Why Michael Klint of Moscord Trusts in Filipino Talent

2/13/2020 | By Marella Gimenez

 

When it comes to expanding a business in South East Asia, the Philippines proves to be an ideal nation due to the numerous resources it can offer to global companies. According to the World Banks’ Ease of Doing Business Index for 2019, it is the 3rd most improved country, jumping up 9 spots in the ranks. The biggest contributing factors being its large, highly-capable talent pool and the high English proficiency skills of the locals, taking out the challenge of a language barrier between foreigners.

Companies also benefit from other advantages such as reduced operational costs while still having full visibility and control on their company’s offshore operations. Because of these factors that have helped the country cultivate the business climate, it has made the Philippines the second largest outsourcing country in the world.

 

MOSCORD

Moscord’s CEO, Freddy Ingemann, recognized all these potential possibilities for future business ventures and engaged in a startup company in the Philippines for 7 years, before founding Moscord. Described as a “Maritime Amazon”, Moscord brings together the world’s Maritime industry buyers and sellers in an online global platform. The e-commerce enterprise allows suppliers to sell to the global market and buyers to purchase supplies directly from manufacturers, at set contracted prices with complete pricing transparency. The online platform currently has over 100,000 products with on-time delivery to ports and locations requested by customers or ship-owning companies. Moscord’s headquarters is currently stationed in Singapore with remote offices in Copenhagen and another one in the Philippines.

Michael Klint, the Director of Operations and right-hand man to Freddy Ingemann, oversees Moscord’s operation center in Manila and ensures that the digital procurement platform still maintains their high level of value and efficiency. When talking about the reason on why they chose the Philippines for their second satellite office, Klint claims the country has a great deal of resources to offer in terms of business needs and the Maritime industry being significant in the country.

A business aspect that is extremely important to Moscord is the talent pool, something that the Philippines is in no short supply of. “We believe in hiring giants or getting a company of dwarves,” Michael Klint says pertaining to the high supply of employable and highly-skilled individuals in the country. From senior technical engineers to business process managers and key account managers dealing with some of the biggest ship-owning companies and manufacturers in the world, Klint claims it was not hard to find the right talent. With the CEO having already spent 7 years in Manila prior to Moscord, setting up operations here was an obvious course of action for the company.

 

Finding the Right Partner in KMC

When in the initial stages of setting up a business here in the Philippines, Klint stresses the importance of having the right partner to give guidance throughout the process. Several things that companies usually need to address are the red tape such as licenses and business permits, which partners familiar with the local laws and procedures can aid in.

Deciding to partner with KMC, Klint says, has made running Moscord’s business operations run much smoother and easier. From providing them with a serviced office facility to helping them find suitable employees to make up their remote staff, Klint states it has taken away all the administrative tasks that companies would rather not spend their time on when building it up from scratch in another country. Additional services such as Legal, payroll, and staff leasing services have also helped Moscord in focusing on their core business activities.

With a number of things being taken care of by partnering with KMC, it is no surprise that Moscord experienced rapid growth in running their operations in the Philippines. Starting out with merely one coworking desk, Klint says they have now moved offices four times in the same building during the last three years. They have also opened a second office in Cebu where KMC once again helped in providing the talent there.

 

 

The Filipino Talent and What’s in Store for Them

When talking about what it has been like working with Filipinos according to Michael Klint, “Filipino talent is to a great extent undiscovered. Having worked here and a lot of other countries, there's a lot of different ways of working with Filipinos”.

Aside from being hard-working, Klint also claims that Filipinos possess a very relaxed and family-friendly attitude when it comes to work and life which has made them easy to work with. A new focus on millennial values have additionally pushed more employees to find work that is purpose-driven which in turn inspires them to become passionate about what they do.

With all these aspects that have helped the Philippines nurture a flourishing business landscape, Michael Klint predicts that the country will experience a further boom in the next 5 to 10 years as well.