Cathy Mo

FRENCH businesswoman Sophie Martineau is as quick to spot good suppliers, technology and opportunities, as she is to discover valuable stones and develop new marketing strategies.

Before coming to China, she worked for a number of luxury companies including Lalique, Yves Saint Laurent and Mauboussin, where she was responsible for the development of the products, promotion and image.

A graduate of the Gemological Institute of America and the International College of Art Management in Paris, she is a former international marketing manager for a leading diamond company in Belgium, promoting mainly ESCADA fine jewelry. During her six years with the company, she developed a strong knowledge of Asian and American markets, as well as a deep understanding of new trends in marketing, design and interiors.

Martineau was involved in some company sourcing and promotional activities in Shenzhen in 2002 and 2003, when the country was in the throes of combating the illness known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

“I was not only deeply impressed by the Chinese people’s efforts in fighting the disease, but also the fast development in Shenzhen and its well-organized urban construction. The city possesses both complexity and flexibility, which are important factors for me to start my own business,” she said.

During her stay here, she developed partnerships with some key Chinese suppliers and found that she could work well with them. Realizing that doing business in China was not just about quality but also a matter of communication and coordination, which she thought were her advantages, she set up her Hong Kong company Aquila Global Ltd. in July 2005 to provide customized production, logistics and set-up solutions for shop and hotel interiors in the United States and Europe.

She opened a representative office in Shekou, Nanshan District last year.

“It is so easy for me to get access to the rest of the Pearl River Delta area and the rest of the world, here,” said Martineau, 35.

With a number of Chinese suppliers on hand such as designers, furniture manufacturers, packagers, printers, stone cutters and shippers, she is providing A to Z services to her clients with a state-of-the-art, end-to-end service for the customized production, logistic and set-up of furniture, displays and packaging for shops, hotels and residential development projects.

She has decorated a number of luxury shops in The IFC Hong Kong, The Venetian resort in Macao, in addition to several more in the United States and more to come in The Four Seasons Macao, helping her clients cut 30 percent of the costs by Western standards.

“The most difficult part of doing my business is coordination. There are too many worries like quality, time schedules, packing, regulations and languages, as we are dealing with clients from different countries,” said Martineau. “It needs strong understanding in different cultures to avoid misunderstandings. We have to mix and match cultures and technologies when we sit down with the clients to talk about the projects,” she said, claiming that she was doing well because she had a smart team with good communication skills and business spirit.

Editor's note:

This page has been running the"A Shenzhen Dream"column to cover expatriate businesspeople doing business in Shenzhen. Information and stories of this kind are welcome.