Internationalization & Entrepreneurship: Diversity Stimulates Creativity

A favorite saying of mine is "There is no such thing as original thought, only your original composition of what you have seen, heard and experienced!", so the creativity that happens within your brain is a direct result of what you have read, heard, seen and experienced throughout your life. Some of these experiences are passive, the impact others have on you and the other part is active, where you read inspired books and articles, watch interesting videos or through travelling to and learning about foreign cultures and business. In the same way, many entrepreneurs copy what they have seen done elsewhere and use this as the basis for their own new ventures, in other words there is a direct link between curiosity, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

So, for want to be Chinese entrepreneurs (Especially the youth), you need to go out there and see what other people are doing both inside China and overseas and through these experiences create your own entrepreneurial style. This is why I say Yunnan's economic development needs to promote not just Internationalization but also International Entrepreneurship: Just as a boardroom full of South African Bankers talking about opening a bank in China without any Chinese people being in the room will surely fail, so a room full of Chinese people without a single foreigner talking about Internationalization or International Entrepreneurship is also lacking in the diversity to really make these strategies a real success.

My definition of International Entrepreneurship in the context of Yunnan is simple: (1) International Universities & Local Universities work together on entrepreneurship projects and (2) The entrepreneurship team contains both foreigners and returning turtles from the target country as well as strong support team and infrastructure. In line with this model Hanwen International is building an Entrepreneurial network as well as an Incubator and Accelerator program to facilitate these projects. I myself as a foreigner am working with a small group of very talented returning turtles to build several businesses using this model, once we have proven this model, we will open it up to the whole of Yunnan.

Yunnan competes with whole of China in attracting foreign talent as well as with a Global marketplace for talent (And talent usually follows the money) so we need to come up with an innovative strategy to attract and retain foreign talent in Yunnan, to attract more foreigners to travel to Yunnan as well as come to Yunnan to participate in new entrepreneurial and business ventures. In my work environment I mostly speak Chinese, but when I switch to English and talk to foreigners I can be very persuasive, having previously started a "Headhunting, recruitment, leadership development company" as well as working as a Banking Executive for many years while growing up my mom would joke that I can "sell ice to Eskimos".So, since I have made Yunnan my home and I would like to see more foreigners also call Yunnan their homes.

Therefore, I have set a personal goal of attracting 100 talented foreigners to move to Yunnan, study Chinese and become involved in our various Hanwen International business and strategic partners’ projects. And, in order to attract this talent, all we have to do is to create a platform and an environment where foreigners can thrive and use all their talents and abilities.

Hanwen International: Our core purpose is to build bridges from Yunnan to the World, and transform lives through International Education, Entrepreneurship and cross-cultural exchanges. Through these activities, we will create platforms through which Chinese and Global youth can build a better future, a shared prosperity for mankind.