Year in Enterprise students inspired by two-week trip to China

Three University of Leeds students have returned from China after participating in a Confucius Institute trip for young leaders on the theme of innovation and entrepreneurship.

They will now begin their Year in Enterprise and develop their own business ideas with support from SPARK and the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies.  

Abinav Bhattachan (BA Digital Media), Caitlin Pharoah O-Reilly (BA Film, Photography and Media) and Sarah Lloyd (BA Professional Studies) spent two weeks in Beijing and Shenzhen hosted by the Business Confucius Institute’s partner university in China, the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).  

Insight into Chinese businesses 

Business visits included in the itinerary were: 

• King Camp
• Oriental Nations Corporation Ltd. (BONC)
• Plug & Play
• 360
• Xiaomi Corporation Ltd.
• Lenovo 
• 极飞科技 (English name XAG)
• Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd 

Abinav said:  

I was able to gain a lot of insight into the Chinese market in a way that I would not have been able to do through other means.

As a young entrepreneur, he found the visit to startup incubator Plug and Play most memorable, as he “could relate to a lot of work and ambitions that they had.” 

Caitlin noted the “very impressive display of technology” at Lenovo and found it “exciting to see hints of what the future holds.” 

Making connections 

The three students from Leeds were part of a small group of young entrepreneurs from around the world.  

Cailtin said, “I really enjoyed visiting all the companies and sites but one of the most valuable things I will take from this is meeting so many international entrepreneurs that I hope to continue being in contact with.” 

Meeting the other entrepreneurs was incredible.

Abinav agreed that the trip was valuable in building relationships with other attendees and giving him extra confidence in his business. 

Experiencing cutting edge technology 

Participants were all impressed by the technology on display at the companies they visited. This included a glimpse into AI at Lenovo. 

Caitlin observed that “China is incredibly advanced and very ahead of the Western world when it comes to technology” and Abinav agrees: “The technology applied in China is years ahead of the West or any other countries.”  

Cultural highlights 

Not surprisingly, climbing the Great Wall was a highlight for everyone. The family style meals were also a great opportunity to try Chinese food while getting to know other young entrepreneurs.  

Cultural visits in the itinerary included: 

• Great Wall 
• Forbidden City 
• National Museum of China 
• Guangzhou Tower
• Chen family ancestral temple
• Lianhuashan Park
• Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall

Caitlin did her best to soak up every aspect of the experience:

I loved experiencing every moment of Chinese culture. I would say to anyone who does it that they should just try and do everything and anything. Try all the food, explore wherever you can and get to know the locals.

Inspiration for the Year in Enterprise 

The programme also included opportunities for participants to receive coaching and pitch their businesses.  

Abinav found this to be a valuable experience. “Pitching our businesses at the expo as an experiment to win investors. This allowed us to experience a real expo environment and deal with critics.” He received lots of positive and critical feedback and this input from his new network will help him build confidence in his business.  

Caitlin’s business idea isn’t technology related, but the trip opened her eyes to more opportunities for her photography business and she now intends to develop the online aspect of her business much more than she has so far.  She has also already made plans to exchange products and services with other entrepreneurs on the trip.  

The students have returned from the trip inspired and ready to focus on their businesses. Learning about the ‘996’ culture in China (working from 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week - particularly in tech companies) highlighted the fact that there are many talented people around the world working very hard to make their business dreams a reality. 

The Business Confucius Institute is delighted to have been able to offer this opportunity to this cohort of Year in Enterprise students, and we look forward to following their progress over the coming year and beyond.  

The Year in Enterprise is a programme run by Spark and the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies.  

Read more about the trip in this blog post on the CEES website.