Middle-East Office Director based in Qatar (titulaire bureau permanent), for 3 Walloon SME's since end of 2013. Result: export sales in Qatar since 2014, represent a two digit percentage in their annual tunover, and great local parnership found.
First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination. Napoleon Hill
Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (Belgium)
February 2010
to September 2010
Internship
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Consultant Trainee at the Halal Business & Islamic finance Department at the Belgium Trade agency (www.awex.be):
Implementation of three workshops in Brussels, Mons, Namur and Liege (Belgium);
A market survey of Halal issues in Jakarta, Indonesia and participation in the International Finance forum at Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia (KLIFF);
Detailed Description
The mission I accomplished were directly linked to the two major projects developed by AWEX in the field of Muslim Economy and Business Culture (ME&BC).The mission is part of the implementation of the MoU signed in October 2009 by AWEX and IDB (Islamic Developement Bank) : it is considered as a “pilot project” for further potential exchange of interns between the two companies.
For The Halal Issue, I had a mission in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to build strong business relationships with key actors in the Halal Industry and bring information / answers to the following issus:
a- General investigation : a. HDC and Jakim investigations : i. general rules and procedures, ii. Industry based specifications : agrobusiness + pharmaceuticals, cosmetology, nutraceuticals, etc. iii. Is Jakim certification a must? What it gives more (credibility, WTO aspect, etc.)? iv. Halal hubs/parks
Definitions, rules, procedures
Is it interesting for a Belgium company to be in a Halal parc, why, how..? b. Universities: i. Identify professors interested in the subject in various faculties; ii. Collect info and litterature iii. Existence of halal spin-offs linked to universities? c. Industry: i. What are the distribution channels which could introduce our Belgium products into the Malaysian market ( Mr Chang could advise me to know for this issue) b- Specific investigation regarding an engineer office: a. what are the rules for a service company to be Halal certified or Halal designed. b. What are the procedures 3- Muslim Economy and Culture: a- Definition : a. ME : Micro-economic level (businesses) approach b. MC : What European businessmen should know of the Muslim business culture b- Investigation : a. University : i. Identification of professors interested in these fields ii. Collect info and literature - les 2 bouquins et mettre le site b. Public authorities : i. Who’s who in these fields ? ii. Collect info and literature c. Any other players: associations,
Company Description
The Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (French: L'Agence wallonne à l'Exportation et aux Investissements étrangers, AWEX) is a public interest organisation in in charge of the promotion of foreign trade and the attraction of foreign investments for Wallonia in Belgium. It was created on 1 April 2004 as a merger of the Walloon Export Agency (AWEX) and the Office for foreign Investors (OFI).
