Entrepreneurs talk magic cubes, ideas

More than 100 students and alumni of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business attended a forum on entrepreneurship at the Cornell Club in New York City on May 31.

At the event, five local Chinese entrepreneurs made presentations in a lively exchange of ideas and information.

One of the organizers of the event, Wu Xiaojie, said the event fulfilled part of their MBA class requirements.

"We hope the forum can serve as a bridge between entrepreneurs in the US and the innovators in China," Wu said.

The local entrepreneurs from New York told the stories of their start-up businesses, describing the obstacles they had to overcome and the challenges they are facing now.

One of the entrepreneurs, Chen Ronghao, told the group about his invention, the advanced magic cube, a 3-D combination puzzle he invented in 1974 and holds two patents under the toy category in the US and one in China.

Chen said his advanced magic cube increased the challenge and fun for players by combining five normal magic cubes together.

Chen said he tried for almost 10 years to sell the toy in China but he had trouble finding a partner who understood the Chinese market and was willing to help.

The forum, he said, gave him the opportunity to swap ideas with ambitious young Chinese MBA students.

Other local entrepreneurs present were Yang Yikun, founder of Manhattan Goats Media Group; Li Alex, founder of Buckete.com e-commerce website; Li Jing, founder of JingLi US; and Young Simon, president of IntLingo Inc.

The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, was established in November 2002 by a donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation.