Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim

Wild, Wild East, Singaporean Cowboys

While I was in Ningbo, it became very clear to me that China was the new Wild, Wild West. Everyone I met was thinking of starting a new business, and was hungry to make a name for himself.

China is still wide open for opportunity.  There is so little variety in the types of food and clothing and consumer goods available on the Chinese market, but plenty of money to buy these things.  It feels as if anyone with an idea and the guts to try can make a fortune.

It also feels as though all the cowboys—people not afraid to try new businesses—have left North America.  Perhaps it was the circle of people I associated with in Toronto, but I felt there were few to no people willing to try bold new businesses.  I can honestly say that I met more “cowboys” in one week in China than I had my entire life in Canada.

One such group of cowboys are the Singaporeans.  I attended a gathering called the Singapore Kakis Club. There I met over a dozen Singaporeans who all had similar stories.  They simply packed their things up in Singapore, flew over to China, set up shop, and were riding the crest of the wave of China’s current economic success.  Many of them had been in China for many years and, on average, it took them five years to establish a profitable business in China—proving that success overnight is really success many years in the making.

I feel that the education and culture in Singapore creates entrepreneurs.  Singaporeans usually speak three or more languages, such as Mandarin, English, and Malay.  Communication is essential to successful business intercourse.  The government provides 80% of all the housing, not as a handout but as a rent-to-own model, giving the citizens pride of ownership and a solid base to return to no matter what happens.  They also have mandatory military service for all genders when you reach 18.  This is something I feel can really instill discipline, and gives confidence, both keys to success.  On a side note, I heard from a Singaporean friend that the discipline developed through military training allows the country to mobilize into an effective fighting force within three hours.  In fact, they do drills every year, during which you have to return to your assigned military unit to practice your duties.

It wasn’t just Singaporeans in China. On my trip I met Hungarians, Romanians, Americans, and even Canadians, all with the same boldness of character.  All of them left the comforts of their own homeland to try to make it in the new land of opportunity, China.

The amount of life experience depends on the amount of courage you have.