Feature: "Golden time" approaching for Chinese students in Britain to start business

For Yao Ting, studying in Britain is more than just going to classes and finishing assignments.

Like many other Chinese students here, he is eager to seize the opportunity to start his own business project as Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Britain, the first such visit by a Chinese head of state in a decade, on Oct. 19-23 has ushered in a "golden time" in bilateral ties.

Although the 23-year-old man is still a junior in the University of Warwick, he has already teamed up with other ambitious young talents from British and Chinese colleges to launch an online education platform called AskiNow, which aims to provide quality tutoring for Chinese students studying in Britain.

The idea behind Yao's start-up project is to meet the educational demands of the growing number of Chinese students in Britain. Yao told Xinhua that he believes these students need a customized online tutoring service, through which they can find the best teachers to help them improve their study.

Thanks to the enhancing bilateral ties, an increasing number of Chinese students choose to seek their academic success in Britain. Around 150,000 students from China study in Britain at present.

Besides education, two-way investment between China and Britain has grown rapidly as well. China's investment in Britain has risen at an annual rate of 71.7 percent over the past three years. Last year, Britain's investment in China increased by 87.6 percent year-on-year, the fastest among major EU countries.

Nowadays, China is almost an unavoidable topic in Britain's business circle. The country's business environment has become more friendly to Chinese companies and investors. Students like Yao see that they have a chance to turn their ideas into real business.

"As overseas students, we have witnessed the increasing exchanges between Britain and China in such fields as business, investment and tourism in recent years, and the time has come for us to pursue our own entrepreneurship."

But it is never an easy task to secure investment for a start-up project.

To find investors, Yao and his team participated in several start-up competitions in Britain, which are growingly popular among Chinese students with entrepreneurship visions.

"We participated in start-up events and competitions in Britain and China. We can see that the market in China is more vibrant when it comes to start-ups, while investors in Britain tend to be calm and observant."

After fine-tuning their proposal and honing their business skills, they made it to the final round of a start-up competition sponsored by the government of Beijing's Chaoyang district and held on Aug. 15.

They were among the three winning teams selected from more than 200 others in Britain, getting the chance to go to Beijing to participate in the final round and present their projects to some of China's top investors.

A total of 23 teams from the United States, Australia, Britain, Israel and China entered the final round of the competition, hoping for securing investment from investors. The competitors also had the chance to get funding and other preferential treatment from the government of Chaoyang district.

"The number of start-ups led by Chinese students is increasing in recent years," said Philip Hao, chairman of the Young Entrepreneur Society Global, or Yes Global, which organized the British round of the start-up competition that Yao's team participated in.

The rising trend was a result of both the policy supports from the two governments and the new way of doing business in the Internet era, said Hao.

A large number of the Chinese student-led start-ups he has seen focus on online service. This is no coincidence, since even a one-man team can jump start business in the Internet era, like selling on eBay.

But "running a company is not just coming up with great ideas or being venturous... Nowadays, market competitions are getting more and more intense with all the young entrepreneurs fighting to make it to the top tier," said Hao. "So it is more about how to establish systematic management and how to control budget. You need to attend to every detail."

In Yao's case, the government of the Chinese city of Suzhou has offered help to his team in securing investment in the initial phase and the University of Warwick has promised to help them in their project's future development.

"Without such support, it would be much harder for us to enter the business world," said Yao.

Despite the tough challenge in the business world, British universities quite often maintain an open mind on student entrepreneurship.

"Enterprise and start-up companies are an increasingly important option for university students of all nationalities," said Keith Burnett, vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield and member of the British Prime-Minister's Council of Science and Technology.

"The University of Sheffield encourages students to become actively involved in its enterprise activities and has the largest program of students in free enterprise in the UK," Burnett said.

An international team of Sheffield students working together on start-up business ventures in the areas of health and support for people in need recently reached the global finals of this year's Enactus World Cup held in Johannesburg in South Africa on Oct. 14-16, an international event which aimed at promoting enterpreneurial action as a catalyst for progress.

The university also makes funding and professional advice available to students with a great business idea and provides links to commercial mentors, according to Burnett.

"Our aim is that support of innovation, entrepreneurship, team working and new business support is embedded in teaching in such a way that students are able to lead and develop ideas either as start-ups or within existing companies," said Burnett.

As for the British investors, they have shown interest in start-up projects led by international students, especially those from China.

Hao said that investors in Britain have their eyes on start-up projects linked to emerging markets like China, which are believed to have better growth potential despite risks.

"Britain and China have so many great resources, be it education, schools, the Internet or creativity industry, and if the governments can do more to boost the development in these areas, the young entrepreneurs may have a better chance to turn the impossible into reality, which is really a great thing for the two countries," said Hao.

Hao and his partners have planned to expand the British round of the start-up competition next year, as it might give more chances to students like Yao, though success is still a rare thing among student-led start-ups.

"Despite challenges, we can see that China's government and institutions are starting to notice the great potential of overseas Chinese students... and we are optimistic about the future development of start-ups led by these students," said Yao. Enditem

Xinhua reporters Wang Bowen and Hu Yao contributed to the story.

Editor's note:

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Britain on Oct. 19-23, the first such visit by a Chinese head of state in a decade. Xinhua is wiring a series of in-depth stories on Chinese-British relations and the historic visit.

You can follow our special reporting on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube:

http://twitter.com/XHNews

http://www.facebook.com/XinhuaNewsAgency

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChinaVie