparatory stages for the 1st Chinese Auto Parts and After-sale Service Exhibition in September 2015.

How do you find people to bring into your organization that truly cares about the organization the way you do? / How important have good employees been to your success?
We are a small but a very effective team working closely together. Our team members are relatively young (average age of 35 year old), eager to learn and willing to grow in line with the company. We all share the same goal, which is currently to complete the renovation of the building and to successfully organize the exhibition in September.

To what do you most attribute your current success? How do you define success?
Hard work and team work. As an example, many times I find myself having to do paperwork over the weekend, due to having many meetings during the week and wanting to make sure that the headquarters are always up-to-date.

We will accomplish success the moment our projects and auto parts exhibitions are known to the whole of Europe.

Outline your typical day
08:30-09:00 am; Arrive at the office and start replying to emails
10:00-11:00 am; Meetings
11:00 -13:00pm; Building inspections
13:00-14:00pm; Lunch time
14:00-17:30pm; Communicate with headquarters in China concerning all the meetings of the day or any discoveries during the construction work progress inspection. As last, we file all information via writen reports.

Where do you see Jiahe Schengde in 10 years?
With team effort and team work, I believe the current project, the GIA Trade and Exhibition Centre, will not only be the biggest auto parts, truck parts and components exhibition centre, but also be the biggest trade show and exhibition venue in The Hague.

What advice would you give to future entrepreneurs on what is needed to be a successful?
Work as a team instead of working alone, team effort is always better than individual intelligence. As an entrepreneur, you must always see the bigger picture, know the strengths and weakness of your team members including the ones of yourself and then make good use of it.

"Having employed expertise from the fields of auto parts industry, logistics, exhibition industry, finance and legal professional, in line with the trend of the development of European automotive aftermarket, Jiahe Shengde B.V. is currently focusing on organizing exhibitions/trade fairs to encourage the information exchanging of the automotive aftermarket between China and Europe, vice versa."

Visit www.jiaheschengde.com for more information on their services and upcoming exhibition.