'All you need is an idea': How foreigners start businesses in Beijing

For Afghan entrepreneur Abdul Wahed Ahmadzai, each day brings a sense of fulfillment, as he fosters connections between global talents and entrepreneurial opportunities in China's dynamic capital of Beijing.

The serial entrepreneur has called Beijing's Chaoyang District home for a decade. His path in China began in 2014 when he enrolled as a finance student at the University of International Business and Economics. Over the years, he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees.

Like many other university students, Ahmadzai saw himself as a future white-collar worker in investment banking. The turning point came in 2016. Recommended by his tutor, Ahmadzai joined a student startup team and pitched the idea of a service platform for international students at a startup competition.

"Surprisingly, I won," Ahmadzai told CGTN. "I thought I'm just gonna be going there, presenting my idea and hopefully get some feedback and go back on my own way and try to build it. But then I realized in Beijing, there are so many platforms. There are so many ecosystems. There are so many initiatives that are targeted to help young entrepreneurs and international talents to go and build their businesses without them having to worry about where to start, where to go."

"I think Beijing is (home to) one of the best ecosystems. I always tell people in Beijing that the only thing you need to start a business is an idea."

That's how his company was funded. With an idea of helping to resolve the mismatch between training of international talents and needs of enterprises, he took part in a startup competition called the Chaoyang Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (later renamed to Chaoyang International Talent Entrepreneurship Conference) and won investment to set up Beijing Infinite Port Culture and Technology Limited Company.

"We have different things that we are busy with. The core is trying to figure out how we can put talents to better use, how we can build a good model for (a) talent-driven economy," CEO Ahmadzai said of his business. "It sounds very abstract. But something we are very passionate about is to figure out the relationship between universities and industries, the role that talents play, how to empower them and how to close the skill gaps. But to be very specific of it, we are trying to figure out how we can create meaningful opportunities for international talents."

"And it either comes to our jobs or it comes to entrepreneurship. What we focus on is entrepreneurship. We create all the system(s) and infrastructure to help people build their own ventures and build their own businesses. We incubate and empower them to innovate," said Ahmadzai.

"Beijing really values international talents and has introduced a series of measures to promote employment facilitation," the CEO told Beijing Youth Daily. "I have to share these with more talents."

From 2016 to 2024, Beijing has implemented initiatives to create a conducive environment for overseas startups, providing financial incentives, policy support and infrastructure to attract and retain international entrepreneurial talents.

In 2016, the Chaoyang District government launched the Phoenix Plan and offered grants to highly qualified overseas professionals and foreign startups. In 2020, the Beijing Municipal Government introduced interim measures and provided financial support, tax incentives and streamlined administrative procedures for international entrepreneurs.

In 2021, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission offered incentives, including talent introduction visas and work permits, to overseas talents engaged in business and innovation in the city. This year, the government has increased financial support for tech startups, offering interest rate subsidies and accepting intellectual property as collateral to facilitate loans for innovative enterprises.

Ahmadzai's team has helped more than 30 foreign companies, including from the U.S., France and Japan, start businesses in Beijing, covering a wide range of fields such as new energy, law and trade.

"We do hope to provide more exchange opportunities between China's startups and the rest of the world and share China's wisdom and technology with other countries and, at the same time, localize it. So China's solution becomes the world solution."

Below are the excerpts from Ahmadzai's conversation with CGTN about his entrepreneurial journey and the Beijing government's initiatives of supporting international startups.

Why did you decide to start a business in Beijing?

It just feels right. There's everything for you, all the resources, all the tools, all the people to help and support you to start a business. Also, what we wanted to do is something that's not only for Beijing or China, but is for the whole world. Beijing is a window to the world. I think in one kilometer, you will meet people from 50 different countries.

So it makes sense if you wanna build something international, if you wanna mix build something for not just one country, not for one region, not for one specific target audience, but to the whole world. You have to be in a metropolis, a diverse international environment such as Beijing.

Have there been any moments when you felt, "I'm so glad I chose to start my business in Beijing"?

Everyday. So what happens is I think Beijing is (home to) one of the best ecosystems. I always tell people in Beijing that the only thing you need to start a business is an idea. The reason is I came up with an idea. I talked to friends, and they told me there's a startup competition called Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference. Now, they renamed it to ITEC –International Talent Entrepreneurship Conference. And they said: "You have a good idea. Why don't you go and take part in it and pitch in this competition? At least you will get some feedback from the mentors." I said: "All right. That makes a lot of sense." I took part in the competition. Surprisingly, I won.

I was like, this is very nice. I started networking with people. I talked with judges. They told me that since you won a prize in this competition, they will support you to open your company. They will give you a cash prize. They will connect you with resources. I didn't expect any of this. I thought I'm just gonna be going there presenting my idea and hopefully get some feedback and go back on my own way and try to build it. But then I realized in Beijing, there are so many platforms. There are so many ecosystems. There are so many initiatives that are targeted to help young entrepreneurs, to help international talents to go and build their businesses without them having to worry about where to start, where to go.

For me, I think that was a blissful moment that I had the opportunity to take part in these competitions. This was very, very meaningful. And the reason I do what I do right now is because I realize that such a platform, if it's extended to a lot of people, it empowers more people to build impactful ventures that can create meaningful, I would say, changes in our society. So why Beijing? I will go back: in Beijing, you only need the idea to start a business.

How would you describe Beijing's business environment in the past 10 years? Do you see any changes?

I think one of the important things when it comes to starting a business is you need to know your positioning, and you need to have a direction of where you wanna go. Beijing is actually very good at creating blueprints for you. So you're able to find your position within an industry or your position within an economy.

The "Two Zones" policy is a very good example of how Beijing is trying to create different special zones for different industries that, as long as companies get to those zones, they will have access to the resources. If you're in Haidian [District], (it is) technology innovation. If you're in Chaoyang [District], (it) is international services. If you're in Daxing, (it) is much more on (the) manufacturing side of things.

Number one, I think Beijing has become way more organized. There's a very clear blueprint of what industries (they want to) encourage and support ... I think they (businesses) have more access to, I would say, even government departments, to investors, to industry parks, to these associations – that makes them feel more welcome. That lowers the barrier of starting a business in Beijing. Ten years ago, if you wanna start a business in Beijing, you probably have to figure out a lot of things by yourself. But now a lot of things are different. There's more information; there's more transparency. For example, if you go to the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, you can learn everything about investment in Beijing, [including] all the information, different districts' policies. Everything is over there.

What else do you think the Beijing government can do to help small and micro enterprises thrive?

There still has to be more communication done when it comes to policies. More things have to be clarified. We should do more promotions on helping people become more aware of the regulations and laws in here ... It will be good if we have more unique platforms that are specifically tailored for smaller companies that are not only focused on technology.

The 12345 hotline provides services for both individuals and businesses. Have you ever called for assistance? How did it help?

[I'm] not calling in (a) direct way. But we have discussed (with) a lot of relevant departments, and then we encourage a lot of entrepreneurs to go and call 12345.

I think one of the other big reason(s) is Beijing as a city knows it's not perfect. And no city around the world is perfect. But it's striving and working very hard to make it better for everybody. One of the things that I really appreciate about Beijing is, anytime we have a concern, a challenge or a question, we get the response immediately, and we see those in action.

A couple of years ago, it was very difficult for international entrepreneurs to register their own company online because they didn't have access to English platform(s), or they couldn't put their passport number(s) into the system. That was a concern raised by many entrepreneurs. This year, everything is done in English. People can use their passport to do the online registration for companies. So, in a way, it feels like the whole stakeholders – the government, the investors, the people and the companies – are coming together to make life easier, to make business easier. It kind of feels like a collective action among all of the people of Beijing to make things better, to make life better.