Andy Szeto, the managing director of Cowin Group, argued that the demand for cultural industries is evident, even if some of the cultural spaces have overlapping functionalities, and that some of them may be absorbed of merged eventually via competition. Photo courtesy of sam@Sam’s images
“If you invite property developers to run a cultural enterprise, you may not find many willing ones, as the time of profitable return is highly uncertain. This is one of the main reasons why few are interested in setting up cultural and creative enterprises,” said Andy Szeto, the managing director of Cowin Group.
Several years ago, Cowin is one of the few private enterprises that took the leap to invest in Macao’s cultural and creative industries. Nowadays, the group has four cultural projects including 678 Cultural Creative Park, Step One Centre, Poco Cutlrual Creative Center and Macau Brand Incubator Center. In the second half of the year, it will build another creative park with over 10,000 square feet at Edificiao Man Fong near Areia Preta, and another park near the commercial hub in Zhuhai as a joint Zhuhai-Macao creative park collaboration, where over 50,000 square feet of land has been earmarked for Macao’s brands.
At present, the 678 Cultural Creative Park has rented out all its units, while the occupancy rate for Poco has reached 85%. Szeto argued that the demand for cultural industries is evident, even if some of the cultural spaces have overlapping functionalities, and that some of them may be absorbed or merged eventually via competition.
Whole-hearted Commitment
Given that they are respectively situated near the coast and the harbourfront, 678 and Poco Cultural Creative Center enjoy a strong geographical advantage. However, the geographical attractiveness of these hubs is a matter of circumstance rather than deliberate choice.
“In the early stage, we have used considerable time to identify suitable places, and then realise that a lot of the industrial buildings have fragmented ownership. We are determined to choose one that is run by a single landlord to facilitate day-to-day management. Incidentally, we found out that our partners who hold the property rights, and so we have made use of the venue to create a cultural hub.” Szeto continued: “Speaking of 678 Creative Park rejuvenation project alone, the cost of waterproof maintenance, sewerage, water and electricity provisions, the renovation of elevators and office space layout, the group and the property owners have spent nearly MOP $20 million.”
While 678 is run without government sponsorship, the Macau Brand Incubator Center is subsidised by the Cultural Industries Fund, given that the latter involves more investment in the early stage and is offering a rent-free tenancy to eligible applicants. In this way, the subsidy from the government is mainly to cover the necessary costs.
“Our creative parks are actually eligible for the sponsorship as well, although we feel that they do not need to have government funding. I think that if projects like these can be operated without funding support, it may promote sustainability in the long run.” Szeto understood that investment in the early stage is crucial for the development of a creative park, and so some government support is inevitable. However, some form of private funding is part of the commitment to the venture. It is a positive sign when such an enterprise can run without government support.
Development Trends in the Mainland
Szeto pointed out that, in the last two years, they have done much to attract cultural enterprises of quality and sustainability to move into 678 and Poco Cultural Creative Center. In the next stage, they aim to focus on the products, fostering the branding of selected projects, and to expand into the Mainland and Portuguese-speaking markets via e-commerce.
“We have created a platform for cultural industries locally such as office space, brand incubation and product display, and so we have enough supply in terms of quantity. For the rest of the year, we will focus on improving the sales channels, achieving sales not just via retail outlets but to reach out to the Mainland market via digital channels.”
Each year, the group organises group tours for local youths to visit cultural hubs in the Mainland such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Suzhou, to learn from these cities. In recent years, cultural hubs in the Mainland tend to be thematic. For example, Zone A is industrial-focused while Zone B aims at the fashion market. While he felt that the local market in Macao has not yet reached the same stage for such specialisation, it is beneficial to learn from the examples in Mainland.
