UK firms get chance to win funding

Six British and European small and medium-sized enterprises will get the chance to win funding from 60 high-net-worth Chinese investors in a Dragon's Den-style session at Battersea Power Station this June.

Construction work takes place on Battersea Power Station in the Nine Elms area of London, Britain April 11, 2017.  [Photo/Agencies]

Organized by SME network Asiability and Chinese money magazine the Hurun Report, the Asiability-Hurun Partners for Global Growth event aims to promote Sino-UK business and investment ties.

Executives will get training on the Chinese business culture, to avoid misunderstandings.

Dragon's Den is a popular UK reality TV show in which budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas live on television to a panel of celebrity investors, seeking money for their projects.

Ollie Shiell, a senior partner at Asiability, said: "The whole thing will be simultaneously translated and we will coach the Western executives on how to pitch to Chinese people."

The event will showcase businesses with high-growth potential in sectors including life sciences, aerospace and real estate. "China is such a big part of the global growth story," Shiell said. "It would be difficult to imagine many businesses in today's world where the Chinese consumer, the Chinese market, or the Chinese investor doesn't have a role to play."

Shiell said Western and Eastern collaborators often encounter linguistic, cultural, and procedural pitfalls and notes that a common issue is that Westerners pitch in their own language. And he noted that Chinese delegates often do not engage in open discussion, which Western executives may interpret as showing a lack of interest.

"Westerners are used to a two-way debate and interrogation, whereas, typically, Chinese people like to listen, think, and then come back," he said.

The event is supported by the China-Britain Business Council and Entrepreneurial Scotland, in partnership with business hub Sayers Butterworth and law firm Pinsent Masons.

UK and European businesses can apply for free up until May 12, after which six companies will be selected to make their pitches on June 20 at the well-known London landmark on the south bank of the River Thames. Pitches will be held as closed sessions, due to issues around the sharing of confidential trade information.

The visiting investors will be from a wide range of sectors and be at varying stages of internationalization, with several already operating businesses within the UK.