Talking Taiwan: Edouard Roquette: Today’s Challenges Facing Foreign Entrepreneurs in Taiwan

June 24, 2022 Felicia Lin

Edouard Roquette was at the beginning of his experience as an entrepreneur when he was previously interviewed for Talking Taiwan, as you may have heard in the previous lost episode of Talking Taiwan (episode 191) featuring Edouard. We’ve invited Edouard back on as a guest to talk about what he’s been up since then.

Edouard is currently the founder of Rooms.Taipei a co-living business. He talked to us about his clean tech startup and why it failed, and the challenges that many foreign entrepreneurs experience in Taiwan. He also had a life changing accident which we will talk about in a follow up interview, in a future episode.

[LISTEN to the Complete Episode HERE on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY]

If you’d like to check out their COVID newsletter that Edouard mentioned in his interview, the one that provides updates to help people keep up on the visa and immigration situation in Taiwan during COVID, check out the related links section below.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Edouard’s clean-tech start-up CityVolt and why it failed
The differences between a gas vehicle and electric vehicle
Battery sources for electric vehicles
Exchangeable, rechargeable batteries for scooters
How Edouard won a competition and was invited to speak at The Economist’s Carbon Economy Summit in Washington D.C. in 2009
Eduoard’s thoughts on what makes Gogoru successful
The accident that changed Eduoard’s life and led him to consider a co-living business that he started in 2014
Edouard’s co-living business, Rooms.Taipei
The problems that Edouard’s co-living business aims to solve
How Rooms.Taipei is an accelerator for the experiences that a foreigner can have in Taiwan
Why it’s difficult to scale a business like this or to differentiate it
How businesses in Taiwan are not protected from extreme rent increases that negatively impact their businesses, causing them to close
How rent increases can lead to many other “costs” aside from causing businesses to close, these costs include: environmental costs, human costs (jobs lost), economic cost (when companies are constantly closed and new ones started)
Edouard’s thoughts about Taiwan’s plans to attract 100,000 foreign workers by 2030
Edouard’s business strategy of reaching out to and collaborating with his competitors
How difficult it is for foreign entrepreneurs to do business in Taiwan
How most of Edouard’s customers are people who have just arrived in Taiwan or are new to Taiwan
How housing and banking are two of the most difficult things for foreigners in Taiwan to deal with
The E. Sun Bank branch that offers English service and where Edouard is encouraging foreigners to open bank accounts
Problems that people have encountered with negligent landlords
How Edouard has reached out to the office of the mayor of Taipei through the French Chamber of Commerce about creating a standard of accommodations and contracts
How most housing projects in Taipei are luxury apartments targeted to investors but not to the average resident of Taipei
Last year Taipei city lost inhabitants
Edouard’s thoughts on what to do when the odds are against you
Edouard’s private entrepreneur group of business owners who meet regularly and support each other’s businesses
Katie Moves Taipei, a business that offers Zumba online classes
Taiwan Impact Entrepreneurs Facebook group and what they are doing for foreign entrepreneurs in F&B (food and beverage)
The kombucha beverage company, Daoori
Elias Ek’s efforts to improve things for foreign entrepreneurs in Taiwan
How there needs to be better representation for foreign employees, migrant workers, foreign students
How things have changed for entrepreneurs in Taiwan in the past 10 years since Eduoard’s “lost” episode of Talking Taiwan interview
Edouard’s advice for foreigner entrepreneurs considering doing business in Taiwan
What Edouard loves about Taiwan which includes cycling and being a Tiger Man for the goddess Matsu’s birthday
How Edouard founded one of the biggest sports groups for foreigners in Taiwan
Outdoor sports groups in Taiwan to check out

LISTEN to Episode 192: Edouard Roquette: Today’s Challenges Facing Foreign Entrepreneurs in Taiwan HERE

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Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

LISTEN to Episode 192: Edouard Roquette: Today’s Challenges Facing Foreign Entrepreneurs in Taiwan HERE