BrazilOCO Global expands in Asia with KW Group partnership
OCO Global has deepened its footprint in the Asian market through a partnership with Malaysia-based KW Group.
Since launching in 2010, KW Group has been helping global businesses, donors, development institutions and governments enter the Asia Pacific (APAC) market through tailored investment strategies. The firm now joins OCO Global’s rapidly expanding network of strategic partners in Asia Pacific.
Through specialist services such as lead generation, research, trade support, incubation, marketing and funding – among others – OCO Global supports clients in the foreign direct investment (FDI) landscape worldwide. In recent months, the Belfast-headquartered firm has shown a distinct interest in APAC – the latest move being an example.
“By expanding OCO Global’s international network across Asia Pacific at this critical time, we aim to fully exploit the potential across the Asian markets, facilitating in-bound trade as well as foreign direct investment into the region,” explained OCO Global Chief Operating Officer Joachim Arnold. Besides APAC accounting for a growing share of the FDI scene, two factors make now a “critical time” to invest in the region.
One is the Covid-19 economic recovery, which throws up several promising small and medium businesses in need of much-needed capital. No doubt, foreign investors will be keen to swoop in.“The region provides exciting growth opportunities for foreign companies and we can provide the platform to access these through our market expertise and networks in APAC,” said Arnold.
The second is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – a new trade bloc formed in November 2020 between APAC countries Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
“RCEP forms the world’s largest trading bloc, covering a third of the global economy and we hope to capitalise on that by eliminating barriers to trade and investment in the region we will boost the intraregional cross-border economic activity,” said Arnold.
Global footprint
KW Group gives OCO Global a presence on the ground in Malaysia, while also opening the doors for further partnerships across the region. Per a statement, the firm plans to deploy a team in all key APAC markets in the near future.
The KW Group partnership follows less than a year after OCO Global launched an office in Shanghai, partnering with Aventura – a Shanghai-based advisory firm specialised in market growth and brand development.
The Shanghai outfit took the firm’s global office count to 10 – including Tokyo, New York, London and Paris – while the partnership with KW Group gives OCO Global a presence in 18 countries around the world. For KW Group, the partnership marks a dramatic scale up in network and resources.
“The partnership with OCO Global is an exciting move as it allows us to expand our service offering through OCO Global’s vast international networks. We look forward to the start of a significant new chapter in the OCO Global growth story in the Asia Pacific region and to support economic recovery post Covid-19,” noted KW Group Managing Director Andrew Keable.
