According to statistics from the Ministry of Education in 2018, the number of international students from Southeast Asian countries studying in colleges and universities in Taiwan has tripled as compared with that ten years ago, reaching 126,000 students. These international students may continue to work or start their own businesses in Taiwan after graduation. How to assist these foreign startups to enter the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Taiwan has always been the focus of the promotion conducted by the government.
With the right time, the right place and the right people, the upsurge of foreign startups coming to Taiwan has arrived. To attract foreign talents to come to Taiwan, the government has relaxed some regulations and provided entrepreneurship certificates. In 2018, the Ministry of Economic Affairs established the Startup Terrace Linkou to encourage outstanding foreign startups to come to Taiwan and provide entrepreneurial resources as well as subsidies. Moreover, the establishment of STARTBOARD in 2017 further allows young students who are interested in settling and starting a business in Taiwan to know about Taiwan's entrepreneurial ecosystem and the market resources available for assistance.
When it comes to foreign startups, most people think of teams from Silicon Valley and Israel. Different from other startup accelerators, the STARTBOARD International Accelerator in the Startup Terrace Linkou focuses on startup teams from the Southeast Asian countries and India. It is Taiwan's first ASEAN and Indian talent entrepreneurship incubator and currently the largest ASEAN and Indian accelerator, providing one-stop entrepreneurial services to attract outstanding Southeast Asian and Indian talents to start their own businesses in Taiwan.
0-to-1 Student Team Starts a Business in Taiwan Right after Graduation
STARTBOARD Manager Shun-Yi Xue said that there are many 0-to-1 student teams in Taiwan. Therefore, we work from the bottom and visit the campus directly to meet these foreign students. Our professional practitioners have the opportunity to coach them in English, helping them connect the last mile from graduation to entrepreneurship. Currently, STARTBOARD has served more than 30 startup teams to settle in Taiwan. Many of them are exchange students from the Southeast Asian countries. After graduation, they started their businesses in Taiwan through STARTBOARD.
Shun-Yi Xue emphasized that when many ASEAN and Indian startups come to Taiwan to start their businesses, the first problem they encountered is how to apply for an entrepreneur visa. Other problems include: How to get a working space or an office? How to find a business partner in Taiwan? How to register a company in Taiwan? How to respond to local culture and market trends? These are supported by a huge lineup of professional experts and corporate resources in STARTBOARD.
The one-stop services of STARTBOARD include company establishment application and registration, entrepreneur visa for foreigners, bank account opening, investment review meeting document preparation and application, intellectual property strategy (patent and trademark) and application, legal consultation, connection with government resources, angel investors and strategic partners match-making, etc.
Theme-Based Entrepreneurship Night and Multilateral Exchanges with Enterprises
For example, STARTBOARD cooperated with the Tailung Group to select potential startups and provide them with financial support. The Fubon Group is also one of the collaborative investors, mainly providing angel round funding for financial technology-related startups. In terms of market match-making, 104 Manpower Bank and Merry Electronics are all collaborative partners of STARTBOARD. Through the investment match-making events organized by STARTBOARD, outstanding startups can connect with these market leaders to carry out multilateral exchanges, optimizing the products and business models of the startups.
With the support of STARTBOARD’s resources, the innovative ideas of many startups have found practical applications. For example, current tutor match-making platforms in Taiwan are mostly in Chinese, which is a problem for foreigners or users from the Southeast Asian countries. The startup, TUTEEMI, saw this problem and created an English tutor match-making platform, allowing excellent foreign teachers who can speak more than two languages to become the best teachers for children. With the promotion of STARTBOARD, the platform has joined the largest international accelerator in Taiwan and is now aiming to become the largest multilingual tutor match-making platform in Taiwan.
Another example is INNOVIZ, a startup team from Vietnam based on VR and AR. Through the connection of STARTBOARD, the team received VR experience projects from the Taoyuan Calla Lily Festival held by the Taoyuan City Government and the Taichung World Flora Exposition. This achievement verifies the team’s capability in VR technical support and design. Based on this experience, the team gradually gains recognition in the gaming and educational VR market in Taiwan.
International students rarely have the chance to meet with local enterprises in Taiwan. Through STARTBOARD, they have more opportunities to connect with the industries in Taiwan. One thing about STARTBOARD which people often talked about is the ASEAN and India Entrepreneurship Night held regularly by STARTBOARD. Through the event, Taiwan has multilateral exchanges with startup teams and corporate investors from various countries, increasing the willingness of international talents to stay in Taiwan despite language and cultural barriers.
In the ASEAN and India Entrepreneurship Night held every season, different countries will be selected as the theme for the event, and representatives from all walks of life will be invited to share experiences and exchange information. For example, in the Singapore Night, pastry Master Pao-Chun Wu was invited to share his experiences and challenges when opening branch stores in Singapore, or in the Thailand Night Chairman Stanley Kang of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT) to share Thailand’s current policy of smart city. This will also be an important opportunity for startup teams to enter into the market. By organizing the Entrepreneurship Nights, STARBOARD gathers the founders of startups, international students and representatives of various Southeast Asian countries in Taiwan to analyze the trends and business environment in Southeast Asian countries and India. Founder Zhi-Fu Lin said that in addition to the ASEAN and Indian Entrepreneurship Night, there are also corporate match-making meetings, angel tea meetings, and international seminars. While serving the startups from the Southeast Asian countries, we are also bringing Taiwan’s outstanding startups to the world.
Campus Brand Ambassador Promotes Entrepreneurship
The campus entrepreneurship plan starts from the basics. To encourage talents to stay in Taiwan, STARTBOARD visited university campuses every year to select campus brand ambassadors. Currently, 11 international students from seven different ASEAN countries and Indian have been selected. Through the activities conducted by these campus brand ambassadors in the community, overseas startups will know more about Taiwan’s entrepreneurial resources, increasing their willingness to settle in Taiwan. This also promotes the entrepreneurial atmosphere and keeps outstanding talents in Taiwan.
The STARTBOARD accelerator has always been acting as a non-governmental diplomat to connect with the resources of the government, the industries and the academia, serving as the receptionist to welcome foreign startups to visit Taiwan. Zhi-Fu Lin said that according to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, the number of foreign spouses in 2018 exceeded 550,000 people. Among the newborns each year, the "new immigrant children" accounted for nearly 20%. In the future, STARTBOARD will partner with the leaders of the new immigrant children to create a new immigrant entrepreneurship community integration platform, creating an exclusive "new entrepreneurial community" to achieve mutual benefit and value maximization.
Written/Photographed by: Startup Terrace Editorial team