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ENTREPRENEURS OF HANGZHOU EPISODE 1: BEN SPEYER, BUSINESS OWNER By Tichaona Sagonda
Benjamin Speyer is a British expat who has lived and worked in China for almost five years. He is the owner of Serica Consulting, a wholly foreignowned enterprise headquartered in Hangzhou. He was recently honoured by the Hangzhou City Government for his contribution to the city’s international development and was bestowed the title of ‘President of the International Entrepreneur Association’. In the midst of his busy schedule, he spared some time for us to ask him a few questions about his entrepreneurial journey and life in Hangzhou.
Tell us a little about yourself. I am from England, a city called Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Before I came to China, I spent almost a decade working in sales, marketing and branding for various British advertising agencies. Personally, my interests are food, travel and football in that order. I am married to a wonderful woman called Carly. That’s me in a nutshell. When you first came to China, was the plan to stay? If not, what made you take the plunge and not only stay, but setup a business here? Coming to China to start a business has been a dream of mine since I started studying A-level economics during the height of the financial crisis. Learning in detail about the steep consequences for the west while simultaneously studying China’s double-digit economic growth convinced me this was the only place for me to make my entrepreneurial ambitions come true. So, in 2014 I moved to China to make my dream a reality. I’ve never given myself a time limit on living here, but I knew it would take me at least a decade to achieve my goals. Why Hangzhou? Good question. Originally, I was supposed to start working for a Shanghai-based
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advertising agency - to learn the ropes of Chinese business before venturing out on my own - however the contract they wanted me to sign was strange, and after a local lawyer confirmed my suspicions, I decided to decline the position. I was back at square one, so I reached out to a local friend who passionately recommended Hangzhou. I looked it up online, read about the local history, culture and thriving economy. Once I saw pictures of the West Lake, Longjing and other scenic areas I was sold. That was that and it was the best decision that I have ever made - I love Hangzhou and for me it will always be the best city in China. Hangzhou has close to 5000 companies registered by foreigners and the local Government has in place various incentives for foreigners wanting to start a business. From your experience, has this made it easier for foreigners or does more still need to be done? Gaining my business license took about eight months of arduous red tape and bureaucracy. Since the most recent reforms, this process now only takes around eight weeks - a big improvement on before! But the biggest change has been the new policies aimed at attracting innovative
foreign (and local) companies of all sizes to set up their businesses in Hangzhou. Qualified companies can gain generous grants and subsidies, a matchmaking service with potential investors and local partners, free office space, assistance hiring local talent and a whole host of other benefits. Serica has been a beneficiary of many of these so I can personally attest to how beneficial these policies can be. Moving forward, I’d like to see more support in recruiting quality local talent. Recruitment is a major challenge that many foreign companies face, and help with overcoming this would be a major help to the foreign business community. From your personal experience, what are the keys to setting up a business as a foreigner in China? There is no specific formula, but there
