“I’m pleased to announce today, in collaboration with Alibaba.com, the creation of the Schwarzenegger Emerging Entrepreneur Initiative,” Schwarzenegger said. “As the 8^th largest economy in the world and the home of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, California has long been a cultural and economic pace-setter for America and the world. With the launch of this program, we hope to stimulate job creation and continue the state’s tradition as the cradle of some of the world’s greatest innovations.”

Alibaba.com will invest US$3 million in the program and will provide an Entrepreneur Start-up Kit to students, including in-classroom instruction and web-based consultation, as well as free or reduced-cost tools from Alibaba.com platforms that will allow grads to manage their businesses from sourcing products to online retail. This program, the details of which are still under development, will be offered throughout 2011 in conjunction with 15 state-owned colleges and universities throughout California.

The idea for the Emerging Entrepreneur Initiative was coordinated with Gov. Schwarzenegger, who on Sept. 11, was keynote speaker at Alibaba Group’s Annual Netrepreneur Summit in Hangzhou, China. Alibaba.com officials noted that California is the company’s largest buyer market, in which users take advantage of products and services at no cost to themselves to cut costs and grow their businesses. In the past few months, Ailibaba.com made two major acquisitions of established California e-commerce companies (Vendio and Auctiva), increasing its employment base in the state from 25 to nearly 200.”

At the same time Gov. Schwarzenegger was visiting Hangzhou, Alibaba.com was hosting a group of 50 entrepreneurial college students, members of the Kairos Society, at the Netrepreneur Summit, as part of a newly created company effort called the Entrepreneur Abroad program.

“In 2110, Alibaba.com noticed a trend in its users,” explained Alibaba.com CEO David Wei. ”In the wake of the economic downturn, more and more college students are forgoing joining companies upon graduation and are instead starting their own businesses while still in school, sourcing their products through Alibaba.com.” Kairos Society members have started companies engaged on a wide range of industries, including alternative energy solutions, home décor products, breath mints, shoes, clothing, and restaurants. “This wouldn’t have been possible several years ago, but the Internet is bringing the world together and making starting a business easier because it gives even small companies a low-cost way to reach suppliers and customers all over the world,” Wei said.

With 65% of new jobs created in the U.S. coming from small businesses, giving more students the direct tools and knowledge they need to launch viable, sustainable companies will promote even more job growth in the future. This is the concept behind the Emerging Entrepreneur Initiative.

This year’s conference theme is “Drivers for Growth and Innovation”, highlighting the emerging and fast growing high-tech industry in China. Featured keynote and panel sessions will cover a variety of topics, including “China Leading the Next Wave of Innovation”, “Demystifying Science Parks in China”, and “Investments from VC Perspective”. Robin Li, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Baidu, Inc. and Qi Lu, President of Online Services Group of Microsoft, will give a keynote speech and also share their experience and insights of today’s high-tech industry, as well as future growth and opportunities.

MAJOR THEMES OF 2010 CONFERENCE

-Clean-Tech

-Global Services Panel 1 & 2

-China Leading the Next Wave of Innovation

-Entrepreneurship in China

-Demystifying Science Parks in China

-Investments from VC Perspective

-Social Entrepreneurship

-Thinking Through Exit Strategy

-Entrepreneurship in China

China Delegations

This year we are greatly honored to have multiple delegations from China. These delegations represent well known government agencies and corporations. They will actively engage in panel discussions and showcases and also provide a dedicated speech about opportunities, trends and talents needs in China. They will answer live questions and inquiries from audience and attendees in China. Among confirmed delegations are:

• Shanda Holdings, is a leading game and media company based at Shanghai.
• Beijing Overseas Talent Center, which is a government ran recruiting agency that specifically focuses at bringing overseas Chinese elites back to China.
• Beijing ZhongGuanCun Management Committee, which is the managing organization that oversees and supports the largest science and high tech park in China.
• Mayor’s office, ShenZhen.
• Beijing Legend Star, which is the one of the very first private organization that focuses on nurturing entrepreneurship in China.

More information on the event as well as speaking information can be found on http://www.hysta.org/ac2010/

Never has the demand of green city been that pressing before because of the limits of carrying capacity of economy and environment. The China Green City Summit 2010 is to explore the market itself and newly released policies and regulations. The summit will provide a platform to bring together international experts and leaders to address concerns, put forward proposals and eventually agree on the solutions. Distinguished industry leaders and experts will be gathered here to address concerns in urban planning, renewable energy, waste management, green building, and public transportation.

During the next ten years, China will be in a rapid urbanization development stage. The green city strategy is in full swing with the support from government, which benefits the China environment protection industry to a great extent.

This summit will be held at Hilton, Chongqing, China.

I was expecting this to happen to China and it did. The Wall Street Journal has a report Rising Wages Rattle China’s Small Manufacturers that explains the implications of rising labor costs:

“Wages in China have been rising for years, but pressure is now particularly strong as the rebound in the nation’s economy runs up against the shrinking supply of younger workers caused by the one-child policy. Big foreign companies have felt the effects, with the local operations of Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. hit by strikes and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of electronics, promising raises of at least 30%.

But the impact could be even more pronounced on China’s more than 10 million small businesses, which account for 60% of the economy and 80% of jobs. Many small, light manufacturing businesses crowd together in highly specialized “clusters,” particularly here in Zhejiang province on the eastern coast. “The cluster-based model is labor-intensive. The real question is whether it can survive in the new environment of labor scarcity and higher labor costs,” says Zhang Xiaobo, an economist at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, who has researched the effect of clusters on rural development. “Right now is a critical transitional period. Some clusters will survive, some will collapse.”"

(PRWEB) June 10, 2010 — Dragon Business Network’s newly launched Business Xchange provides a direct, effective way for Western businesses to find new opportunities in China, with leads ranging from interactive smartboard technology to banking contacts to frozen fish. In the Xchange, business people can search for, or post, leads and opportunities related to their business interests.

“North American and European businesses have their eyes set on China for future growth, but making the right connections can be a road block,” said Dragon CEO Ed Choong. “We created our Business Xchange to help facilitate business with China for our members and anyone involved in China business or trade.”

Dragon Business Network (http://www.dragonbn.com) is a networking site specifically designed for people and companies doing business with China. Business people in China and around the world use the site to make new contacts, find business opportunities and share tips and knowledge related to China business.

The site, which soft-launched in April this year, is fast-becoming a key central resource for anyone with China business interests.

“We want to increase our members visibility in the China business community and we want them to be successful. The Business Xchange is the latest of a series of new tools we will be launching to fulfill that mission.”

Dragon Business Network also features a blog (http://blog.dragonbn.com) with news and articles by China experts, an up-to-date listing of all business networking events happening in China, and comprehensive networking tools and resources.

Membership is free while the site is in beta test.

Chinese’ passion for start-ups brings up many companies with great potential

The Chinese may be one of the most passionate about start-ups. This is especially the truth when it comes to online games, an industry which has an abundance of opportunities. Many, for example Shang Jin (Qilin Games) and Wang Feng (Linekong), chose start-up as a way for self-fulfillment after their initial success or acquisition of certain resources. Shang and Wang, as well as many others blessed with capital or resources, founded businesses that prove to be of great potential for investors.

According to “Report on China’s Game Industry 2009”, there are approximately 750 game development companies in China; in 2009, China boosted a revenue from online games amounting to $40 billion, 39.4% higher than 2008; those games developed by the Chinese record a revenue of $2.4 billion, or 64.5% of the total, and a 50.1% increase compared with the previous year. In the same year, 64 “made-in-China” online games developed by 29 Chinese companies were sold to over 40 countries and districts around the globe, with revenue of $109 million, up 53.9% compared with 2008. Moreover, during the same period of time, mobile game sales reached $100 million, a 25% increase. The number of online game players grew to 65.87 million, with an increase of 33.46% while the number of those paid players reached 37.15 million, an increase of 22.1%.

These statistics indicate that there are already a number of game enterprises in China, which boosts the largest population of game players but few of them are listed companies. This is due to, on the one hand, the absence of appropriate listing mechanism for them, and on the other hand, the lack of knowledge for investment and financing by the company owners and executives. As it is commented by Victor Huang, Vice President of China Renaissance, now there should be timely and effective communication between the capital market and digital entertainment market, through which the two sides will better know one another and in turn, to seek more opportunities for cooperation.

As revealed by Mr. Hugo Shong, founding partner of IDG Capital Partners, in the CGBC Summit Forum in 2009, games developed by the Chinese saw an increase in their sales of over 60% that year. In fact, Chinese online game companies are becoming more and more valuable for investors with the introduction of Start-up Board in China and the increase of exits for the industry.

With proper funding and guidance from investing and financing organizations, these online game companies are able to see how far they can go, which in terms of economics of course is what return rate they can achieve——7000% is by no means a fairy tale. Actually, this fast growing industry has already attracted funding from many enterprises dealing with production and manufacturing, for example, businessmen from Zhejiang invested in Shendiao Online and Delixi funded in Uqu. They are clear proof that online game industry is to become the next “star” in investment.

CGBC I&F Forum, a fast track for talks between capital and enterprises

China Game Business Conference (CGBC), which is held along with ChinaJoy, has held “Investment and Funding Forum” for the past four years and this year it will continue to be an important part of the conference. For 2010, CGBC, in partnership with China Renaissance Capital Partners which has been awarded “New Investment Bank of the Year” for four consecutive years, will send its invitation to investors across the globe to find their opportunities in CGBC.

Every year, hundreds of medium and small sized game companies (with employees of fewer than 150) come together at ChinaJoy. These three conferences, ChinaJoy, CGBC and CGDC, are not only a festival to celebrate their success, but also a market for them to seek business opportunities: they show themselves, talk with investors and look for the right one who would believe in their potential and pour in money. It is through this capitalization that they will find the fast track to success. Any of them may have the chance, with such support, to flourish, to get listed in a few years and become the next legend to tell about online game investment.

No wonder someone joked that deals worth millions of dollars may be born just like that, right in the cafe outside ChinaJoy/CGBC/CGDC.

For more information, please visit http://www.chinagbc.com.cn

Subject solicitation (with prizes)—– http://www.chinagbc.com.cn/YiTiZhengJiList.aspx

About CGBC

China Game Business Conference (CGBC) is the largest and most distinguished business event in China’s game industry and its related industries. It is held in late July annually at Shanghai International Conference Center simultaneously with ChinaJoy. Through seven years’ rapid and sustainable development with China’s game industry and its related industries, CGBC has become an optimal platform for discussions, education, exchanges and networking centering on the development of China’s game industry. The forthcoming CGBC 2010 will continue to expand its scale and scope to include the Summit Forum, the SNS & Social Game Forum, the Investment & Financing Forum, the Media Marketing Forum, the International Cooperation Forum, the Webgame Forum, the In-game Advertising Forum, the Mobile Internet Entertainment Forum, the Serious Game Forum.

Zvi Shalgo, Founder and CEO of PTL Group, who has been recently appointed as the Chairman of the Israel Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, was invited to share his personal and valuable experience of helping numerous Israeli companies to establish and manage their business presence in China for the last 14 years.

Prof. Gadi Ariav, an expert of international business management opened the seminar by saying that nowadays there is no excuse to fail when doing business overseas. Israeli entrepreneurs and companies should learn from the experience that Israeli businessmen have accumulated over the last decade.

Mr. Shalgo stressed the point that many foreign companies don’t realize how important the process of recruiting local Chinese employees is. Later they also fail to manage their Chinese team. He believes that only local Chinese professionals should sell the products of the foreign companies in China. There has to be a local control and supervision platform around the Chinese Manager, which will regulate the company’s financial and logistics activities and allow the Manager to concentrate on the business development and sales activities.

Talking about the future of the Israeli export to China, Mr. Shalgo mentioned that 90% of the competition usually comes from the local companies, which have strong local government support. In order to be competitive Israeli companies have to localize their supply chain and manufacturing.

Mr. Effi Wachtel, President and CEO of RAD Data Communications, who has been doing business in China since 1990, supported Mr. Shalgo’s opinion by adding that the best way to operate in China is to set up a company that does it all: R&D, manufacturing and sales.

Prof. Ariav said that the companies must work in China but most of them are afraid.

The general consensus of all the speakers was that giving up on the Chinese market is a crucial mistake, which will be hard to correct in the future.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend “Opportunities in the Chinese Market” conference, you may review its recorded version online at http://www.youtube.com/v/o2VHCBQMtYQ (in Hebrew)

About PTL Group:
PTL Group is a corporate founding member of the Israeli Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. PTL Group provides outsourced management solutions and ready made infrastructures (4PL) supporting independent sales efforts in China and turnaround management of foreign operations in China (www.ptl-group.com).

About MIT Enterprise Forum Israel:
The MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel is the Israeli chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a global non-profit organization (started at MIT, 1978) dedicated to promoting the growth and success of high-tech entrepreneurial ventures by connecting ideas, technology and people (www.mit-forum.org.il).

The free site serves as a repository of information about starting and running a successful online business. IntroducingSuccess includes detailed guidance on all avenues from website tips to international product sourcing — including practical know-how on increasing profits through easy dealings with China-based suppliers.

The site, a first of its kind in this market, features a team of animated professionals all working for fictional start-up company, “SuccessCo.” Each team member has a specific area of expertise, such as Susan Oliviera in Accounting and Richard Cooke in Operations, all headed by CEO and Founder, Maggie Succesco. They share their insights and resources with visitors in an easy-to-navigate virtual office space.

Introducing Success is broken into three primary areas. The first is for ecommerce novices and provides a questionnaire for would-be-entrepreneurs and details on starting a business. The second section which provides content ranging from web design tricks to shipping options is geared towards those who might already be retailing, just not online using an international sourcing model. The last section includes marketing and sales tips that can be used by newcomers or experienced sellers. The site also features valuable information on doing business with China.

Ecommerce pioneer DHgate.com is the first Chinese company to specifically focus on helping western business owners get the most out of trade with China by addressing everything from “Chinese Business Practices” and “Choosing the Right Supplier,” to useful resources such as “Taxes, Duties and Customs Considerations.”

This innovative thinking is typical of DHgate.com and Founder and CEO, Diane Wang.

Diane is an experienced entrepreneur who left senior management positions at Cisco and Microsoft to start Joyo.com, which she grew to China’s most successful B2C site and was subsequently acquired by Amazon in 2004. Having been an ambitious online retailer with little start-up capital, Diane learned the hard way that international trade with China could be made much easier. She launched DHgate.com that same year.

“DHgate.com takes the hassle out of cross-border trade with China, allowing safe transactions to take place in a few clicks of the mouse. 1.5 million small businesses have been able to grow their profits through purchasing from the 500,000 China suppliers on DHgate.com, and IntroducingSuccess.com has been created to take that further.”

IntroducingSuccess.com is a resource hub that helps with the other fundamentals, and is designed to save businesses time and money.

“It was also important to me that the site doesn’t just cater to those businesses which use DHgate.com to buy their inventory — we wanted it to be a place that ANYONE interested in starting an online shop could go for information. That’s why we used a virtual office and separate URL.”

As a market-maker, DHgate.com adopts a forward thinking business model, based on providing “freemium” (free and premium) services to business owners. IntroducingSuccess.com is a free, value-added service which complements the free membership model offered by the DHgate platform. On DHgate.com buyers pay nothing upfront; DHgate earns its revenue through commissions paid by the seller-only after a transaction is completed successfully.

The company is focused on providing easy access for buyers to learn more about making the most of China’s supplier base and making the most of the boom in ecommerce. They frequently update their Facebook page and Twitter accounts as well as running two popular blogs. Blog.dhgate.com focuses on wholesale trends and The Gateway Blog (http://www.thegatewayblog.com ) shares Diane’s personal advice to entrepreneurs and retailers. With webinars, podcasts and even a YouTube Channel in store for 2010, buyers will find DHgate.com a hub for all their business needs. And starting this month, Diane will also host a regular blog entitled “The View from China” on http://www.PracticalEcommerce.com .

As Diane says, “It’s not just about transactions — It’s about leveling the playing field for businesses of all sizes and opening up China to the world.”

About DHgate.com

DHgate.com is a leading online marketplace for the world’s small and medium size businesses and the largest China-based wholesale trading platform in the world. Founded in 2004 by former Joyo.com CEO, Diane Wang, DHgate serves over 1.4 million registered buyers from 230 international locations and in excess of 500,000 China-based sellers. Offering over 20 million product listings at any one time, DHgate.com facilitates thousands of successful transactions per day. DHgate.com now employs over 300 full-time employees and generates annual transaction volumes well in excess of USD$250 million. DHgate.com recently received the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 China 2008 and 2009 award.

Under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping’s theory, CYEA carries out the basic lines of Chinese People’s Communist Party and helps young entrepreneurs to study and develop their causes.

The main tasks of CYEA are as follows:

1. To develop such activities as training, research & exchanges, etc; to develop young entrepreneurs improve their quality; to develop, praise and propaganda the excellent advanced young entrepreneurs.

2. To collude young entrepreneurs with the government, institutes and colleges in order to provide the services about policies, law, information, techniques and funds for young entrepreneurs.

3. To hold the consultative conferences; to set up the economic cooperative net; to promote the cooperation among the entrepreneurs.

4. To organize the young entrepreneurs to exchange with overseas young entrepreneurs as well as the young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao and Tai Wan.

5. To protect legitimate rights of young entrepreneurs.

6. To direct local Young Entrepreneur Association to deal with their daily work. In recent years, CYEA has developed various kinds of programs including the cooperative & consultative business of the economy & trade. In addition, it has chosen and awarded the advanced young entrepreneurs and to protect the interests of young entrepreneurs. Especially, CYEA often trains their staff and sends them to do research work abroad. More and more young entrepreneurs are encouraged to walk onto the competitive stage of the world.

The highest authority of CYEA is the national members’ conference with one meeting held once every other two years. The executive council is elected for a term of two years, which consists of the president, vice-president, secretary-general, vice secretary-general and other members. The president is in charge of overall work; General-secretary deals with daily affairs of the association. CYEA sets up the special committees in various kinds of lines. Secretariat consists of office, training department, international department & economic cooperative department, etc.

Wang Guangying, the vice commissioner of the standing committee of the National people’s Congress acts as the honorary president. Yuan Baohua, the president of CYEA, some state council leaders and some economic experts act as the consultants. Sun Jinlong, the secretary of secretariat of CYLC & the vice-chairman of National Students’ Union of China, holds the position of the president of CYEA.

The China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Shenzhen Junsheng Capital, a leading private equity and asset management company, will jointly operate the foundation.

In the initial phase, the fund aims to raise 1 billion yuan (147 million U.S. dollars), with 2 billion more to be collected after the road show completed, said Li Zibin, chairman of the association.

The money will be raised through private offering. Subscription should be no less than 50 million yuan, Li said.

The foundation will help push private capital to finance the growth of small businesses, said Wang Liming, head of the small business department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Li Zibin said the initial fund is expected to come from some government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Science and Technology. Banks, insurance and securities companies are also invited to join the mission.

Small businesses in China have suffered limited financing sources as the nation’s commercial lenders preferred state-owned enterprises and large key projects.

But hold your pants, it seems that the history is written somewhere else this time: China!

Philip Fernando from Asian Tribune, makes an interesting review of the Chinese developments in an article called “Entrepreneurship in Asia, Alive and Kicking“. I’m going to quote a couple of phrases so you can see what we are talking about:

• “Asian giants China and India have shown colossal economic gains generally considered epochal and almost parallel to what USA went through during period following World War II. “
• “Several studies by research groups predict that China’s middle class of 100 million would increase to 700 million by 2020.”
• “China has increased its reliance on domestic spending to an unprecedented level. China’s economy now relies greatly on the internal demand caused by massive doses of investment on power plants, roads, railways as well as consumption of car, clothes, shoes etc.”

Should we start to learn Chinese? Maybe we just should! Here is the rest of the article, read it , if things will continue like this, it will impact even you, maybe not right now, but in the next 10 years or so.