BUSINESS TRIPS

Goal: Project cooperation

Format: Interdisciplinary business delegations trips for market entry e.g. Middle East, Africa and Latin America including young entrepreneurs in international projects

Cooperations: Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Bayern International

In 2019 Munich Members co-organised or took part in business trips to Chile, Ethiopia and Pakistan. 

Pakistan 2019: Munich Members signs agreement with Punjab Board of Investment and Trade.

Pakistan, April 2019

Our seven days in Pakistan were filled with meetings, dinners and conferences in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

Our biggest achievement: Munich Members signed an agreement with Punjab Board of Investment and Trade to enhance the most promising Pakistani innovations, technically advanced start-ups and creative concepts.

Together, we plan to exchange knowledge and support entrepreneurs by implementing their products and concepts locally and internationally. An exciting first step in our German-Pakistani business endeavours. To sign this MoU in the presence of Mian Aslam Iqbal, Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce, as well as Dr. Michael Kerkloh, CEO of Munich Airport, and Klaus Dittrich, CEO of Messe Munich, was a great honour!

As we also wanted to talk business and get going right away, the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade and Plan9, a Tech Incubator in Punjab, organised a Start-up Conference for Munich Members in Lahore on April 27th. More than 15 start-ups participated and pitched their projects. Furthermore, we discussed in depth market challenges in Pakistan, the focus on solutions for example in the fields of education, waste and water management, e-commerce and cyber security as well as market opportunities for their start-ups and ideas in Germany and Europe. We are confident that this was an important first step and our cooperation and work has only just begun.

We also had the chance to speak to Pakistani incubators and accelerators. Pakistan is known as a land of export of leather and sporting goods as well as dairy products and fruits. The field of Entrepreneurship has been rising for the last 5 years with amazing start-ups and products such as the music streaming platform Patari or the e-ticketing platform Bookme, which just closed a pre-series A round of a few million US Dollars. Also Careem, the platform for rides and drives in the Middle East especially Pakistan, was bought by Uber a few days back.

So the Entrepreneurship scene is booming in Pakistan and there is a lot we are planning to collaborate on with the said incubators and accelerators: from knowledge exchange and connecting mentors to access to logistical and financial resources.

Another very important part in our collaboration is communication: a.) presenting the best practise cases of young Pakistanis, who want to change the world with their ideas and innovations and b.) showing the population of Pakistan that Entrepreneurship is an active way of improving given standards. We cannot wait to take this to the next level.

 

Press:

PBIT inks three agreements with Germany

Ethiopia 2019: with Markus Söder, Minister President of Bavaria, and Vice Minister Roland Weigert

Ethiopia, April 2019

Munich Members took part in the Bavarian Business Delegation to Ethiopia with Bavarian Vice Minister for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert. Next to getting a first idea about Ethiopia’s market and their new structures, we had the pleasure to visit the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology and get to know some interesting startups as well as incubators and accelerators active in Addis. We look forward to not only deepen our discussions, but start getting to let people know of the immens innovational spirit young Ethiopian entrepreneurs withhold.

Chile 2019

Chile, March 2019

We are back from Chile with a huge suitcase full of exciting information and reliable contacts and were overall able to live an unforgettable experience in Santiago, Valparaíso and Pucón.

Santiago is a vibrating city with a lively art and music scene and crazy, wonderful people hungry to put their ideas into action. Here we had the privilege to meet with St>RT-UPChile, claiming to be the best accelerator in Latin America.
 
Created by the Chilean Government and managed by the Chilean Economic Development Agency, St>RT-UPChile is attracting international entrepreneurs and start-ups to get their business going in Latin America and from there conquer the world. Start-ups, which get accepted to the programs, receive Equity free (!) money up to 80,000 US dollars and all the administrative support they need in regards to working visa up to opening a bank account. The main interest of St>RT-UPChile and the Chilean government is to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and push the success of young entrepreneurs while putting Chile on the map.
 
We were welcomed with open arms in the St>RT-UPChile headquarter and learned that over the last 9 years 1,616 start-ups have run through the programs with 55% still active today. Only 40% Chilean start-ups are currently in the program focusing on environmental and infrastructural problem solving. In our meeting we have touched some base points of possible cooperation and project acceleration between our European and Latin American visions and we do hope to strengthen our relationship in the next months to come. 

Pakistan 2018

Pakistan, October 2018

This week was all about “international cooperation” with an up-and-coming economic country in South Asia. A 36-member Bavarian business delegation, including our Munich Members Startups, had a highly exciting and successful week in Karachi and Islamabad!

The packed agenda consisted of conferences, B2B discussions and specially arranged meetings. Not only were the first cooperation agreements in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors signed, but the colourful composition of the delegation allowed new projects to be developed and processes to be initiated during the trip.

Our Judith Gampe with her company Nova Products, Marina Andresen with her young company Serena’s for fashion, as well as Shakor Nasir, who offers IT services with his Grandega team, got to know Karachi and Islamabad. We are particularly proud that not only investments were discussed, but also expansion projects were initiated.

We would like to thank the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs as well as the industrious team of the Pakistan Honorary Consulate in Munich for their tireless efforts, which made this trip so valuable and are really grateful that we can offer our members such opportunities. Because if this doesn’t broaden our creative horizons and lead to wonderful interdisciplinary and international projects, then what?!