Chasing the dream in a foreign land

A different breed of entrepreneurs

Wang Jiaonan, a manager with the venture valley at Tongji University, said the ideas that foreign young entrepreneurs have are usually different from locals.

"They are open to pursuing a trial-and-error approach at the start of their business whereas Chinese are more cautious and usually only start their businesses when they deem a product to be mature enough to become an instant hit in the market," she said, adding that five of the 300 projects at the venture valley were started by foreign students.

Wang also noted that foreigners have a penchant for deriving business ideas from social problems they come across.

Koh Kok Yong is one such entrepreneur. The Singaporean, who spent eight years on his undergraduate and graduate studies at Fudan University, is determined to help reduce the city's garbage output which he said is more than 20,000 tons every day.

In 2014, he started his company Shanghai Xutao Greentech Ltd to facilitate the recycling of second-hand clothes. After reaching agreements with property managers of various communities, the company placed more than 3,000 green iron boxes in residential neighborhoods throughout the city. Koh said that about 300 tons of second-hand clothes are collected from these boxes every month.

Clothes in good condition are disinfected and donated to impoverished Chinese regions while the rest are sold to foreign countries or local plants that turn them into items such as carpets and vehicle interiors.

He pointed out that the policies to encourage entrepreneurship have been very helpful. Last year, the company received 200,000 yuan ($29,000) from the district's science and technology commission and this allowed them to upgrade their donation boxes to electronic ones. Clothing donors can now download a smart phone app and receive reward points that can be exchanged for daily necessities.

The electronic upgrade has also helped the company to be more efficient as staff can now determine if a box is full without having to make a trip to its location.

"We'll begin recycling plastic and glass bottles as well as pop-top cans later this year. We hope to reach out to more cities soon too," said Koh.

"Though I've decided to settle down here, what I would do is not only for myself, but also for Shanghai and its people of the current and future generations."

Koh isn't the only person who has developed feelings for his adopted home country. Alliot Aymeric from France, who is in the second year of his master's degree at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, is planning to start a business to share his love of Chinese culture with his compatriots.

The 25-year-old's business plan revolves around a smart phone application that can be used for cultural exchange. For example, French students in Shanghai can host casual classes to teach their Chinese counterparts the language while Chinese students can join classes and learn aspects about French culture.

"Since I arrived at this land of opportunities, I feel that the Chinese have been very nice to me and I want to return them the favor by sharing French culture with the people here," he said.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn