An Italian Week in ASEAN at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus

On November 28th, 2017, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus hosted a seminar organized by IMBA, the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur and the Italian Trade Agency. The event included several guest speeches, the award ceremony of a students competition and a panel session featuring experts from Italian organizations.

The guest speakers covered the following topics:

• ‘Italian Week in ASEAN’ - Counsellor Silvia Marrara, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Italy to Malaysia.
  
• ‘ASEAN and Trade with Italy’ - Representative of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Malaysia
• ‘The ASEAN - Europe Relationship’ -Prof. Dr. Patrick Ziegenhain from Universiti Malaya

 
Afterwards, the business case competition finals took place. More than 20 groups of students participated in the competition and the 3 finalist groups presented their work in front of their peers and professors and several representatives of Italian and Malaysian organizations. The students’ work consisted on a 3-month research project comprising an integrated marketing communication plan and a digital marketing strategy to support and promote “Made in Italy” brands. The three finalist brands, from 1st to 3rd place, were: Gucci, Loacker and Superga.

The event was concluded with a panel session on “Opportunities and Challenges on Doing Business in ASEAN”, moderated by IMBA Secretary General, Mr. Luciano Pezzotta, and featuring Dr. Samuele Porsia - Trade Commissioner of the Italian Trade Agency, Mr. Bruno Bertella - President of IMBA and Vice President of Leonardo, Dr. Ralph Klemp - Dunia Consulting and Mr. Marco Montagnoli - Business Development Manager of Maccaferri Asia. The panel discussed their insights and knowledge of the ASEAN market and answered some incisive questions from Taylor’s students.

Following the event, representatives from IMBA, Taylor's University, the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur, the Italian Trade Agency and other organizations had lunch together at Tarragon Restaurant.