Invest Victoria has an extensive network of partners and organisations who can support companies looking to invest in Victoria.
This network is made up of a wide range of organisations with strong international expertise, including large and boutique professional services firms, bilateral chambers, as well as tech and innovation hubs.
William Gaguin from Polyglot Group - a member of the Invest Victoria Advisory Network – tells us about how they can help with the investment journey.
Tell us about your experience working with international companies looking to invest in Australia and choosing Victoria.
Australia, a centrally located English speaking nation within the APAC region, is often considered the gateway between Eastern & Western countries by our clients.
Furthermore, with a strong investment landscape, robust economy, and fast-growing population, the country offers a wealth of opportunities for international businesses looking to expand, rendering it a very attractive market.
In our experience, most companies choosing the state of Victoria as their home base within Australia make this decision based on industry specificities as well as access to quality talent. Finally, since Melbourne continues to rank as one of the world’s top three most liveable cities, the city remains enticing to many businesses looking to expand and send expats.
What kind of challenges do international firms face when entering/expanding/exploring the market?
99% of our clients are international firms looking for guidance and professional expertise when entering the Australian Market. Regardless of their size or industry, they all express a sense of confusion around where to start and what their options are. This is where we come in.
More often than not, our clients’ top challenge starts with defining a strong expansion strategy within the new market. This is a crucial step to decide on, as it will inform next steps such as which business set up model to choose so as to remain aligned with operational goals. There are so many options to choose from, we often find that this causes more confusion than anything else.
Another challenge we often see our clients have is ascertaining compliance with Australian law and legislation when it comes to employment contracts, payroll ruling and taxation systems. Since laws change between countries, and even states, and also evolve over time, clients that don’t have the in-house infrastructure to keep up find this to be an unnecessary hurdle.
Last but not least, we often see clients express uncertainty about mobility, specifically when it comes to bringing their existing talent to Australia. Since global expansion is an expensive exercise, we often see businesses wanting existing talent to be part of the company’s growth. However, organising visas and figuring out how to employ them without a legal entity can be tiresome, which is why they rely on us to help.
What particular capabilities/experience/services that could help international investors and how do you assist them to (a) overcome issues and (b) take advantage of the opportunities on offer?
Simply put, we help by allowing our clients to focus on their core business from day one.
It is incredibly difficult and time consuming to stay on top of local laws and jurisdiction on top of performing usual duties and focusing on business growth. It’s also incredibly expensive to hire, train and upkeep local teams to take care of this for you.
As a one-stop-shop, we offer peace of mind by offering one point of contact and access to a range of services to ease the expansion and business growth process. From the initial company set up, end-to-end Payroll & bookkeeping management, HR Outsourcing as well as Recruitment services to name but a few, you can depend on one key local partner rather than trying (and most likely failing) to do everything yourself.
Furthermore, we tailor our services to each client based on their size, industry and operational goals. As an example, depending on what your business wishes to achieve, we can set up a legal entity from scratch and register you with the ATO, or propose alternative solutions such as an EOR / PEO solution if you wish to assess the market prior to creating a local business.
If your business doesn’t wish or need to have local employees, we also offer Local Directorship services. On the other hand, if you wish to have people on the ground, we can recruit your local workforce as well as help with immigration needs should you wish to send existing staff on site. Finally, to make sure you are set up for success, we can also set up your local Payroll and offer ongoing HR assistance.
As you can see, business expansion isn’t a clear cut endeavour, which is why we are here to sift through the noise by helping businesses figure out what’s best for them and actioning this on their behalf. This means that when issues arise, we’re here to come up with the solutions so that they can focus on their core business.
What opportunities do you see for prospective investors in Victoria to improve their chance of success?
Victoria offers a myriad of investment opportunities across many industries including but not limited to the technology, FMCG and energy sectors.
To improve their chances of success, we recommend businesses reach out to Invest Victoria so that they can get tailored support that meets their needs.
We also recommend seeking external help to recruit and build a strong local team. Victoria has one of the best talent pools in APAC, which is great news for businesses, but also means that recruitment is competitive. As such, having a local expert find and attract such talent and help you retain them is a big help. And since people are at the heart of a business, building and retaining a strong team is of the utmost importance to ascertain success.
How does working with a partner with a strong understanding of the Victoria business environment enhance the investor’s journey?
Choosing to work with a partner as well as outsourcing certain capabilities comes from a desire or need for simplicity. Business expansion can be quite daunting and can very easily fail if one does not have a local understanding of the laws and culture of the new market.
Yet, we also know how incredibly difficult it is to not only build up local knowledge, but also keep up with ongoing changes. It is also difficult to grow within a new market without understanding its culture as well as lacking a strong network and local contacts.
With a local partner, you can concentrate on your core business with the knowledge that someone’s got your back, making sure your business is compliant. A partner with local understanding of the business environment is also able to advise you on your options based on your particular business needs as well as introduce you to local contacts and help you build your network, saving you time and money.
At the end of the day, their sole job is to ease the expansion process so that you can dedicate your time and resources towards making your business growth a success.
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Thank you for your time, William!
ABOUT
Polyglot Group aims to facilitate business growth by providing human-centric solutions in Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Payroll Outsourcing, Language Support and Business Setup.
The company has a presence over 4 continents, 6 countries & 12 cities and speaking 30 languages.
For more information about Polyglot Group and other similar organisations, visit the Invest Victoria Advisory Network.
