Dutch Excellence - Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Dutch Chamber Committees
What is your function in the board and why?
I am the chairman of the Membership Committee and I am a
member of the board because that chairman is by default a
member of the board.
How long have you been active within the Chamber?
I became a member of the Dutch Chamber in 2009 because I felt
that Dutch Chamber was the business version of the Dutch
Association. I prefer to talk business over beer rather than
housing and children over beer.
Have you seen a lot of change within the Chamber
while being a board member?
I like the quality of the activities. Not only content wise, but also
the caliber of the participants makes these a great networking
opportunity.
What does the Chamber mean to you?
To me, the Chamber means learning and networking.
What are the activities and goals of the Membership
Committee?
The Membership Committee is made of Matthew Hoyle, Ellen
van Haandel, Bram Eijsbouts, Baud, Mirjam Achthoven and
myself. We market the Dutch Chamber to new and old business
people in Hong Kong – to allow them to expand their
knowledge and network. We invite anyone interested in finding
out more, for drinks every last Tuesday of the month.
If you know any people interested, bring them along. We start at
6pm. Normally there are 10-20 people and we don’t go home early!
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PR & PUB Committee
For seventeen years Jean-Michel Caille has published and
printed the Dutch Chamber magazine; making him one of the
most enduring elements in the Dutch Chamber history. About
time we speak with Jean-Michel in detail about his work.
When did you set up your company, Encre de Chine?
In 1992, I set up my first company Printing in Asia Limited in
Hong Kong; then Encre de Chine Limited in 2001 when we
moved to Dongguan City.
Before you moved from France, did you also work for a
printer there?
I am from a printing family. My grandfather started the business in
1953 and my father followed his footsteps. I worked as an
apprentice in the family factory in order to learn the trade from an
early age. I started with folding & binding sheets of paper to setting
up a 4-colour print press. After I graduated I worked in the family
business for 7 years until the plant burned down in an accident.
I learnt desktop publishing from my mother using a machine
called “Compugraphic”. This machine could print text on film
directly. After that we would mount the film together with the
photo film registration by hand and make the offset plates
necessary for printing.
Our main business in France at that time was catalogues for
Auctions with reproduction of the paintings. My father’s company
was one of the appointed printers of the Auctioneer Chamber in
Paris. When I move to Hong Kong, I invested in an Apple computer.