1-Feb-10 4:00 PM  CST  

Seduced by Shanghai’s Buzz 

I first “met” him on twitter, and discovered that he has a fascinating story to tell about his expat adventures in Shanghai and Hong Kong (he divides his time between the two cities because his wife Juliana, another expatriate Australian, is based in Hong Kong).

Suren is the CEO and Co-Founder of Totuba a service for people wanting to search for and compare educational courses and degrees in China. The company also offers consulting services to help education and training businesses from around the world to scope, plan, execute, and evaluate their presence in the China market. They also publish a blog about the Chinese education sector (www.chinaeducationblog.com).

The company is headquartered in Shanghai, with an office in Hong Kong and a network stretching across mainland China.

Suren’s love affair with the expatriate lifestyle began in his first year at university in Melbourne. “I received a scholarship from RMIT to study in South Korea. That trip was transformational, being my first real experience alone away from Australia. The outcome was a character-shaping and career-defining six months. It was in Korea that I became excited about the ‘Asian story’ and the world of international business. I knew my future would be in the Asia-Pacific region.”

In 2002, Suren and his now-former business partner were awarded fellowships from RMIT to explore the consumer and labor markets in China. “We were completely seduced by Shanghai’s buzz and the seemingly innumerable opportunities. It was risky, exciting, and pulsating, and I knew we had to be part of it somehow. So we began setting up a company in China towards the end of 2003.”

Doing business in China is definitely challenging, according to Suren. “It demands an ability to go with the flow. The legal system can seem to punish businesses, with some laws well overdue for revision. And any website can be arbitrarily blocked. Also, finding good staff is difficult, and keeping them is even more difficult. I always encourage those considering a long stint in China to visit first to get a feel for the pace, the people, the processes, and the opportunities.”

To nurture his business and social links with Australia, Suren has led initiatives with the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the RMIT University Shanghai Alumni Group.

In terms of everyday living in Shanghai, he comments: “I’ve found the infrastructure to be of a generally high quality, particularly telecommunications and public transport. However air and water quality is a constant concern. Language can be an issue in sticky situations, so it helps to have staff, colleagues or friends to interpret or negotiate on your behalf.”

 

Source: Kay Ross
http://www.kayross.com

Related Documents:

Content Tags: advance roaming writers •

 

Other Recent Articles:

Return to the Advance Articles Search Page