Designs on Diversification

Situated in a renovated industrial building in Areia Preta, Macau Design Centre (MDC) is now one of seven ‘service platforms’ approved by the government’s Cultural Industries Fund, with granted subsidies of MOP7 million for a two-year term.
Macau Design Centre under Macau Designers’ Association promotes the local cultural creative industry and develops local design. It provides a display area, event venues, as well as studios for local designers and creative personnel to use, with a rent “much cheaper than the market price” – just MOP7 per square foot per month.
MDC began its operation in November 2014. While the first phase of the renovation of the building was subsidised by the government, the purchase of equipment, operating costs and other outgoings were all settled by advance payment from local designers Dirco Fong, James Chu, Nelson Wong and Bruno Kuan.
Business Daily recently reported that MDC was suffering from accumulating costs and was on the verge of closing; now, with the Cultural Industries Fund finally signing a contract with them and granting subsidies effective from July 1 this year, the shareholders may take a second breath.

Service platform
The head of the Cultural Industries Fund, Executive Council spokesperson Leong Heng Teng, said Macau Design Centre is one of the seven ‘service platforms’ that the government has promised to grant subsidies to.
In a bid to help the local cultural creative industry, and understanding the nature of the industry which is difficult to start with and takes a long time to break-even, the government has injected from MOP2.65 million to MOP8.85 million into these seven service platforms, which range from design to music to fashion to branding industries.
“It’s hard for cultural and creative start-ups to cope with the skyrocketing rent and some youngsters in these sectors have the ambition and sincerity but don’t know how to do business. The government subsidises these service platforms in order to help them,” Leong Heng Teng told reporters yesterday at a media briefing introducing these service platforms.
MDC so far is the only one of the seven services platforms that is in operation, with the rest scheduled to open in July and beyond. Another awardee of the fund said helping creatives with business, marketing, and administrative work is one of the main services they will provide.
“We serve a role like a secretary,” said Executive Director of Macau Cultural & Creative Integrated Services Centre, Teresa Ng Wai Kuan. “My partner and I have both gone through the process of setting up our own businesses, that’s how we know that some trifles seem minor but [absorb] a lot of time and energy and hinder the creative process, such as dealing with administrative work, commercial and business registration and taxation. That’s why we would like to help the start-ups by providing relevant clerical services. ”
Leong Heng Teng added the criteria of how much subsidy to grant is based on the scores given by the jury of the Fund committee, as well as evaluation of operating costs. Mr. Leong stressed that the government fund is there to help them but the goal is for the businesses to make profits on their own.

Benefiting SMEs
NEBA is a multimedia solution studio located in one of the 17 offices at Macau Design Centre. Co-founder Casber U told reporters that his company focuses on projection mapping, interactive technologies and animation.
The company is one of the 17 approved projects among 60 applications to score a spot at MDC. With an office and facilities for use, such as meeting rooms, Casber U and his two partners are able to better manage their business.
Besides being granted some ‘government jobs’, such as making animation for the Environmental Protection Bureau’s new campaign, NEBA also has to fulfil its ‘obligation’ as a member at the Centre, as in providing services for some events hosted by the Centre, such as the projection for a Nepal Fundraising Event and lighting show for Christmas.
Another tenant, Kathy Cheang, is a local photographer who graduated from the Polytechnic Institute. She has been engaged in the business for around four years. With the lower rent at Macau Designer Centre, she could finally afford her own studio for her company – Kathy C Photography Ltd. – which specialises in commercial and advertising photography.
She said that prior to having a stable location, she had to rent other places for photo-shooting and it was hard to arrange all the equipment. Since joining the MDC from the beginning, her job has stabilised with three to four assignments every week. The young photographer said currently she can break-even and is hopeful about boosting her business.