Sustainable Leadership Forum Features Talk on Foreign Entrepreneurial Experience in Taiwan

Written by Hsu, Chin-Han(Hannah)

The Sustainable Leadership Forum invited Elias Ek, founder of Enspyre and a long-term foreign entrepreneur in Taiwan, to deliver a lecture titled “Foreign Immigrant Entrepreneur in Taiwan.” During the lecture, Mr. Ek shared his more than 25 years of experience living and building businesses in Taiwan.

Mr. Ek first introduced his personal journey of leaving Sweden to study in the United States, later participating in an exchange program in Japan, and eventually settling in Taiwan. He described his experiences of living and working in different countries and shared reflections from these cross-cultural experiences.

When discussing his entrepreneurial journey, Mr. Ek reflected on his early experience working at a startup company in Taiwan. He explained that despite rapid business growth, the company was ultimately forced to sell due to insufficient capital. During this discussion, he repeatedly emphasized the phrase “Cash is king,” highlighting the importance of capital in the entrepreneurial process.

Mr. Ek then introduced Enspyre, the B2B marketing company he founded in 2002, and shared practical cases illustrating how the company supports enterprises in B2B marketing and sales activities. He also discussed the role of B2B transactions within the overall economy, based on his practical observations.

In addition, Mr. Ek mentioned Dragon’s Chamber Taiwan, which he co-founded and which is a startup competition focused on immigrant entrepreneurs in Taiwan. He explained that he has long participated as a judge, evaluating startup pitches and proposals, and has accumulated extensive hands-on experience in listening to and providing feedback on entrepreneurial ideas.

In the second half of the lecture, Mr. Ek designed a classroom activity from an investor’s perspective, guiding students to conduct three-minute startup pitch presentations in groups. Each group presented their product or service idea, the problem they aimed to solve, revenue model, target customers, scalability, and minimum viable product (MVP), followed by feedback from Mr. Ek.

Throughout the session, Mr. Ek repeatedly invited students to ask questions. After the lecture, many students actively approached him with further questions, and Mr. Ek responded patiently and engaged in discussion with them. At the conclusion of the lecture, he encouraged students to continue following related activities and to pursue further exchanges if interested.