Pow Wow Replay: 7th October 2021
Stephanie Poon of Invest Bristol and Bath was the main guest at the China Bureau’s latest Pow Wow.
Invest Bristol & Bath is the inward investment arm of the West of England Combined Authority, and seeks to attract new investment, development and employment for the region.
Stephanie, a fluent Cantonese and Mandarin speaker, is the organisation’s business development executive.
She told our online audience that - despite the ongoing Covid-related challenges of doing business - there remained huge scope for the development of new business partnerships between China and the West of England.
“There have always been strong cultural and business links between the West of England and China but in terms of business, sectors like e-commerce and supply chains, deep tech and healthcare offer big opportunities,” she said.
“The development of the Western Gateway economic partnership, which brings together Bristol and Cardiff and stretches across South Wales and the West of England, will boost those opportunities still further.
“Of course people need to be able to see the market, however, and while networking through groups like the China Bureau really helps, businesses are wanting to know when China may open up again to overseas visitors. I hope things will get better in regard to this by the time Chinese New Year comes around in January and February.”
The IOD South West is holding an online event entitled “Building Bristol and West of England Trade Development with China” next month, in partnership with the China Bureau and several other organisations, aiming to build on the legacy of the 2012 IOD China Trade Mission.
Our chief executive, Dianne Francombe OBE, and director of initiatives Richard Lowe, will be among the speakers at the forum, which takes place from 9-11.30am on Wednesday, 10th November. Further information is available here: Events | IoD
Biography
Ms Stephanie Poon is Business Development Executive for Invest Bristol & Bath, the West of England Combined Authority’s department responsible for attracting and facilitating both domestic investment and foreign direct investment into our region.
During the challenging time in 2021, Stephanie has been engaging with the UK and international businesses through various virtual events and activities. She mainly works with businesses in Business & Professional Services, Technology and Creative industries.
Prior to joining Invest Bristol and Bath, Stephanie worked in other Government official agencies including the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) to support the UK businesses in growing their businesses in Greater China and the key cities in Asia Pacific. She was part of the pioneering team to work on the GREAT campaigns in Greater China for DIT and to organise the European launch events for InvestHK in London.
Stephanie enjoys speaking with forward- thinking founders of start-ups & scaleups and likeminded professionals from overseas in connecting them with the innovative ecosystem in Bristol and Bath. She can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin.