For some time, World Capital Group, company operating in the areas of business consulting, agency, investment and property, has landed in Asia, where it is present particularly in China..
Can you make an assessment of the activities of World Capital in China?
I would say positive, we have grown and we have evolved, in whatever type of clientele that deal in real estate. Until some time ago we mainly managed Chinese customers investing in Italy, today we are also witnessing Italian operators who have interests in China; we have also started to receive the first tasks of marketing logistics real estate in the Asian country and find interest in this sector. Our strong and professional activities in the Chinese mainland have recently been awarded. We received the valuable recognition “Value Creators” at the China Awards 2013 for our offices in Beijing and Shanghai, thanks to staff that give daily effective and efficient responses to our customers in complete synergy with the other offices of the World Capital in the world. Recently also, we concluded an important agreement with the China Commercial Real Estate Association, which aims to provide support services to Italian and international “brand” interested in entering the Chinese market.
What prospects are there for logistics and 3PL logistics operators who wish to invest in this country?
China is a vast land; therefore great are the opportunities it can offer in the area of logistics. Until the beginning of the current international economic crisis, the logistics in China was mainly focused on export activities of goods manufactured internally and imports of semi-finished goods. The growth of the middle class has also given a new domestic demand for products, primarily for luxury, which have in turn created a demand for quality services for its distribution. In 2013, the newly elected President Xi Jinping, in his inaugural address, said that one of the main objectives of China is an increase in GDP driven by an increase in domestic consumption. It is therefore evident that the policies that are or that will be implemented by the Beijing government will be to encourage domestic consumption and will have a positive impact on the logistics services they are connected with it. Currently, World Capital is preparing for the Chinese market a platform model of about 500 square meters to convey a range of handcrafted products, food and wine of small Italian businesses to position and sell in the first group of 10 shopping centers in China and a new concept to spread the Made in Italy and promote trade between the two countries. It is obvious that this project provides a special focus on logistics, both in terms of logistics from Italy to China and in part for the internal distribution of selected products.
There are other destinations in the Asian area where you plan to invest?
The World Capital philosophy has always been to meet the needs of its customers and not to look for “adventures” in new countries. At the same time, we are convinced that at whatever period of the crisis will be “hidden” great opportunities. We therefore entered the Asian market driven by the needs of our customers and we have transformed the experience into a new business model. Model which we then applied to the Russian market, with the opening of an office in Moscow, and finally into India by opening an office in Mumbai. We have built a strong network of relationships with the Italian institutions in the world today that enjoy more and more of our services to meet the needs of investors interested in Italy. For example, we participated as speakers at the event “Why invest in Italy”, held in late September in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, promoted by the Italian Trade Commission (ICE former), after having seen at first hand that the real opportunities exist in the country and having met with potential investors. The Indian market is still in development and with high potential, so we have chosen to invest. Whereas since 2012 we are also present in the Brazilian market, we could say that South Africa is the only BRICS countries in which we have not yet our office or direct representation. At the same time, our strong specialization in Asian markets, the result of direct experience and a strong team that has started to collect specific demand; we are shifting our attention to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and so on.
