Entrepreneurial Flair

Over the years we’ve

brought you success

stories about female

a l u m n i w h o h a v e

launched their own start-ups. Now

we br ing you four more. These

outstanding women are making a

difference in the fashion, education and

lifestyle industries here in China. Read

on to learn more about what inspired

their entrepreneurial journey and how

they’re overcoming the many challenges

faced along the way.

By James Kent

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Entrepreneurial Flair

Having to wear multiple hats

is the biggest challenge that

Sue Li f inds with being

an entrepreneur. Running her own

business providing visual and fashion

design services for women, she’s

in charge of brand promotion and

customer communication, as well as

photography and image retouching.

At the same time she also has to think

about big picture strategy. Her work

has been featured in publications

such as Brides , Cosmopolitan and

ELLEChina.com. This year she plans to

launch a bridal and fashion clothing

brand and she wants to expand to

larger studio space to improve on

the services offered to clients. Yet she

worries about growing too fast, which

might compromise quality.

T h e p o p u l a r s ay i n g , “ D o

what you love and success will

follow” perfectly sums up Sue’s

entrepreneurial journey. She began

her career working at one of the Big

Four accounting firms, but always

enjoyed capturing friends, family

and colleagues on camera. Her

enthusiasm for visual art led to her

decision to reinvent herself through

the CEIBS MBA Pro g r amme.

Sue’s WeChatSue Li, MBA2012

Sue's Studio

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While she was still in school a friend

asked her to photograph her wedding.

After posting the images on social

media Sue received more requests

for her photography skills, and she

began balancing her hectic MBA study

workload with a part-time wedding

and portrait photography business.

After her MBA, Sue joined fashion

media giant Hearst as Director of

Strategy and Marketing but continued

her photography business on the

weekends. In November 2015, after

four years of this double identity, she

decided to follow her heart and open

her own studio.

“I met many outstanding students

while studying at CEIBS. Their stories

inspired me to realise that “self ”

is the most important word and

represents something different for

each individual,” says Sue. “Listen to

yourself, be confident and strive for a

strong, independent personality and

the ability to manage your own life.

This will motivate you to face and

overcome frustrations and obstacles.”

She adds, “To do something you

YOLOBOO WeChat

love, something that also brings joy

to others, is indeed an extremely

meaningful thing anyone would be

lucky to experience.” Her advice for

other women thinking of taking

the plunge into the tough world of

entrepreneurship: begin with an idea

that you’re really passionate about.

“Only if you love the venture from the

bottom of your heart will you be able to

bear the pressures of entrepreneurship.

If you dedicate your heart to doing a

good job, then profit will follow,” she

says.

The community of women entrepreneurs in China is quite

strong, with some incubators and investors specifically geared

towards assisting the fairer sex, says Denise Pu. She should

know; she’s Co-founder of YOLOBOO, an invitation-only social

media APP focused on food, travel and other lifestyle experiences. It’s

only for women. Denise’s company is based in Shanghai where she’s

found a close-knit group of professional women who provide support

for new entrepreneurs who are often facing similar challenges.

Her business partner Gong Xuan has also noticed some of the

Denise Pu & Gong Xuan, MBA2012

YOLOBOO

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differences between China’s male and female entrepreneurs,

and how these impact their companies. Women, she

explains, tend to focus on operations and may therefore

find it challenging to build a technical team when they’re

just starting out. On the other hand, male entrepreneurs are

usually more technical, so they may have problems on the

operational side of things.

For Gong, YOLOBOO has been chal lenging in

every aspect. “Everything was new to me, from writing

recruitment ads to giving employee performance reviews,”

she says. “I remember recruiting our first employee, my

heart was pounding! I didn’t know if she would want to

join a team that only had two members – just us founders;

or mind that she would be working in a living room that

was serving as our office. I was very happy she understood

our philosophy and decided to join us. Over the past seven

months, I’ve seen her grow and everyone is growing together

as a team. It makes me really happy.”

A 12-day road trip together across Iceland sparked the

idea for YOLOBOO. Denise and Gong were moved by the

beauty of the country and wanted to share the magnificent

sights so they could be appreciated by others. After all,

they thought, ‘You Only Live Once, BOO!’ which became

the name for their APP – YOLOBOO. The timing of their

trip coincided with some entrepreneurial stirrings. “I’d

been traveling quite often over the past five years both for

business and leisure,” recalls Denise. “I noticed that almost

every woman I know was traveling much more frequently

and their travel was evolving from hopping on tour buses

to independent travel and exclusive experiences. I also saw

the rising trend of ‘womenomics’ in China.” Gong had

also noticed the increasing numbers of economically and

psychologically independent Chinese women, and saw

YOLOBOO as a platform that could shine a light on quality

of life for a community of like-minded women.

At the time, she was working at Microsoft having joined

the company’s MACH Programme after her MBA. Denise

was working in banking in Hong Kong. After their Iceland

trip, Denise remembered a bit of advice that Professor of

Marketing Lydia Price had shared with her MBA class:

“You’re bound to make tough decisions. You will only find

out later whether some decisions were wrong or right.

But you just have to make a decision. The worst is being

indecisive.”

Now that she has her own business, Denise has a

few words of advice herself for women interested in

entrepreneurship. She suggests that they get as much

practical experience as possible. “If you work in a large

organisation, try to gain exposure to a start-up atmosphere

to see if it suits your personality,” she says.

It also helps to have strong support, and Denise is

grateful to friends and family as well as their early clients.

“They have endured many testing bugs and have not given

up on us,” she says of YOLOBOO’s initial users. “This gives

me confidence that the community we are building and the

content we are creating is worth the time and effort we’re

putting in. We just need to make it the best it can be!

The YOLOBOO APP became available through iTunes

App Store in the first week of April.

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Lily Li, MBA2015

GAP Education

Lily Li was in the second year of her CEIBS MBA when she became

pregnant. Like most expectant mothers she began reading up on

child development and baby care. An article about education in

Shanghai made her suddenly realise that her child’s career path would

actually begin at kindergarten. Talking to other new parents she found

they shared many of the same worries about their children’s education.

Finding a way to alleviate these anxieties led Lily to start her own business,

GAP Education, which provides consultancy services for Chinese families

exploring international education options for their children.

“Every day our company answers questions from households such

as, should my child study abroad? Should he/she go abroad for his/her

bachelor’s degree, or go for high school? Is it really the right thing to do for

my child? How do you select the best school for further studies abroad?” Lily

explains.

Originally she had planned to use her MBA studies to engineer a

career shift that would leverage a decade of work experience in market

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Now she has an easy to manage fitness

routine. “Slowly I became more fit, and

I would often go back to work after a

session feeling revitalised and ready to

tackle the challenges that lay ahead,”

she says.

Aspiring women entrepreneurs

need to remember the importance of

a healthy work-life balance says Lily.

“Before I became a mother I would

easily clock 170 hours of overtime per

month. With a family, this balance is

unsustainable.”

EntrEprEnEurship Focus

Su e , D e n i s e , G o n g a n d L i l y

are part of a growing global trend

of MBA students with a f lair for

entrepreneurship and/or an interest

in making it the focus of their MBA

study. CEIBS has responded to these

needs and the MBA Class of 2016 was

officially the first to offer students

the option to choose a concentration

in entrepreneurship. In addition

the school launched the MBA eLab

incubator last year, which helps student

entrepreneurs flesh out their business

plans and attract VC funding. CEIBS

has also organised overseas study

tours that give MBA students a first-

hand look at entrepreneurship cultures

abroad. Among the current batch of

CEIBS MBAs, 30% said they plan to

start their own business, and several

have already had a successful start-up.

research towards a new career in

charity or public welfare. “At CEIBS

my knowledge of publ ic welfare

was brought to a new level. There

are many opportunities to improve

society’s problems; charities are only

one option,” she says. As President of

the MBA CSR Club, she led efforts to

host the 8th annual Being Globally

Responsible Conference, where the

topic was sustainable education.

“Looking back, it was the perfect

opportunity to gain experience and the

contacts I made have helped steer me

along my entrepreneurial path,” she

says.

To provide the very best service to

her clients, Lily dedicates a tremendous

a m o u n t o f t i m e to re s e a rch i n g

international education policies and

communica t ing w i th numerous

stakeholders. But she knows the value

of having a life outside the office. That’s

why the most valued object on her

desk is not her laptop or her phone

but a Frisbee. Running a business

requires putting in long hours at work,

leaving her with little time for exercise.

Her husband solved this problem for

her with a thoughtful gift – Ultimate

Frisbee lessons in nearby Century Park.

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