Why Ammerland Dairy is in the German Centre Singapore.
Interview with Sergio Pulido, Managing Director, Ammerland Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
Why was it important for you as a company to open an office in Singapore?
Singapore is the hub for Southeast Asia. It's very easy to organise our sales and distribution accross the region from here. It was also important to us that our employees could work in a good, safe environment.
Where else does your company have offices in ASEAN?
Singapore is our only sales office in ASEAN. It is, however, our most important, alongside our second office in the German Centre Beijing. In Singapore we have five staff, in Beijing two.
Which contacts were the most helpful during the set-up phase?
It was very important for us to be able to speak with other food manufacturers who had already been in the German Centre for some time. The German-Singaporean Chamber of Industry and Commerce also helped us a great deal with their events and information as well as support in making initial contact to customers and distributors. There are so many different companies and service providers in the German Centre and that made it easy to gather information, swap experiences and sort things out. It is, quite simply, a place where everything is on hand.
If you were entering the market now, what would you do again that you did when you started in 2012?
I would do everything the same way. And I would choose the German Centre again.
What was the greatest challenge for you personally in Singapore?
Finding loyal members of staff.
What was the greatest challenge for your company?
At the beginning it was important, first of all, to get our brand and our products noticed in the market. The German Centre was key in this respect as it meant we were associated with Germany from the start.
What advice would you give other companies that are considering opening an office in Singapore?
Talk to the other companies in the German Centre. We received so many useful tips and advice that made things much easier for us, particularly in the initial phase. We are very happy to hand this on to our new neighbours at the German Centre!