Wendy Liu

Name: Wendy Liu
Age: 31
Born: Guangzhou, China
Lived in Scotland: Since August 2007

Wendy found Scotland very beautiful (although colder than she was used to!) but was particularly impressed by the friendliness of the local people in Glasgow.

After graduating from Strathclyde, Wendy returned to China and got the opportunity to work in Guangzhou with UK Trade & Investment, the UK international trade agency. The organisation helps UK-based businesses market their products internationally and also encourages overseas companies to trade with the UK.

"The job provided me with the experience of working in a British organisation and the opportunity to meet with British companies in different sectors," Wendy explains. "With my knowledge and experience of the Chinese market I could then help them to market their products or give them advice on doing business in China."

During her five years with UKTI, Wendy often interacted with the Chinese office of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), which helps British companies do business in China. Having studied in Scotland, she became increasingly interested in helping UK companies from 'the other side of the fence', and when the position of CBBC Manager, Scotland came up, she applied and was successful. CBBC helped Wendy to apply for a work permit to work in the UK.

Since taking up the Glasgow-based role in August 2007, she has helped many Scottish companies do business in China.

"One area of our responsibility is to raise the awareness of opportunities in China and also to introduce the business practices and business culture in China to companies in the UK that want to do business there," Wendy says. For example, a key aspect of doing business in China is understanding the culture of 'Guanxi'. This literally means 'relationships' and refers to the importance of building business through personal referrals and relationships rather than practices such as cold calling, for instance.

"We work with government organisations to achieve these two objectives and also work with individual companies," Wendy continues. "For example, we might have to do market research for a company or provide them with useful contacts. We can lead them to the relevant government departments or industry associations. We also organise trade missions to China, so companies can go into different cities and meet with senior level government officials or business contacts that they might not be able to access on their own."

What excites Wendy most about her job are the seemingly "endless opportunities" for Scottish companies to do business with China. "There is an increasing demand for our services, and also increasing interest from companies to do business in China," she adds. "We are increasingly seeing the importance of our services, and when we help companies to achieve trade in China, that makes me feel very proud."

Contact

China-Britain Business Council Scotland
1st Floor
30 George Square
Glasgow G2 1EQ

Tel: +44 (0)141 204 8322 or 8353
Fax: +44 (0)141 204 8354
Email: scotland@cbbc.org
Web: www.cbbc.org