Japan Entrepreneurs & Presidents Association (JEPA) is a membership organization founded in 1977 as a means to support small and medium-sized business owners to further improve their commerce, create opportunities, and promote their businesses domestically and internationally. Our services include strategic consulting, legal and other professional services introductions, publishing newsletters, and organizing business conferences, symposiums and overseas business delegations.

We currently have more than 8,000 active members.
Facing the economic challenges of today, our full efforts are dedicated to supporting our member entrepreneurs and enterprises in their drive to progress and globalization based on the firm trust of our economic organization by introducing and connecting with foreign businesses. JEPA will keep moving forward together with the small and medium-sized business owners who make up the backbone of the Japanese economy.


Hitomi Tokuda
Executive Director

ENCOURAGING BUSINESS

JEPA exists to encourage business and to help develop business opportunities. It represents the medium to small businesses;
those businesses who have a vital role for economic growth and development. These companies are creating new industries, new markets and new joint ventures and JEPA provides the information and partnership opportunities to enable companies to develop domestic and international business relationships.

15,000 MEMBERSHIP

Established in Tokyo in 1977, JEPA today represents over 15,000 commercial, industrial and financial organisations and individuals and has became one of Japan's largest peak bodies of SMEs. JEPA early this year had 48,000 small and middle sized enterprises, 800 large corporations and 5,600 overseas enterprises which were allied and cooperative to JEPA.

To meet with the rapid expansion of business and the internationalisation of the association, JEPA placed its office at the central and prestigious ARK Hills in central Tokyo. The office is situated next to the ANA Hotel and is in walking distance of a number of embassies and government offices.

JEPA staff currently numbers some 30 people. Mr. Tsuneo shimoji is chairman.

CORPORATE MEMBERS

The breakdown of corporate members is as follows:
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Mining 16.5%
Manufacturing, Wholesale, Retail 30.5%
Construction, Real Estate 15.0%
Transportation, Communication, Electricity, Gas 20.5%
Financing, Servicing 17.5%

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS

Professional members account for 18% of JEPA's membership and 15% are individual members. Of the professional members some 35% are business consultants, 24% accountants and 16% Lawyers or patent attorneys.

Tsuneo Shimoji, Chairman of the Japan Entrepreneurs and Presidents Association,
Founded JEPA in 1977 to mobilise support for small- to medium-sized business.
As a small businessman himself, Shimoji discovered first-hand the problems that confront small business because of lack of knowledge and information.
Since arriving in Tokyo as a teenager, he has been involved in the small business sector
Through wholesaling of various merchandises.

When he decided to establish JEPA to help SMEs, he found support from a number of prominent Japanese, including Takeo Fukuda (a former Prime Minister ) and Shintaro Ishihara (a former Minister of Transportation) and business leaders.
Today, Shimoji travels many countries to make contacts for his members. He has been invited even to the White House for a meeting with President Bill Clinton.
In 1981, Shimoji founded the Japan - Asean Society. His other business interests include the Japan Ownership Resort (alias JORI), Inc., which he jointly established with Marriott
Corporation. JORI acted as exclusive agent in Japan for the marketing of the timeshare products of Marriott Ownership Resort Inc.
　JEPA is affiliated to 48,000 small-and medium-sized enterprises, 800 large corporations and 5,600 overseas' enterprises.
　Born in Miyako Island of Okinawa Prefecture, Shimoji, his wife, and son have made Tokyo their home

JEPA is structured and operated to gain practical results for its members. It is not merely a social club for managers, nor a group for social work.
The Association comprises a group of pioneering managers who are making efforts to realise the ideal economic society, cooperating with each other in acquiring reasonable profits in their businesses and steadily pursuing basic studies on the new picture of a successful enterprise. The group has connections with the leading organisers, policy planning committee members and technical specialists in the political, economic, governmental and academic fields, and is principally engage in activities directly related to industrial profitability.
JEPA has been structured to offer opportunities for communication among people in various types of business, the Association's staff assisting members with every effort.
JEPA has been seen to provide a highly useful and effective network, enabling communication between companies and executives and also information interchange.
JEPA has established its program for the 21st Century, a program which offers information to members concerning management, business development, politics and economy.
This information is available from top-level leaders in the political, economic, governmental and academic spheres. Various meeting are organised to enable members the opportunity to access unpublished information and to further networking. Unlike other organisations, and having learnt the lessons from the failures of other organisations, JEPA is structured and operated to gain practical results for its members.
It is involved in the following activities:　

・Company introductions and sales promotions
・Cultivation of new marketing channels
・Joint development of technologies
・Consultations on Mergers and Acquisitions
・Financial consultations
・Legal advice and tax information
・Specialised meeting; expert meeting; study meetings
・Special seminars
・Communication with overseas economic experts and groups
・Provision of company brochures and product catalogues
・Human resources activities, including recruitment

BENEFITS FOR OVERSEAS MEMBERS
JEPA can assist overseas members in Japan to
・Know your consumers or customers
・Tailor your products and services to the market
・Be sensitive to Japanese cultural and business differences
・Penetrate the multi-tier distribution system
・Help develop your company name and reputation
JEPA also plans and operates projects such as event operation,
showcases, seminars and symposiums for overseas members entering the Japanese market.

PREVIOUS MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS
・Promoting interchange activities between small and medium enterprises.
Regular Monthly Seminar from 1982
Monthly Breakfast Roundtable Conference from 1982
The JEPA Symposium from 1982
Special Subcommittee Meeting from 1984
Interchange Grand Party for diverse industries from 1986
Opened Consulting Centers as ' The Administrative Salon' and ' JEPA Consulting center' from 1987
Issued Monthly Newsletter ' Japan Presidents Journal' from 1988
JEPA Special Lecture Meeting from 1988
Aga Forum from 1994
JEPA Summit Business Forum from 1996
JEPA Silver Industry Forum from 1997
Sponsored the 1997's Year-end Charity Party 1997
M&A Management Research Forum 1997

・Receiving Incoming Mission
Mission of Canada Tourism and Recreation Bureau ('88)
Mission of Shanghai Municipal Government ('89)
Garland Mission from Garland, Texas, U.S.A. ('89)
Thailand Invest Promotion Mission ('89)
Polish Economic Mission ('94)
Industrial delegation from Utar Pradesh of India ('94)
Romania Trade Delegation ('96)
Romanian Economic and Trade Development Delegation ('97)

・Dispatching Outgoing Mission
JEPA First Market Study Group to Munich, Berlin, Geneva, Paris, and London ('85)
JEPA Economic delegation to Indonesia ('87)
JEPA First Japan-China Economic and Trade Cooperation delegation to Shanghai ('88)
JEPA Second Japan-China Economic and Trade Cooperative delegation to Peijing, Shanghai, Tientsin ('88)
Economic and Trade Cooperative delegation to Sydney, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Australia ('88)
JEPA Third Japan-China Economic and Trade Cooperative delegation to Guangzhou, Hainan Dao, China ('89)
JEPA Economic delegation to Thailand ('89) ('90)
JEPA Economic delegation to U.S.A. ('89)('90) ('95)
JEPA Economic delegation to Peru ('90)
JEPA Study Group to U.S.A. ('91)
JEPA First Japan-American Friendship delegation to U.S.A. ('91)
JEPA Study delegation to Jarkata, Indonesia ('93)
JEPA Trade delegation to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China ('93)
JEPA delegation to WASME International Conference held at Istanbul, Turkey ('94)
JEPA Trade Cooperative delegation to Hong Kong ('95)

・Business Support Operations JEPA Travel Center set-up ('89)
JEPA Business Fair ('89)
JEPA Kanagawa Forum ('90)
United Recruiting Meeting for New Graduates ('92)

・Business Tie-up with Overseas Groups
Concluded tie-up agreement with ' The Company Directors Association of Australia '('88)
Exchanged business tie-up agreement with Black Financial Services., Inc. U.S.A. ('93)
Concluded business tie-up agreement with Ashurst Morris Grisp of London ('94)
Affiliated with World Association for Small & Medium Enterprises ('95)
Exchanged tie-up memorandum with Federation of Indian Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) ('95)

BRANCH OFFICES
Australian Branch in Sydney
Indian Branch in New Delhi