Positive Thinking in Negative Climate – message from the President December 2008
As holiday season is approaching, I would like to wish you a warm, safe and happy holiday on behalf of our Board of Directors. We may have many wonderful plans to prepare for the celebration of this magnificent holiday season. However, the current economic situations may cause us some sort of uneasy emotions. It seems that not a single body on earth or any governments or organizations can offer any quick solutions to revoke the current situation. However, personally, I would not feel helpless and be worried about my business or my job. Panic will not help, and besides, crisis always comes with opportunities. If we could have a positive thinking, we can best use of the current situation.
1. Corporate restructure to promote production effectiveness and maximize the usage of redundant assets during the down time 2. Improve production and human resources skill to save cost in long run as staff has time to be re-educated about production 3. Strengthen the human resources allocation for each position 4. Engage always needed human resources which become affordable during recession 5. Convert current production facilities from rental and or leasing to own as price of real estates, cost of borrowing and interest rate are comparatively lower than before to ensure further cost saving and benefit from future real estate appreciation 6. Penetrate into markets that were not accessible in the past and focus on preparation of bigger markets 7. Consolidate competitors to increase market shares and become a market leader to improve profit margin. Business world wants the world to be stable to conduct business especially during this most tough time of our economy in the century. Our economy needs a government that could focus on policy to resolve and relief some hard times that we encounter. We are still celebrating how fortunate we are as Canadians that our conservative policy in conducting business in Canada in the past has kept our economy much better than the rest of the world in this challenging time of the global financial tsunami. Unfortunately, we have to face a man-made challenge from Ottawa. Changing of government could be the last thing that the business world would prefer at this point of time. We need a strong and stable government that has a clear policy to assist us in walking through this economic tough time. As a business association, we are politically neutral. We encourage our members to express their concerns to their MP. We need harmony and unity during the tough times, putting our heads together to ride through the hard time will be much more effective. Benedict Leung, C.A., President RHMCBA
[Return to top] Another Sucessful Event - TD Small Business Seminar On October 24, close to 150 people attended the third annual TD Small Business Seminar presented by RHMCBA. Mr. Craig Alexander, Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist of TD Canada Trust, gave a detailed economic outlook for the tough time ahead. Questions fielded from the floor included the future of the property market, US dollar, energy prices and inflation and so on. Mr. Brent Prior of Export Development Canada introduced the work of his department. The small business advisors Mr. Sam Wong, Ms. Marion Ho and Ms. Stella Shum introduced the small business financing packages from TD Canada Trust to the audiences. Mrs. Daisy Wai, past president of RHMCBA who is also a marketing expert, gave her tips in the low cost marketing strategies for the small businesses. And last but not least, RHMCBA legal council Mr. Sunny Ho touched on the three different ways of carrying business in Ontario. 24th October, 2008 Friday TD Small Business Seminar Third annual small business seminar sponsored by TD Canada Trust Small Business Banking will be held on October 24. In this free seminar, Deputy Chief Economist Craig Alexander from TD Canada Trust will give an indepth analysis on the economic situation of the world, and how to market your products or services. This seminar is free, with our members having the privileges to be seated first. Time: 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Venue: Sheraton Parkway Hotel, 600 Hwy 7 East, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Y7 (intersection of Hwy 7 & East Beaver Creek Road) Speakers: Craig Alexander, Deputy Chief Economist, TD Canada Trust Daisy Wai, President, AD 2000 & Beyond Advertising Inc. Sunny Ho, Sunny Ho Law Office 24th Sept, 2008 Wednesday Federal Election All candidates Event in Richmond Hill On October 14, we will elect a new Canadian Government. Being one of the Canadians, we all have the right to choose who to be our Prime Minister and Member of Parliament. RHMCBA will not let our members to make wrong choice, we are hosting an All Candidates Event together with other associations in the riding of Richmond Hill. If you are a resident of Richmond Hill, please come to the event and ask your questions to those candidates of different stripes, this will help you to make the right choice. The Event will be held on: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 7:30pm at Langstaff Community Centre, 155 Red Maple Road, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4P9
[Return to top] 29th May, 2008 China Earthquake Fundraising In response to the devastating earthquakes that have struck China and Burma in May 2008, the RHMCBA is, in conjunction with the Red Cross, urging all of its members to give generously to the victims, many of whom are children. The RHMCBA has been collecting donations since the incidents occurred, and has held a fundraising event at Ruby Restaurant on May 28th, 2006. Another fundrasing dinner is on June 9th at Castle Victoria, Markham. It is not too late to help! Every dollar counts and time is of the essence. Please contact Beryl Wong @ 905-731-8806 for information regarding both the fundraising dinner on June 9th and how you can donate to The Red Cross.
[Return to top] 19th October, 2007 TD Bank Small Business Seminar For the second consecutive year, RHMCBA was granted a fund from TD Canada Trust to organize a seminar in the October Small Business Week. The theme of this year seminar was the ever-increasing value of the Canadian dollar. Deputy Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist of TD Bank Mr. Craig Alexander was the keynote speaker. He elaborated the factors of the strong Canadian currency and explained its impacts on the small business community. Other guest speakers were Mr. Tom Elias and Ms. Tina Woo. They are consultant and account manager from the Bank of Business Development of Canada. They introduced the concept of quality benchmarking ISO system to the small businesses, suggesting it as a useful way to maintain or improve business competitiveness during a tough time. As a complimentary bank to the commercial banks, BDC is a place for entrepreneurs seeking their business start-up loans. [Return to top] 29th September, 2007 Inauguration Gala of RHMCBA This is the most important event of the year. More than 600 guests, including officials from the three levels of government, attended the gala and witnessed the change of leadership of RHMCBA. The Prime Minister had sent a greeting to RHMCBA, and the Ontario Minister of Revenue, the Hon. Michael Chan attended and sent a warm greeting to the new leadership on behalf of the Premier of Ontario. The Gala was very entertaining, with performances from a pop song singer, a classical music pianist, a Flamenco dance group and a Xinjiang belly dance couple. Guest could also enjoy dancing with live music. Other than celebrating, this Gala also helped raised funds for United Way of York Region. A cheque of $15,000 was presented to a representative from UWYR during the night. New President of RHMCBA is Mr. Benedict Leung. [Return to top] 21st July, 2007 Winery Tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake Region The province of Ontario is famous for its winery industry in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Region. This region is the base of hundreds of wineries. They offer great wine products as well as tasty meals and fabulous scenery. On the beautiful sunny day of July 21, a busload of RHMCBA members and friends who were wine-lovers visited three different wineries in the region. The first winery, Rockway Glenn, has a beautiful golf course and a little museum of wine. The second one is a major winery in the region. Jackson Triggs has a huge vineyard with many types of grapes. And the last one Strewn is famous for its ice wine. Their products are so good that a member of the tour bought 4 cases of ice wines from them. [Return to top] 8th June, 2007 2007 Canada Chinese Trade Forum for Post-Secondary Graduates RHMCBA organized this forum in order to help fresh graduates have a better understanding in starting their own trading business. Guest speakers included a banker, a custom broker, an owner of a trading firm, and two diplomatic officials from Chinese Consul General and Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office. Also presented were successful entrepreneurs sharing their experience with the audience. This was a successful event and the feedbacks were very positive. RHMCBA might consider continue to organize similar events in the future. [Return to top] 27th April, 2007 Annual Global Traders Awards Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) recently joined forces to recognize Ontario's most innovative and successful exporters in the province. The Annual Ontario Global Traders Awards in conjunction with the Ontario Business Achievement Awards (OBAA) to be held on October 23, 2007, will award outstanding exporting companies in two categories: 1) Innovation - Export Growth and 2) Market Expansion. This is our chance to recognize and celebrate the amazing work that is carried out in our province every day. The May 4th, 2007 deadline for award nominations is quickly approaching, if you or your colleagues know of an exporting company that qualifies in either of these two categories and deserves to be recognized with this prestigious award, please make sure that they are acknowledged by encouraging them to submit a nomination or nominating them yourself. Nominating is a quick and easy on-line process at http://occ.on.ca/Events/Ontario%20Business%20Awards/265. For more information on the 2007 Awards program, please contact Rosanna Ho at 416-482-5222 ext. 222, Events Coordinator, Ontario Chamber of Commerce. [Return to top] 27th April, 2007 Ride the Bus to Lunch? Sure! How will you feel if you do not need to drive to a restaurant for lunch? TheLunchExpress pilot project has been a huge success. It is now being expanded to cover a wider area. The new north route includes Mural Street and Leek Crescent. The service starts on Friday, April 27th, 2007. This is a free bus service that will run every Friday from 11:37 am to 2:30 pm, taking passengers to their lunch or retail destination. So no more parking and traffic hassles. Also there is a 10% discount off lunchtime menus at participating restaurants when you ride TheLunchExpress. Go to www.lunchexpress.ca for details . [Return to top] 27th April, 2007 Helping Small Businesses by Reducing the Compliance Burden Report of the Canada Revenue Agency's Action Task Force on Small Business Issues, March 2007 News Release - http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/newsroom/releases/2007/april/nr070411-e.html Report available at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/xi/07-105/README.html [Return to top] 9th April, 2007 RHMCBA welcomes the arrival of the new Chinese Consul General to Toronto Madam Zhu Taoying It was the honour of RHMCBA to host a welcoming dinner for the new Chinese Consul General to Toronto Madam Zhu Taoying. Madam Zhu was just in Toronto for two months. She was amazed by not only the size but also the achievement of Chinese community in the Greater Toronto Area. Though she was not a native Cantonese, she managed to express her appreciation in Cantonese to RHMCBA for hosting this event for her. She wished the trade relations between Canada and China will keep growing and encouraged the Chinese business community to expand their businesses in China. [Return to top] 27th March, 2007 John Tory encouraged Chinese community to participate in the up-coming provincial election The Leader of Provincial Conservative Party, Mr. John Tory, joined our March membership event to congratulate the growing prosperity of Chinese community in the Greater Toronto Area. He was particularly moved by the passion of another guest of the night, the little Chief for the Day, Jared McNabb, towards the police services and their effort in securing the safety of our neighbourhood. The 10-year-old Jared is an excellent example of maintaining good relationship between the police services and the community. He was chosen by the Catholic School Board and the York Regional Police through a competition of articles to appreciate the police work. Mr. Tory wished Jared to join the provincial politics once he grows up. Mr. Tory also encouraged the Chinese community to participate in the October provincial election. He understood that there were a lot of rooms to improve in issues like education, health, traffic, economy and so on and he asked for the inputs from the Chinese business community and residents of Richmond Hill and Markham area. The provincial election of Ontario is on October 10, 2007. [Return to top] 15th March, 2007 CS Leung wins federal election nomination in Richmond Hill Mr. Chungsen (CS) Leung has been nominated as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the riding of Richmond Hill, Ontario. The election of Mr. Leung to Parliament Hill would mean that we will have one more Chinese voice in Ottawa. As the Founding President and current Director of RHMCBA, Mr. Leung’s extended experience in business and strong commitment to the Richmond Hill community has placed him as the best candidate for this forever-growing city. Though the federal election date is not announced yet, Mr. Leung has begun his preparation for the big challenge. He will organize a strong and united campaign team to help him solicit the electors. You, as a member of Richmond Hill community, all have the duty to participate in this democratic process and elect the best government for Canada. You can visit his campaign web site: http://www.richmondhillriding.com for more information. In any Language, CS Leung spells Experience It’s time! To send a strong conservative voice from Richmond Hill, to Parliament Hill It’s time for CS Leung [Return to top] 11th March, 2007 RHMCBA presents the Best Debator Cup to Jeffrey Cheng Congratulations to Jeffrey, the Best Debator of the 16th Chinese Debate Competition organized by the Ontario Inter-Collegiate Chinese Debate Alliance (OCDA). On top of the Silver Sponsorship for this event, RHMCBA has also sponsored the Best Debator Cup. Mr. Ben Leung, the Vice President of RHMCBA, and Mr. Will Sung, Director of RHMCBA, were two of the adjudicators for the final game and they presented the Best Debator Cup to the winner on behalf of RHMCBA. [Return to top] 20th September, 2006 Rhmcba was awarded a plaque for sponsoring the Debate Contest of the University students [Return to top] 21st April, 2006 Newly RHMCBA website relaunch We are happy to announce that our newly website have been launched. The new look come with more information for our members. Please leave us a message if you have nay comment on our website. We are happy to announce that our newly website have been launched. The new look come with more information for our members. Please leave us a message if you have nay comment on our website. Don' forget to register our newsletter in order to receive our update. [Return to top] 25th February, 2006 Youth Chapter organize "S-Venture" The RHMCBA is holding a business proposal competition for university students from Toronto and across Ontario. The goal of the competition is to provide students with the opportunity to apply classroom concepts to real world situations, gain experience developing business proposals and interact with members of the business community outside of a strict networking setting. [Return to top] |