27 November 2008 marked the official launch of the China Advisers Network (CAN) at an event held at Asia House in London.

Guest speakers included Madame Jiang Fan, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the UK and Sir Stephen Brown, former Chief Executive of UKTI.

CAN was established in November 2007 by a group of founder members whose areas of business expertise range from recruitment to tourism and business consultancy to marketing. The common thread is that all members are actively working in or with Chinese businesses. CAN provides members with a forum for discussion, exchange of views and support and will act as a platform to present a corporate profile and represent the views of a group of people who share the same area of work, albeit from many different angles.

Lord Digby Jones, who was unable to attend the event, sent a message of support “The China Advisers Network is an excellent initiative set up to help get more companies started in business with China. Some of the Founding Members of CAN are known to me, others are not. but I know that between them they have more than a century of experience of dealing with China in their various fields. Between them they can offer advice on market entry, tourism, political trends, running events in China, potential partners and customers, PR, branding and language. They hope to add legal, accountancy and other skills to their set as time goes on. Apart from being an outward facing team to help UK companies, they will also share information and best practice among themselves, providing a useful resource for each other and for intermediaries and other organisations to consult. I wish the Launch every success and wish CAN well in its future development."

The inspiration for CAN came from Madeleine Sturrock of PanCathay Consulting “Having worked with China for many years, it struck me that the boutique or independent consultancy needs a dedicated forum. These niche firms bring a particular point of view to doing business with China and offer specialist insights which can be invaluable to firms and organizations who want to get their business with China on the right track. CAN offers the platform to source a whole variety of Chinese expertise in one place – a valuable tool for any company looking for information and knowledge on China.”

Sturrock explains how CAN has been working since its establishment last year “We are delighted that it is happening quite naturally that CAN members have become their own network to work on projects and other areas of business. I am sure that, once CAN becomes known, we will be an obvious port of call for those looking for specialist help on China.”

Click to view the launch reception photo gallery