A senior executive function in Asia — built on twenty years of doing the work.
The world is changing in ways that make Asia more important — and harder to manage remotely — than ever before.
A procurement team in Europe can identify fifty Chinese suppliers before lunch. Video calls have made the first conversation possible without a flight. And yet, the European companies that operate most effectively in Asia today are not the ones with the best technology. They are the ones with the right person already there.
The role I offer to my partners is not a consulting engagement or a project mandate. It is a permanent executive function — the Asia function of your company — held on a part-time basis by someone who has been on the ground in Southeast Asia since 2003, and who has spent twenty years doing every form of work that Asia demands of a European industrial company: supplier qualification, distributor development, market entry, regional setup, factory audits, commercial negotiation, sourcing, trading.
The Fractional Asia Director is not a new service. It is the mature, consolidated form of two decades of work.
My partners are European industrial companies that have already decided Asia is strategically important and are ready to engage with it as a long-term priority. The sector matters less than the mindset.
Not exploring the idea. Already committed to making it work — as a source of supply, a manufacturing partner, or a commercial market.
They know that managing Asia by email, video call, or through brokers is structurally unreliable. They have either learned this from experience or are determined to avoid learning it the hard way.
They are not looking for a task executor. They want someone at director level who can sit alongside their leadership team and own the Asia function.
They understand that in Asian business, trust is infrastructure. A partner who speaks both languages — culturally and commercially — is not a plus. It is the foundation.
The Fractional Asia Director covers three interconnected areas. They are not separate services to be picked from a menu. They are dimensions of a single ongoing engagement, weighted according to each partner's priorities at any given time.
Direct qualification of producers across Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia — and, when required, China. Factory audits in person — not delegated, not remote. Technical specification development. Documentation and certification verification on site. Ongoing supplier monitoring and quality management.
Where the engagement involves sourcing from Asia for Asian buyers, the same European qualification standard is applied to the selection of foreign suppliers on the buyer's behalf.
Identification and qualification of distribution partners across Southeast Asia and Bangladesh — meeting them in person, assessing their commercial capability and market reach, and recommending only those who represent a genuine fit for your product and positioning.
Market entry strategy for European products. Commercial negotiation, agreement structuring, and ongoing distributor relationship management. Market intelligence across the region.
For companies that have decided to establish a physical presence in Southeast Asia — a representative office, a sourcing hub, or a regional headquarters — I provide the full setup and direction capability: location strategy, legal and regulatory navigation, local hiring, supplier network establishment, and day-to-day operational leadership.
I act as founding Regional Director until your internal team is ready to take over, with a structured milestone exit built into the engagement from the start.
AI has changed the research layer of business permanently. It identifies suppliers, screens certifications, analyses markets, and generates reports in minutes. That is real progress, and I use it every day. What AI cannot do is verify whether what it has found is real.
The Fractional Asia Director engagement is structured as a permanent senior function held on a retainer basis. It is not a project mandate, not a commission relationship, and not a consulting contract.
Each partnership is structured with clear scope, clear deliverables, and clear duration — with the expectation that, when it works well, the relationship runs for years rather than months. This is a partnership model, not a volume model.
Sectors covered include industrial chemicals, technical textiles, industrial machinery and capital equipment, with additional exposure across consumer goods and manufacturing.
My Fractional Asia Director practice is independent of MC Square's trading activity. When I act as your Asia Director, I find the right supplier or partner for your needs — regardless of whether that supplier is already part of MC Square's trading portfolio. If a portfolio supplier happens to fit your requirement, I disclose it immediately and give you the choice. This honesty is the foundation of the partnership.
