Testimonials

Role

Based in the Barco office in Hong Kong, Stijn De Keyser’s role consisted of the company’s business development in Southeast Asia.

Responsibilities

Stijn was working for Barco’s Industrial & Government Department, which produces video wall displays and related hardware and software for control rooms.

As Barco does not sell its control room products directly to its customers, but through a network of partners (system integrators), his task was to find and establish relationships with new partners in the countries where Barco did not yet have a presence in the fields of traffic control, security and utilities. His first challenge was to find local SMEs active in these markets. Most of these companies in Southeast Asia lack a proper website and hardly advertise. “But as people in this region are open and friendly, this really helped me in my networking and eventually I found the right people to talk to.” The pace at which business is done in Southeast Asia also turned out to be a great challenge. It can sometimes take three to five years for a deal to materialise, requiring a great deal of patience.

How he benefited

Stijn switched from working for a bank in the Benelux to working for an international technology company in Asia, selling products he was not familiar with. This great experience contributed to his professional and personal development in many different ways. During his Prince Albert Fund experience, he was able to establish an extensive network in the industry and eventually got to know the right people that Barco is still working with today. “Besides identifying many business opportunities and increasing my knowledge of emerging markets, this project also helped me to understand what it is like to actually do business with people.”