Seizing the Moment: Entrepreneurs in China

Seizing the Moment: Entrepreneurs in China
Apr 22, 2011 By Paul Bacon , eChinacities.com

In one of my recent articles, I began to explore the idea of jobs and opportunities for Westerners away from the more traditional area of teaching English. One of the areas I touched on was becoming an entrepreneur, starting a business here in China. For many, the potential barriers to such an endeavour – culture, language, finance, bureaucracy – seem far too steep. However, there are those who have put their money where there mouth is, braved the seas of guanxi and the mounds of paperwork, and made their own mark on the Chinese market.


Byron Constable, Photo: tech.163.com

We are now profiling some of the most successful examples of people who have done so – to help show you how it's done. With each of the individuals there are some clear recurrent themes – a history in China, hard work, the ability to seize an opportunity, being in the right place at the right time, and a healthy slice of luck.

Ken Carroll – ChinesePod/Kai En Language Training Centers
We start with Ken Carroll because, like many Westerners, he first came to China to teach English – way back in 1994. However, life as a teacher was not enough for the adventurous Irishman. He spotted a gap in the market and, in 1996, began his own English language school, Kai En. There are now a chain of these schools around Shanghai. He was not finished there, though. With the growth of the internet he found room in the market for new forms of learning, away from traditional teacher-based classes. So, he decided to utilize the idea of a podcast.

From the outset, Carroll was wary that Chinese web-users may well be skeptical of paying for the use of a podcast – we all know how well Intellectual property rights are protected here! So, after he decided to explore the idea of podcasts for English speakers learning Mandarin, ChinesePod was born. The idea took off quickly. By 2006, it was registering 20,000 downloads per day. The benefit for Carroll was that it was relatively cheap, and relatively easy to set up. He told the British newspaper The Guardian, “You only need one teacher to reach an audience of potentially hundreds of thousands,” adding, “We see enormous potential for this approach, to attack market segments that would never otherwise spend money in this context - people who would not take evening classes to learn Chinese, people who wouldn't buy a set of books and CD-ROMs.”

In a 2008 interview with the British magazine Esquire, Ken outlined some of the issues he thinks are key in developing your own business here in China, “The big challenge lies in partnering with the right local people. Culturally, there is a huge gap in understanding, expectations and procedures – and that causes most endeavours here to fail. It helps to be young, foolish and very, very lucky”.

Byron Constable – Internet Entrepreneur
Like Carroll, Byron Constable has been in China since well before the turn of the millennium. He wasted no time in becoming the leading voice in China for online marketing, founding Wanmo, originally known as madeforchina, in 1997. Since then, Wanmo has grown to dominate targeted online advertising, boasting a client book featuring major multinationals like Lenovo and Mercedes-Benz. He followed this by creating the country’s largest permission-based email list. Since then, Constable has developed into one of China’s leading experts on online marketing and has consulted with the Chinese government on international online security collaboration.

However, after 12 years in China, Constable is realistic and decidedly pragmatic about doing business here. He told Esquire, “Rule one: never accept anything from anyone without putting up a tussle, especially when the bill arrives.” He also added some advice on what it takes to succeed in the Middle Kingdom, “There are vast opportunities to sell people here in China. The gold is not in the hills, but in people’s pockets. Persuasive storytelling and a reputation for listening, learning and treating people with respect will fill your treasure chest.”

Mark Baldwin – Recruitment Specialist
As China-hands go, few come more experienced than Mark Baldwin. He came to China in 1994 after working in Hong Kong for five years building a specialist recruitment agency. Although he originally moved to Beijing simply to study Chinese, he was quick to spot the major problems faced by multinational companies in China that were looking to find talented Chinese employees. So, he used his recruitment background to set up Alliance Executive Search, the forerunner of China’s largest job board, Zhaopin. Things started on a very small level, with just a few phones and a handful of Chinese employees. However, his client base grew faster than he could have ever imagined and, in 1997, he joined forces with Robert Zhang and Steven Chiu to officially found Zhaopin.

Zhaopin grew remarkably quick, and soon became an internet powerhouse, spawning hundreds of copycat sites cashing in on China’s desperate shortage of talent. By 2000, Zhaopin housed over 5,500 job listings for 350 companies in 70 cities across China. After leaving Zhaopin in 2002 – although he still sits on the board – he began work on another new business, Oxus China, which officially launched in 2007.

Morry Morgan – ClarkMorgan Corporate Training
The story of this Australian entrepreneur began in Shanghai back in 2001. He was another laowai who wasted no time in getting moving. He described the birth of ClarkMorgan exclusively to eChinacities.com, "Six months, even if it kills me. This is what I said to myself when I landed in Shanghai back in April 2001. Almost nine years on, I'm pleased to say that I'm alive and well, mostly due to a serendipitous meeting with an English bloke called Andy Clark, minutes after I put my bags down in the residence of my new employer. ‘Hello, I'm Andy Clark’. ‘G'day. I'm Morry Morgan.’ Three months later, ClarkMorgan Corporate Training was born, and we haven't looked back.”

Since then, ClarkMorgan has grown into one of the largest corporate training companies in China, serving major multinational clients across the country and housing offices in eight cities. This process, though, has been by no means easy. Morry outlined some of the challenges he and his partner faced, “Nine years ago when I started ClarkMorgan, it took 16 visits to the Xujiahui District office to register the company. Today, with the help of a consulting company, the whole process takes almost the same amount of time, but the taxi trips are reduced.” He added, “Financially speaking, it is hard to get traditional funding from banks, even basic overdrafts. This means that managing cash flow is even more important than in the West.”
 

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5 Comments

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MaggieN

You mean "Jeff Lunz". ClarkMorgan now has an Australian office and a board of directors. Morry is still with the company and is based in Australia, although he comes to China every 6 weeks. His role is to expand their offering across Asia Pacific and they have done trainings in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and soon the Middle East. They have also partnered with training companies in Italy and the USA. This article was written in 2011 and ClarkMorgan is still very strong. That must infuriate some of the people in this thread!

Sep 10, 2015 12:46 Report Abuse

Eric Hawkins

After doing business with the Chinese manufactures of renewable energy over the past 12 years and 3 investments lost to the partner I trusted !, I am now on my 4th and final attempt to sell a system, called Solar SpeedFlex to the Chinese solar industry who export world wide and in the China market always go for the cheapest, that of pex pipe and cheep leaking fittings.
My first showing is in Beijing exhibition centre this week after show casing the SpeedFlex system with a Chinese manufacture of solar water heating, system who promote the use of copper pipe which they dont sell or make any money from.
With 6 years importing this stainess steel flexible pipe to the British, I started to believe I can now sell it to the Chinese as well as exports.
Anybody interested in a small investment flutter adding to our £50,000 cash pot, please contact me in China

Jun 21, 2011 06:20 Report Abuse

B.A.D

Good point. I find that quite a few of these articles are really wishy-washy and at worst quite inaccurate and misleading...Has no one heard of English first or United family hospitals? Blue frog? Element Fresh? You could have profiled the Book Worm...not a multimillion dollar enterprise I know but it offers a unique culture that expats can't get elsewhere in Beijing. I mean think outside the box please! Just because you are foreign does not mean the only thing you have to offer is English

Apr 27, 2011 00:34 Report Abuse

Morry Morgan

Again, you put things into perspective, Mum.

Say hello to Dad for me ;)

Nov 10, 2011 04:10 Report Abuse