The May issue of INC. magazine features Mitch Free, the founder and CEO of www.mfg.com, an Atlanta-based company, whose business skyrocketed after Free established a presence in China.

I would recognize a lot of my own story in his account. When I started doing business with Mainland China, I was a little concerned. As many Westerners, I was raised in an environment that would see China as a threat, almost similar to the USSR’s. And even today, years after China opened to International trade, many negative rumors are still floating around about doing business in China: “you will never get paid”, “it takes forever to establish a profitable operation”, “IP will be stolen”, “not a good place for a Westerner”, “nobody speaks English”, etc.

It has been years now, and none of these things ever happen to me in China. My business partners there are reliable, and my bills always paid in time and in full. Although I do not speak or read a word of Chinese, I never had any problem communicating with people, nor finding my way back to the hotel or the office; while everything is so different than in the USA, I feel pretty much at home in a city like Shanghai.

Large Chinese cities have infrastructure similar to most US ones; plenty of ATMs, free wireless access in airports and most hotels, and a lot of Internet cafes. Modern US cell phones are likely to work beautifully, and of not, cheap GSM phones are available everywhere, and rechargeable SIM cards are available at most newsstands.

In addition to Chinese food, many restaurants offer all sorts of cuisine: Japanese, Italian, Brazilian, etc. There are several Starbucks in Shanghai (the espresso is more expensive than in the USA, go figure).

Visitors to Shanghai or Beijing, to only name these 2 cities, will certainly “feel” the many business opportunities this booming economy offers (Free talks about feeling the energy). Even better, Chinese people are genuinely interested in doing business with Westerners.

For those contemplating expanding their business in China or simply willing to understand China better, a good way to start is to attend one of the major trade shows. It is a great opportunity first to check the variety and quality of the various local products, and also to establish a good number of quality business contacts.

The beginning of the article reads: “When Mitch Free first went to China, he did not know a thing about the place. He listened. He learned. He was respectful and polite. Now he gets it, and his business is booming.”

Access the full article online.

Mitch Free’s story shows that it does not take a PhD in Asian history and fluency in Mandarin to take advantage of the many opportunities the resurgence of China is creating for us all.

Inc. magazine is a great resource for small to mid-size businesses. Their tagline “the daily resource for entrepreneurs” says it all.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

Posted by Remi on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 3:17 PM.