NIDA, C-Asean collaborate to help prepare entrepreneurs for expansion in the region

C-Asean is a private organisation with a mission of building a regional hub for Asean knowledge centres focusing on |business start-ups and Asean arts and culture.

Short-term intensive courses will be set up to train entrepreneurs on how to penetrate the Asean market. There will be market analysis, familiarisation with relevant laws and regulations, and success stories from particular markets. The centre aims to produce about 500 entrepreneurs within the next three years.

Professor Dr Sombat Thamrongthanya-wong, director of the Asean and Asia Studies Centre, said Asean was recognised as a high-potential market with more than 600 consumers, and with a strong economy growing by about 5 per cent per annum on average. 

“All of the Asean members have different cultures and regulations. These require individual entrepreneurs to learn and have in-depth understanding about cultures and regulations of those countries. They should have strong inspiration to learn how to penetrate the Asean market together,” he said. 

“Asean has also initiated many free-trade agreements with outside communities, including the China-Asean Free Trade Area, the Asean-India FTA, the Asean-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Asean-Korea FTA, and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia. Such free-trade initiatives are recognised as an opportunity only for those enterprises that are well prepared and ready to penetrate the regional market,” he said.

NIDA and C-Asean have set joint objectives for helping businesses enhance their readiness to penetrate the regional market via the Asean Entrepreneur Club project, he said.

Under the project, short-term incentive courses will be set up, each running for about six days. Each course will focus on particular markets within the region, starting with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. 

The first course, which will focus on the Vietnamese market, will start in October.