What follows was published 4 years ago: http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/biotech/story/1168318/.
I will be updating in coming months.
Editor's note: Triangle entrepreneur Grace Whi-Tze Ueng is founder and chief executive officer of Savvy Marketing Group. She recently visited China, the native land of her parents who moved to the United States during the Communist revolution.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - Not a day goes by without seeing an article in the Wall Street Journal or national news about the changing of the government and business scenery in China -- often noted to be entering its third generation of evolution.
How does this impact companies in RTP seeking to enter China? How can the Triangle investment community best prepare to diversify their portfolios and leverage the innovation bubble that is taking placing place now in China?
Having just returned from a fascinating two week trip to Shanghai and Beijing, my head is still spinning with ideas on how I might best help the global community in adding value to the China business food chain while at the same time return to my roots from which my parents fled the communist takeover back in 1949.
Here are my top 10 findings from my visit to China:
10. Case Study: Harvard Business School Club of Shanghai - Dinner at the MoCA: At an elegant dinner event at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art whose gardens and exhibits put NYC to shame, I had the opportunity to have a good glimpse into the new China business scene.
When I arrived, I ran into a brand new Harvard Business School graduate who had literally just stepped off a plane from Boston to attend this soiree -- she was dressed like a fashion model in Paris. She was about to start as an associate at Bain Shanghai, where I had worked as a consultant in their Boston global headquarters twenty years earlier. She had started a business the summer prior called Dog Ego, a high end store to service the pups of the growing middle class with disposable income. Harvard Business School had sent a tenured delegation to China for a week -- several of these professors
I had just seen for my 15th year reunion the week prior in Boston. They experienced an unbelievable week of learning that they planned to take back to campus.
Mingling And Learning
I had the opportunity to mingle with Chinese alumni who are making things happen in all different industries from the Internet to women's clothing. It was interesting to note an older entrepreneur who recognized the rapidly growing middle class and its purchasing power and had his focus squarely on a segment of very affordable clothing.
Sitting on the other side of me was a advisory partner to Greylock Partners who had come to learn more -- he started the VC industry in the US when no one knew what it was -- now he was witnessing a new wave starting in China. I ran into a classmate just sent by his Wall Street firm to focus on investigating manufacturing investment opportunities.
Then I learned of a 90-year-old philanthropist who in the last decade established a fund to give anyone in China who gets into Harvard Business School a full scholarship -- the good news is that some no longer need this generous offer today.
In my entering class 17 years ago, there was only one student from China who came thanks to an American sponsor -- now there are scores from China in each entering class. And now they have the opportunity to give back so that future generations of Chinese can continue to add value to the China business food chain -- building a strong and lasting infrastructure -- as strong as the Great Wall of China -- to be seen "from the moon".
I showed my 9 year old son the meager home where his grandfather was raised in the countryside several hours from Shanghai. My parents were the only ones from their respective families who escaped via Taiwan for college and came to the US for graduate schooling. That is the way many people escaped for a "better life". They sent money each month back home. They wanted us to have the life they had wanted but lacked the funds and opportunity. My mother had wanted to study piano when she fled China. My sister went to Juilliard and holds a doctorate in musical arts. My father had wanted to study at CalTech or MIT. I went to MIT and Harvard Business School.
Now their families in China have a "good life" and are living happier times. My parents, retired and living in Atlanta, now romanticize often about returning to China for a "better life" too.
With patience, intelligence and persistence, China represents a monumental opportunity for American businesses. China is hungry for our know-how and products and seeks to master innovation. If we seize the moment, their success will be our success, their "better life" will be our "better life".
