By Shalina R.
Second Australian Expo in Kota Kinabalu
KOTA KINABALU: An opportunity bridging Australian Expo was held for the second time here yesterday.
Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Datuk Michael Lui said the expo, which covers business, education, investment and migration, linking Sabah and West Australia, provided a win-win opportunity for people to expand their market.
“Through this expo, we can introduce our Sabah products, especially local fruits, to Australia,” said Lui.
“Also, we can sell our products to Australia and they can introduce their products to Sabah. So we have very good communication and interchange. Of course, our people could also find out how to have access to their (Australian) very good education here,” he added.
Visitors not only received key information and legal advice from established organizations needed to become part of the successful Malaysians in Australia, but also had access to founders of Australia’s award winning businesses at the expo.
“We have clients in Australia wanting to do business in, particularly Malaysia because it is easier to work up here, get a visa and majority of people can relatively speak English. Our job, apart from visas, is also linking business,” said exhibitor Peter Loughton, Australian Migration and Citizenship Services (ACMS) director and registered migration agent.
Loughton said in terms of visas, ACMS helped parents and students get the bang for their buck by enrolling their children into the right academic pathway that could help them acquire Australian residency in the future.
“So for us it is also extremely important that we put them into the right course so they can achieve whatever goal they need to achieve. So we see a lot of kids come down and they’ve done the wrong type of course, and only certain courses will then allow them to get some sort of residency,” he said.
“We want to act as a bridge between businesses, we want to make sure students are in the right area and we partner with different educational organizations to make sure of that.
“Sometimes we have to give people bad news. I think they always appreciate that we tell them straight to the face and say look I don’t think they are going to qualify unless you do this and that sometimes means study. You really gotta make sure, structured properly just because there is so much money involved,” explained Loughton.
Many mind-provoking sessions and discussions were organized at the one-day expo.
Among exhibitors partaking in the expo were Integrity Taxation, multiple Golden Bean Roasting Awards winner cafe franchise Caffissimo, wood fired pizza franchise Scarlett Canteen and even inventor of the world’s most versatile, easy to install bore pump, Tom Kress.