1 March 2016
Hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School's Global Business Programs [Global Business Studies (GBS/GLOBE) and International Business and Chinese Enterprise (IBCE)], the Global Business Forum 2016 was held on February 27 to provide a remarkable platform for GLOBE and IBCE students/alumni from Hong Kong, Denmark and the United States to meet, learn and be inspired by successful business leaders and entrepreneurs.
With the theme of "New Normal on Entrepreneurial Leadership," the Forum was attended by around 160 guests, current students from GLOBE/IBCE and business school’s other undergraduate programs, prospective students, alumni and faculty members, including keynote speaker George Yeo, Chairman of Kerry Logistics and Chancellor of Nalanda University; Prof. Benjamin Wah, Provost of CUHK; Prof. Kalok Chan, Dean of CUHK Business School, as well as inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs including: Andrew Reynolds, Managing Director and CFO, Asia-Pacific Region, BlackRock, Inc.; Alan Yip, Chairman and CEO at Guru Online (Holdings) Limited and a CUHK Business School alumnus; Xiang Wang, Senior Vice President at Xiaomi; Danny Yeung, CEO of Prenetics and a serial entrepreneur; and Rudi Spaan, President and CEO of AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited.
Mr. Yeo commented on Hong Kong’s role in China’s "One Belt and One Road" Initiative in his keynote speech entitled "Hong Kong and the New China Trade" saying that: "Historically speaking, China has always been a world unto itself. It interacts through portals with the world outside and one is always needed somewhere in the Pearl River Delta. It is not predestined that this should always be Hong Kong."
"Looking ahead, this is the key challenge for the people of Hong Kong. For Hong Kong to remain an important portal, it must serve the needs of China and remain a hub for air, sea and electronic communication with supporting free trade arrangements and a supportive business culture. 'One country, two systems' helps Hong Kong to maintain this position but discipline is important because Hong Kong exists as a portal only with the permission of China. If China disagrees, the position is lost."
In his speech entitled "21st Century Entrepreneurs", Mr. Reynolds enjoyed meeting and working with entrepreneurs and cited examples of very successfully entrepreneurs.
"I am very fortunate in being able to meet and work with many very successful entrepreneurs. The most exciting part of my career is actually learning and gaining experiences with and from these people," said Mr. Reynolds.
"From the young entrepreneurs I have worked with, I noticed that there are various traits that are common among them. I think the first and most important one is to have passion about your ideas and about you want to do," added Mr. Reynolds. "The only advice I can leave you with is this: Don’t give up and don’t be afraid to take risk."
In his speech on the topic "Internet+ Entrepreneurship", Mr. Yip shared with students the real meaning of entrepreneurship to the society and economy that: "Great entrepreneurs always hold the belief of solving the pain points of users by leveraging the strengths of the Internet."
"Entrepreneurship is more about creating a new business model to generate new demands, via innovation and creativity," said Mr Yip. "Successful startups advance the society and economy as a whole with increased productivity and choices to customers. They also inspire people to take the initiation to be a pioneer."
Founded by Jun Lei in 2010, Xiaomi is a startup with only six years of history, yet the Chinese company has become one of the world's most valuable technology startups. Mr. Wang shared with students the philosophy of success behind Xiaomi in his speech "Xiaomi Model" and stated that "Xiaomi treats its customers as friends but not the God. Being friends mean that the relationship between the company and its customers is equal, and it is very easy to communicate with one another."
"Basically, we have involved our customers in the product development process. In this regard, our customers are part of our engineering and our product team," added Mr. Wang. "For example, one of the most important software we developed is called 'MIUI' which is not only developed by our engineering team but also by millions of MIUI fans."
With passion, perseverance, vision, determination and courage, Mr. Yeung has succeeded in his business ventures in different industries from food and beverage, hotel furniture to e-commerce. He is now moving on to his latest venture in biotechnology, again a completely new industry for him. Mr. Yeung shared with students his inspirational entrepreneurial experiences in his speech "10 Life Lessons of Entrepreneurship".
"Passion will get you far because people love to be around with people with passion. Anything is possible and it shows what passion can do," said Mr. Yeung.
"I do believe that if I am successful, I can impact the society on a bigger scale," said Mr. Yeung. "Dream big! The bigger you dream, the bigger risk it is, and the bigger reward you will give to your society and to yourself as well."
Speaking at the Forum on "Internet of things", Mr. Spaan challenged students to be well prepared for the fast changing business world they will soon enter and encouraged them to lead the way.
"The internet of things is a global phenomenon that only happens once every few generations, it is growing fast, and it changes our everyday life and the way we do business," said Mr. Spaan. "The internet of things is going to change your future jobs, your future clients and almost all future industries and I hope you are ready for this exciting era."
Commenting on the event’s theme, Dr. John Lai, Assistant Dean (Undergraduate Studies) and Director of Global Business Programs at CUHK Business School, said: "We are in the era of entrepreneurial economy. The challenge of course is taking the very first step – to become a participant rather than a spectator. In turning dreams into realities, would-be entrepreneurs will face immense challenges in an environment where the only certainty is uncertainty and exploiting challenges as opportunities coupled with the spirit of continuous learning and re-learning."
"Entrepreneurs are ordinary people doing extraordinary things; it is so much more than just making money or profits as successful entrepreneurs will achieve goals while creating values for others along the way. With the shift from a 'managerial' to 'entrepreneur' economy, CUHK Business School is committed to developing talents that will help them adapt to the 'New Normal' and achieve their vision," said Dr. Lai.
