Newsletter August 2015

Chairman’s Corner – Emil Hauch Jensen

Dear friends of the Chamber!I hope you had a wonderful summer! In DCCC we are warming the grill and cooling   the beers for our big end of holiday season “Welcome Back BBQ” 11th of September on the rooftop terrace of the historic Peace Hotel on the Bund. It will be a who is who and what is what of the Danish Community in Shanghai as we have invited all the various Danish interest groups from sports teams to mother groups and the official Denmark in China to come and talk to you. You do not want to miss this great chance to meet old and new friends and grow your network!That is not the only thing we are doing this month to raise awareness of what is happening in the Danish Community in Shanghai – soon we will be launching a new second mailing list dedicated to sharing information about what is happening within the community. Look out for more information about this new “Community Update by DCCC” next week.

Finally, I would remind you that if you have not done so already then now is the time to mark your calendar on October 24th for the biggest party of the year, our DCCC Business Person of the Year Gala Ball. Nominations for Business Person of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year are open until September 7th as well as we are looking for sponsors for the party – please contact Anneli on Mail@DCCC-Shanghai.com.

Emil Hauch Jensen
Chairman of the Board, DCCC Shanghai Chapter

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Save the dates:

Welcome Back BBQ – on Friday, September 11th at Fairmont Peace Hotel roof top terrace

 

Thanks for the sponsors


Business Person of the Year Gala Ball – on Saturday, October 24th at Jing An Shangri-La

 


 

Time to Nominate Your Candidates for Business Person and Entrepreneur of the Year 2015

 

Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 Winner Kasper Leschly and Runner-up Pia Elers
(Photo by Rasmus Daniel Taun)
Once again it is time to nominate your candidates for Business Person and Entrepreneur Of The Year in China!The Selection Committee rely on your input to identify the right candidates. Your help is crucial – we need all the names, you can think of. You don’t have to be a member of the chamber to nominate and the candidates can be both members and non-members.Please send your suggestion by replying to this e-mail (mail@dccc-shanghai.com) before Monday 7th September with names, e-mail addresses and a note stating if the nomination is for Business Person of the Year or Entrepreneur of the Year.

Candidates will later be asked to submit a detailed profile themselves.

Winners will be selected based on the following criteria:

Business Person of the Year

  • A Candidate will have achieved significant results for his/her company and/or organization, representing continuity over a significant number of years (with attention being paid particularly to the last 3-5 years)
  • A Candidate – respected in the Danish and Chinese business communities – has contributed to the understanding between Denmark and China and as such has acted as an ambassador for Danes and the Danish business community in China
  • A Candidate going beyond their formal job duties to represent new ingenious ideas, which have – or will – benefit Danish ways of doing business.
Entrepreneur of the Year
  • A Danish or Chinese national, located in China or Denmark who has made a substantial mark with a new important contribution and impact to Denmark and/or China during the last year(s)
  • The Candidate should have endured personal risk to achieve success be it financial or otherwise
  • The Candidate should be able to demonstrate a certain unique idea, knowledge, talent, or business concept with identifiable Sino-Danish elements which should be sustainable and have potential for growth and/or scalability
  • The age of the Candidate is not decisive, but younger candidates and those who have reached early achievement should be favored
  • The Candidate could be a business person, creative person, scholar or an artist.
Please note that the present sitting members of the selection committee and the members of the three DCCC Boards are excluded from nomination.If questions please don’t hesitate to contact Anneli Vilu at mail@dccc-shanghai.comWinners will be celebrated at the gala party on Saturday October 24th 2015 in Shanghai at Jing An Shangri-La hotel. We are flying in one of the greatest Danish MCs – the famous comedian, actor and singing TV host Amin Jensen – to conduct the evening and entertain our guests. You don’t want to miss this party!

 

Amin Jensen
Earlier Award Winners

Business Person of the Year
2014 – Jens Eskelund – Maersk China
2013 – Peter N. Rasmussen – Asia Base
2012 – Steffen Schiottz-Christensen – NTS Logistics Management/A.P. Moller Group
2011 – John F. Christensen – Prime Cargo/Wagas
2010 – Hans Michael Jebsen – Jebsen & Co.
2009 – Morten Bay Jensen – Ecco
2008 – Zhen Jian Guo – Former Chinese Ambassador to Denmark
2007 – Allan Warburg – Bestseller China

Entrepreneur of the Year
2014 – Kasper Leschly – D:Fuse
2013 – Jens Purup – Access People
2012 – Casper Tollerud – Genuine China Tours
2011 – Simon Lichtenberg – Trayton Group
2010 – Niels Krogsgaard Eskildsen – China Soft
2009 – Anne Charlotte Lembye – Lukou

The History Behind the Awards

 

Many people show outstanding performances in the development of Danish business in China. These achievements often go relatively unnoticed over several years by the general community and are typically performed by very dedicated, but also very modest individuals.In 2007 the Danish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai on behalf of the Danish Chambers in China therefore instituted the “Business Person of the Year” award to celebrate these individuals with deserved attention. It was followed by a second award “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2009.Every year a nomination process will lead to a selection of the winners of the the two awards and they will be announced and celebrated at the awards ceremony.

 

At the award ceremony the winners receive the “Vilhelm Award Statuette”. The statuette is named “Vilhelm” after the famous and industrious Danish entrepreneur Vilhelm Meyer who lived and worked in Shanghai from 1900 to 1935. The statuette is designed by the famous Danish designer Carsten Jorgensen and it represents the Nightingale from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale.


Call for Sponsorships – Business Person of the Year Gala Ball on October 24th 2015
– a unique opportunity to market your business with a sponsorship of the biggest Danish business event. Download the sponsorship package here

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Meet our colleagues

This is a new column where we introduce other Danish Chambers of Commerce around the world

The Danish Chamber of Commerce in Beijing & North China
From an informal gathering of eight Danish business people in 1995 to an active and thriving chamber of commerce, DCCC Beijing & North China has evolved into becoming the premier business networking hub for close to 70 Danish companies in North China in 2015.The Chairman of DCCC Beijing & North China – and winner of the 2014 Business Person the Year – is Jens Eskelund, Senior Director at Maersk China Ltd., an investment company of the Maersk Group in China. The head of secretariat is Jakob B. Pedersen.
Jens Eskelund
DCCC regards it as its main objective to”.. promote, study and protect trade, investment, commercial and other relations between Denmark and China and to serve as the natural and preeminent business and social networking platform for the Danish community in China “ (DCCC Beijing & North China 2015 AOAs). While the objective has proven solid over time, the way we have given content to the objective is changing. Over the past few years, the number of Danes working for DCCC’s member companies has decreased to 0.7 from 1.4 Dane per company as companies have achieved to develop local talent for managerial positions and the financial crisis has led to cost reviews in turn reducing expat positions in Beijing and Northern China. This has meant that DCCC has had to adjust in order better to meet the expectations of our member companies and assuring our offering is value creating. In this context, we have chosen to emphasize what really sets us apart from other organizations, our Danish connection, by offering events and services that are of particular relevance for companies and executives, Danish or non-Danish, related to Denmark instead of trying to compete with the more ‘generic’ events offered by the many other business organizations and chambers of commerce in Beijing.Responses from our 2014 membership survey further helped the DCCC to understand and identify the needs among members. Based on the survey, DCCC has formulated a four legged offering to our members:
  • Regular network meetings with incoming Danish speakers, CEOs, GMs and people of interest sharing their Danish-Chinese perspectives on current affairs.
  • Functional Work Groups in the areas of “Legal & IPR” and “Finance” for functional managers in Danish companies facilitating knowledge sharing as well as updates on new regulations in China.
  • Being the most cost competitive provider of training and seminars for local employees among all the chambers in Beijing, hereunder creating training/ workshops/panel discussions/language courses etc. explaining the unique cultural aspects of working for a Danish company.
  • Unique social events making Beijing & North China a fun and exciting place to work, and to give DCCC’s members a feeling of community across all the different cultural backgrounds.
DCCC Beijing & North China’s Annual Danish Charity Ball is still one of the largest recurring events for the Danish community in Asia, this year with performances by Danish music legend Thomas Helmig. We are happy to see that this tradition is also being enthusiastically embraced by our non-Danish members, and we are proud that we throughout the past 10 years have been able to collect more than RMB 5 million in charity donations through this ball.

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We are Pleased to Welcome our New Member:

Corporate Member:
Softnet (Shanghai) Information Technology Consulting Co., Ltd is a telecommunications network operator established in 1996. The company has been present in in China since 2008, where SoftNet provides fast, reliable and secure connection via fiber. These connections can be local, in China, as well as cross continental – for instance connecting European/American headquarters with their offices in China. SoftNET serve companies in all sectors and sizes to stay connected with their operations in China.

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News from our Members

Style Butler Stock Sale in September – click here
Visit the the Danish Pavilion at The Crystal Globe Expo 2015 – click here

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Update From The Royal Danish Consulate

New Danish Ambassador presents his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping
On the 19th of August 2015, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Ambassador A. Carsten Damsgaard presented the Letter of Credence by which Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark nominates him as Ambassador of Denmark to China, to the Chinese President, His Excellency Mr. Xi Jinping.
President Xi Jinping warmly welcomed the Ambassador to China, and asked him to convey his sincere greetings and good wishes to Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark. The President added that China wishes to continue to strengthen the strong cooperation and close bilateral relations with DenmarkIn reply, the Ambassador, by command of The Queen, conveyed Her Majesty’s best wishes to the President and the Chinese people as well as expressed Her Majesty’s fond memories of a very successful State Visit to China last year. He added that he would work hard in his new post to contribute to a further development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Denmark and China.
Ambassador Damsgaard is the 23rd Danish Ambassador to China since Denmark’s first diplomatic mission in the country in 1908.
“I am deeply honoured to be nominated as Ambassador of Denmark to China. I look forward to meet the Chinese people and to learn more about Chinese culture – and to further develop the historically close cooperation between our two countries,” says Ambassador Damsgaard.Introduction of the Visa Information System
The Visa Information System – or VIS – will come into force the 12th of October. When applying for the first time, all applicants will have to appear in person at an external service provider. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS database and stored for five years. Frequent travellers will only have to complete the procedure once within this period, as the fingerprints will be copied from the previous application file in the VIS.
The VIS will contain all Schengen visa applications and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border of the European Union, as well as enhance security. The recourse to biometric technology will protect visa applicants better against identity theft and prevent false identifications, which in certain cases lead to a refusal of a visa or entry to a person who is entitled to enter.
The implementation of the VIS is part of the gradual worldwide deployment, which began in 2011. On the same day as in China, the VIS will start operating in all Schengen missions in East Asia.Possibility to reacquire Citizenship comes into Effect
The 18th of December 2014 the Danish Parliament adopted a new Nationality Act. The new Nationality Act concerning multiple nationalities comes into force the 1st of September 2015.  The new legislation will allow a number of citizens to reacquire or retain their Danish citizenship while also having or obtaining another citizenship.
Former Danish citizens that have lost their citizenship due to becoming citizens in a different country will from the 1st of September be able to reclaim their Danish citizenship by making a declaration directly to The State Administration (Statsforvaltningen) if they meet certain specified criteria. The State Administration charges a fee of DKK 1.100-1.200,-.
The declaration may also be handed in to a Danish diplomatic or honorary mission abroad, who will then charge an extra separate fee.
Access to multiple nationalities is not decided by Danish law alone. For a person to acquire multiple nationality this must be allowed in the nationality laws of each of the states in which the person wishes to hold nationality.
More information will follow on the Danish representation’s webpage.
You can read more about multiple nationalities here.

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Upcoming Events

  • Wednesday September 2nd 2015 Nordic event: Tailoring Nordic Products, Services and Marketing to the Chinese Consumer
  • Friday September 11th 2015         Welcome Back Barbecue
  • Thursday September 17th 2015    InterChamber Investment Seminar
  • Friday September 18th 2015         Danish Friday & My Five Biggest Mistakes and What I Wish I Knew Then with Kasper Leschly
  • Tuesday September 22nd              InterChamber Mixer in Suzhou
  • Thursday September 24th             Nordic event: Wine Tasting with Chile Wine Association
  • Friday October 16th 2015              Danish Friday
  • Tuesday October                           Team Management – How to Employ the Right People – Interview   Techniques for Effective Hiring
  • Saturday October 24th 2015          Business Person of Year Gala Ball
  • Wednesday November 4th 2015    Team Management: Coaching for Performance
  • Tuesday November 10th 2015        Lecture by Lars Kolind
  • Friday November 20th 2015           Danish Friday
  • Wednesday November 25th 2015  Team Management: Performance and Formal Feedback Meetings
  • Saturday November 28th 2015       YP Christmas Party
To sign up for any of the above events please go to our home page: http://dccc-shanghai.com/events/

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Posted in Newsletter.