The opening ceremony of Tsinghua PBCSF Finance EMBA Class of 2018 was held on 13th September 2018. 180 industry leaders from 15 countries and regions who have enrolled in either Finance EMBA 2018 Fall Class or B&R EMBA Program for Southeast Asia 2018 Cohort 2 got together at Beijing to kick off their brand-new study experience at PBCSF. Liao Li, Executive Associate Dean of Tsinghua PBCSF, attended the ceremony and delivered an opening speech.
Since its first cohort in Sep., 2012, Tsinghua PBCSF Finance EMBA has gone through 12 cohorts with over 1200 students who are in average 45 years old. Over 70% of the students already have a master or above degree, and nearly 80% are enterprise decision-makers such as chairman, general manager and CEO.
In B&R EMBA Program for Southeast Asia 2018 Cohort 2, 37% of the students were graduated from world famous universities, such as UPENN, Columbia, Harvard, Cambridge, Cornell, Imperial College London, MIT, Michigan, Oxford, Princeton, Tsinghua, Stanford, National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Yale and Chicago. Coming from 15 countries including China, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, 71% are from overseas. 84% are top decision makers in companies, and 100% are in upper management of various organizations.
Among business entities led by students of the two classes, 44 are main board listed companies, and over 10 are unicorns. Accumulatively, the two programs have accepted students from 404 domestic or international listed firms.
On its way to be world-class
Referring to Tsinghua University’s goal of becoming a world-class university in 2030 and defining standards of a world-class university, namely world-class teaching, world-class academic achievements and world-class national service, Professor Liao Li introduced what PBCSF would look like in the future and what it was striving for. He believes that the primary goal of a college or university is to improve its academic achievements, so as to contribute to science, creation and innovation. To learn from the best, PBCSF has spent lots of efforts in introducing and cultivating world top professors, aiming to build itself into the No. 1 business school in Asia in the coming one to two decades. Besides, he also expressed PBCSF’s expectations to students to combine academy with practice and apply technologies to industries, giving momentum to innovation and entrepreneurship in China.
Explorations and practices in new economy and internationalization
Finance EMBA 2018 has many leaders working in different industries of the new economy; four of them shared their explorations and practices from the perspectives of finance, innovation and internationalization.
Mr. Jiang Feng, Chairman and Chief Designer of Jiang & Associates (J&A, stock code: 300668), spoke as a pioneer in the new economy transformation. As a company in interior design, J&A is one of the largest in Asia and the first to be listed on A-stock market. In the Top 100 Giants Research 2018 conducted by America Interior Design Magazine, it seized 31st in general ranking and Global No.3, Asia No.1 and China No. 1 in business design.
Centering on the theme of “Connectivity·Future”, Mr. Jiang shared the story of how J&A has seized opportunities in the era of connectivity to innovate, upgrade and go international. Targeting at the trend of City Complex, J&A has expanded to design in multiple business areas, built an ecosystem and value chain, and for the first time realized the concept of “designed by China and made in Italy”. “While new economy is changing every industry, design is no longer for the few, but for all of us to live a better life. We believe that design is bound to become a main driving force of innovation”, said Mr. Jiang.
Mr. Li Shaobo, Chairman of Sinocare (stock code: 300298), spoke as a leader in “Massive Health”. With business presence in over 135 countries and regions and 100,000 devices in China, Sinocare has products that could test multiple diabetes indexes, such as blood sugar, blood fat, glycated hemoglobin (GHb) and uric acid, and a smart platform to facilitate scientific disease evaluation and analysis. In 2012, Sinocare conducted IPO at Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first glucose meter company to be listed in China. In 2016, it acquired Nipro Diagnostics Inc. for 1.8 billion yuan, making itself the sixth of its kind in the world.
Mr. Li introduced the history of Sinocare, how does Sinocare build its competency and market advantages by leading products, close-to-customer marketing and excellent operation, and how does it leverage technology to build a comprehensive management system for chronic diseases. He ended his presentation by explaining the meaning of “Sinocare” and calling for classmates to care for themselves, family and others.
Dr. Goh Jin Hian, CEO of New Silkroutes Group, is known by business communities and other circles in Singapore. He shared his observations about Singapore markets. New Silkroutes has listed on the main board of Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), and is a controlling shareholder of many medical care, energy and real estate firms.
From the perspective of Singapore being a finance center in Southeast Asia, Dr. Goh Jin Hian shared his insights about business development in China and Southeast Asia. New Silkroutes changed its name to answer the calling of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, and it is dedicated to achieving the vision of the Initiative, which is to promote policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds. By referring to energy and medical care, the most emphasized businesses in New Silkroutes, Dr. Goh Jin Hian analyzed existing problems, and called for companies to think more about national needs under the Initiative.
Jefferson Chen, founder and CEO of Advance AI (a finance technology firm), shared his story as an outstanding entrepreneur in Southeast Asia. With a bachelor degree of computer software in Tsinghua University and a master degree of business administration in Stanford, Jefferson has been working in finance technology in China and Southeast Asia for years. He introduced advanced financial technologies from China to many markets in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and improved the coverage of anti-fraud and risk control network in Southeast Asia to the level of 100 million.
Jefferson disclosed the enormous growth potential of the Internet market in Southeast Asia by comparing it with US and China. He pointed out that with the rapid growth of e-commerce and tourism, the new economy in Southeast Asia was able to increase by seven times by 2025. But it also faced challenges in talents, capital, internet infrastructure, logistics infrastructure, payment mechanism and user trust. With challenges comes opportunities--the two enablers: Artificial Technology (AI) and the Belt and Road Initiative. “I hope that our class could also become an enabling bridge between traditional and new economy, and between China and Southeast Asia.”
