This academic year, PHBS has launched the International Alumni Talk Series, where alumni are invited back to PHBS to share their experiences and give advice in the field of international business, and how to leverage their China experience in making career decisions after graduation with current PHBS students.
  On September 20, Michael Mersol-Barg, in his talk “A Practical Guide to Starting a Company in China”, discussed his experiences on running his company and touched on topics such as government regulations, product development, finances, research, etc. and ended with a Q&A Session.


After graduating from PHBS with a Masters in Economics in 2016, Michael went on to starting Mersol & Luo, Ltd., a consultancy firm based out of Hong Kong. The company delivers market research, market entry advisory services, and marketing and branding consulting for foreign firms entering the Chinese market.

October 20 marked the 2nd International Alumni Talk of this academic year, where Etienne Roux, Management Class of 2013, gave a talk entitled, “From Idea to “Go to Market”: Developing your Brand and Company in Overseas Markets”. 


Etienne shared his experiences on entrepreneurship and how an idea led to 2 companies based out of South Africa, and that is currently expanding to overseas markets in Africa and North America. He briefly introduced both companies and its respective products which are: Instacom, a mobile phone solutions company, and GoRugged, a military specifications company, where he serves as their International Hardware Manager, and CEO of the companies, respectively. 

He ended the talk with 5 key points on launching your product, which included tips on extensive competitor and market research, as well as entertained questions from the audience.

 
Interested alumni who would like to participate in the seminar series may directly contact Amanda Nepomuceno, International Alumni Coordinator, at anltnepo@phbs.pku.edu.cn

By Amanda Nepomuceno
Edited by Annie Jin