SHENYANG, Liaoning-September 24, 2017 – Toolots CEO Jason Fu and Executive Advisor Peter Wei met with local leaders in Shenyang last Friday to discuss mutually beneficial opportunities to grow the global manufacturing community.
Toolots was warmly received by the local officials, who hoped to offer their support for Toolots doing business in their region as well as examine what efforts could be made to increase and strengthen cross-border commerce.
Jason Fu (middle) and Dr. Peter Wei (left) of Toolots pictured with Vice Mayor Zhang Jinghui.Once at the forefront of China's industrial revolution, Shenyang is still the most important city for manufacturing in Northeast China. But like other cities in China's rust belt, the local government is making every effort to modernize industry and revitalize the region. This includes supporting private sector industries as well as creating an international business environment in accordance with World Bank criteria. Viewing Toolots' business model as beneficial to industry as well as trade, Shenyang is interested in promoting Toolots' unique platform to SMEs seeking to expand their distribution network or sell in a new market.
"Industrial equipment manufacturing plays a pivotal role in Shenyang's economy. Toolots is a global marketplace specializing in industrial equipment, so I am particularly interested [in the company] for that reason," said Vice Mayor Zhang Jinghui. "Shenyang's industrial suppliers have a substantial domestic customer base, but they haven't broken that much ground internationally. We will actively support getting an initial 'batch' of industrial supply vendors to conduct cross-border sales on your platform."
Toolots CEO Jason Fu expressed his gratitude for the city's help in promoting the platform. He assured, "Our product specialist teams will work with several initial Shenyang suppliers to bring their products onboard that are suitable for the U.S. market. These initial suppliers will be 'model enterprises' to demonstrate that Toolots really is the fastest and most effective method for suppliers to expand their business overseas."
Zhang also expressed his interest in bilateral trade. "Toolots can also help us attract American SMEs to do business here – indeed, what our manufacturing needs is bilateral international cooperation. What Toolots wants to do in terms of business development is precisely what Shenyang needs right now," said Zhang. "Shenyang is working hard to build an international business environment. We even invited third party organizations to assess, in order to better compel progress. Shenyang government will offer Toolots comprehensive support in expanding its business here, as soon as possible."
Toolots' CEO Jason Fu agreed that the focus would not only be on getting Chinese vendors on the platform, but also on getting U.S. vendors to sell to China: "Toolots is a services platform for industrial suppliers, primarily SMEs in the U.S. and China. SMEs in China and the U.S. have similar needs and challenges. Although large U.S. manufacturers have had a lot of success expanding sales into China, U.S. SMEs haven't necessarily been able to. We have signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce to help U.S. SMEs enter the Chinese market. In doing so, we actually garnered both U.S. federal and state government support as well."
Like many other cities in China, Shenyang has invested substantially in the creation of free enterprise zones and industrial parks in order to attract foreign businesses. For example, the China-German Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park in Shenyang was introduced in late 2015 to attract advanced production in automotive components and other industrial sectors. It currently hosts 30 German companies, including one of BMW's biggest manufacturing plants. Now cities in Liaoning, including Shenyang, are seeking to bring businesses into their U.S.-focused industrial parks. They hope that companies like Toolots will help bridge the way for U.S. companies interested in expanding to China.
Shenyang municipal leaders and Toolots gather for a group photo after the meeting.A Chinese version of this article, can be found here.
