Austin Zhao (left), chair-elect of Asian Chamber of Commerce; Kenneth Li (right), Asia-Pacific chairman of Houston mayor's office of international trade and development, and Jennifer Holmes, director of Houston Community College, talk about a new business training program to be offered in Chinese. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

Sometimes it helps to go a step further when giving someone a leg up.

Starting in January, Houston Community College (HCC), in collaboration with the Houston Asian Chamber of Commerce, will offer a training program on entrepreneurship and American-style business management with a twist — it’s in Chinese.

Austin Zhao, chair-elect of the chamber and CEO of China-US Pathway, used his personal story to explain the new program, which was announced at a press conference Wednesday night in Houston.

“When I first came here in 1996 as vice-president of a Chinese mainland company to take charge of its Houston branch, I stumbled a lot because I was not familiar with the American way of business operations and culture,” Zhao said.

“In recent years, more and more Chinese companies are choosing to invest in Texas. To some extent, these companies are encountering the same issues I went through. I have seen some Chinese companies try to do business here the way they do in China. That approach can result in economic failure. We want to help people avoid such pitfalls,” said Zhao.

Zhao said some Chinese companies such as TPCO had expressed interest in a business American-style program when he did a survey of the Asian Chamber of Commerce.

Zhao thinks about half of the participants signing up for the program will be management personnel from Chinese companies in Texas.

Local Chinese individual entrepreneurs can also benefit from the course, said Kenneth Li, Asia-Pacific chairman of the Houston mayor's office of international trade and development and CEO of Southwest Realty Group. “This course will help people understand how to do finance, promote their business and build networks the American way,” he said.

The 10-week program will be held every Saturday at HCC’s southwest campus in Galleria starting in January. Class size is limited to 25 to ensure quality of training. A nominal fee of $488 is required for registration with Wells Fargo serving as the major sponsor. Participants will also get a one-year membership in the Asian Chamber of Commerce.

Besides courses on business plans, taxes, contracts, human resources and labor laws, noted local business people will share their success stories as part of the program.

“We already have about 12 people who said they will register,” Li said. “If this gets very popular, we will simply offer another course in the fall.”

Yu Bin, founder of Utigration and chairman of the training program, said that a CEO summit was also planned for program with an emphasis on cultural exchange and understanding.

HCC director Jennifer Holmes said that the program was just a start. “I hope we continue to do this with the goal of moving it into a module tool for international business. It’s very encouraging for people to learn vital tools in their native tongue,” she said.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com