China opens up business, job opportunities for expats

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Technological breakthroughs have set off a startup boom in China in recent years, providing domestic and foreign entrepreneurs alike with unexpected business opportunities and professional growth.

History was made once again in China in November when online transaction volume for Alibaba's Double 11 (Singles' Day) shopping festival hit nearly 31 billion U.S. dollars, a record. The heavy traffic also put a big smile on the face of Charles Erickson, an American entrepreneur in Shanghai.

Erickson, co-founder of the Baopals online shopping platform, said: "November 11 is always a very stressful period, but also a very exciting period."

American expats Charles Erickson, Jay Thornhill and Tyler McNew, founded Baopals in 2016 to help expats shop on Alibaba-powered shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall. /CGTN Photo

Erickson and fellow American expats Jay Thornhill and Tyler McNew co-founded Baopals in 2016. It's a website that helps non-Chinese speakers shop on Alibaba-powered online shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall. This year, Double 11 sales on Baopals reached about 50,000 items worth 600,000 U.S. dollars.

"There is a Baopals service fee built into the price of every product on the site, and that's about five percent," Thornhill said. "And there is a small fixed fee starting at two RMB on the item. That's pretty much where our revenue comes from. It is small margin, but you know we are a massive platform, it is more about sales volume for us than anything else."

Although the website focuses on a niche market, in less than three years it has sold over two million products and generated over 14 million dollars in revenue. Alibaba has, therefore, helped bring unexpected success and wealth to Baopals' founders.

"It has all these additional trickle-down effects that you may not see directly, that people are being able to create businesses and have wellbeing from something that I am sure Alibaba never planned. That's what makes China or Alibaba a rich ground for entrepreneurship," Erickson noted.

Engineering student Lathika Chandra Mouli became a business manager of a blockchain startup in Shanghai after graduation. /CGTN Photo

The founders of the company received the "Top 10 Up-and-Coming Entrepreneur's Award" in 2017, becoming the first-ever foreigners granted the prize by Shanghai authorities.

The technology boom in China has also helped expats grow steadfastly in their career paths. Lathika Chandra Mouli majored in engineering at New York University Shanghai and became a business manager in a local blockchain startup after graduation.

Chandra Mouli, business development manager of a cleantech start-up Energo Labs, said, "The good thing here is that because people see the value that foreigners can bring, they let them learn about the culture more, they let them integrate. I think if I have gone elsewhere, it would have been a bit different. Maybe it would have been a bit hierarchical. I would have to work for three or five years to be able to have any real impact on the organization."

In recent years, Chinese authorities have relaxed immigration rules in some cities to encourage foreigners to start businesses, work and live in China. /CGTN Photo

With the experience gained in Shanghai, Lathika has now landed a similar job in Singapore. And she was grateful to start her professional path in China.

In recent years, authorities in China have relaxed immigration rules in some cities in the hope that more foreigners will start businesses, live and work in the country.