Ben Speyer: Entrepreneurs of Hangzhou

/ BUSINESS // 广告 • 商务

ENTREPRENEURS OF HANGZHOUEPISODE 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

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

30 redstarhangzhou.com

广告 • 商务 // BUSINESS /

are principles that absolutely must be abided by to be successful here. The first is knowing how to choose the right opportunity for you - in China it is really easy to find a business opportunity, the danger is barreling in too quickly in an industry you don’t fully understand or are not really passionate about. The key is to be patient and focus on what you are good at, and which problems you can solve, so when the right opportunity presents itself you will be well placed to seize it.

Second, localise every aspect of your approach. The Chinese market is fraught with risks and challenges, applying western logic and methodology to overcome these will not yield results. Companies of all sizes must localise their business model, brand and marketing assets if they are to have any chance at success. My advice is start simple, learn to communicate and be polite in social settings and work your way up from there. Once you really begin to understand the culture and integrate better into society you will find life and business here becomes considerably easier.

Lastly, find reliable local partners to help grow your business. Being a lone wolf in a market as big and competitive as China will almost guarantee failure. Cooperating with other companies who share the same goals and ethos, but are not direct competitors, enables you to grow your business faster.

Your company Serica Consulting, what is it about and what services/ products does it offer?

Serica Consulting is a management consulting company headquartered in Hangzhou with a regional office in London. Made up of thirty consultants, half Chinese and half foreign, we combine our knowledge, experience and networks to help facilitate business between China and the West. Mostly working in the technology industry, we enable innovative foreign companies to expand to China and help local companies expand to the West - like a bridge between East and West. How do we do that? We provide a combination of strategy and training along with practical services like branding marketing and localisation. We work with corporates, local governments, SME’s and start-ups as well as third sector organisations means that no project is ever the same. This forces us to continually innovate and improve our services to deliver maximum value to our stakeholders around the world.

Interesting name too, Serica. What does it mean and how does that link with the actual business the company does? The word itself is the Latin word for China, literally translated as ‘the land of silk’ or the ‘place where silk comes from’. Over 2000 years ago, China and Europe knew almost nothing about each other. But despite this, they managed to trade successfully thanks to the silk road. Fast forward to today and we know considerably more about each other but many misconceptions and stereotypes still remain, which only serve to hinder trade and cultural exchange. Our vision and belief is that if China and the West come together and deepen cooperation, the world would become a better place and the easiest way to achieve that is through trade and business. By facilitating better communication and improving the foundations needed to do business we are doing our part to renew the silk road for the modern era.

You recently got married, congratulations. How are you balancing married life and running a business in a foreign country? I work extremely long hours and travel a lot meaning I don’t get to spend as much time at home as I would like to. But I try to keep my weekends open and set aside at least one night a week for a ‘date night’ where we can spend quality time together. We share the same passion for food and travel, so we spend most of our free time finding new places to eat and countries to explore.

redstarhangzhou.com 31