Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Updated: 2012-10-12 12:19

(China Daily)

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Lin Jinsong couldn't have imagined he would one day march in a New York City parade. But there he was on Columbus Day, strutting down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue with entrepreneurs from 29 other countries.

"Holding our native flag to celebrate with the Italian-American community, this is truly once in a lifetime," he said.

Lin is general manager at Suryani China, a privately owned supplier and servicer of e-commerce software. Its chief customer is, as Lin prefers to describe it, a major Seattle-based online retailer.

He traveled to the United States for A New Beginning, an "international visitor leadership program" established after President Barack Obama's April 2010 entrepreneurship summit in Washington.

Now in its third year, the initiative brings one business leader from each of 30 countries to the US for a three-week program of instruction and networking. The Entrepreneurs Organization, a group of 8,000 business owners from 40 countries, implements the program.

"This is the first time we had a delegate from China," said Adrienne Cornelsen, a spokeswoman for the organization.

Members of the diplomatic corps at US embassies around the world nominate delegates who exemplify entrepreneurial leadership and are making significant changes in their countries.

At the start of their visit, program participants met with entrepreneurs, government officials and educators in Washington, Denver, Portland, Dallas and New York. At the State Department, they met with senior US diplomats.

"I'm receiving a global perspective through relationships with American entrepreneurs as well as the perspectives of the other 29 delegates by sharing our experience," Lin said.

He values the peer-to-peer engagement because if fosters communication among all participants, regardless of how big or successful one's business is.

The chief market for Lin's company is the US. Talking with entrepreneurs from other countries, he said, enhanced his understanding of his diverse customer base.

A New Beginning has more than 20 alumni who stay in contact with each other, offering mutual support on running their businesses, according to the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which funds and oversees the program.

Story and Photo by Yu Wei /China Daily

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Lin Jinsong (second from left), co-owner and general manager of software company Suryani China, displays the flag of his native country, along with fellow entrepreneurs from Egypt, Slovenia and Morocco, along the route of Monday's Columbus Day parade in New York. Story and Photo by Yu Wei / China Daily New York

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Screen time

New Zealand-born director Martin Campbell (right), whose movies include The Green Lantern and the James Bond installments Golden Eye and Casino Royale (2006), talks to Lenovo Group's chief marketing officer, David Roman, about the experience of making a commercial for Lenovo convertible PCs at a product launch in New York on Tuesday. On Wednesday, research firm Gartner Inc said Lenovo has outsold rival Hewlett-Packard Co to become the world's biggest maker of personal computers. Zhang Yuwei / China Daily New York

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Musical exposition

Wang Li, an instrumentalist from Qingdao, shows the audience at Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts a jaw harp he uses in producing distinct, tranquil sounds. Wang studied the instrument at a monastery and later jazz in France. Since returning to China, Wang has traveled throughout his native region and mastered traditional instruments, in a playing style infused with Chinese and Western influences. Cai Chunying / China Daily Washington

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Upbeat on aviation

Chinese businessman Xu Changdong (holding papers), who heads the Western Returned Scholars Association's Entrepreneur Alliance, gave a speech on Oct 5 at the Chinese Association for Science and Technology seminar at Columbia University. As chairman of the China Aviation Industry Development Association, Xu advises the Chinese government on cooperation with the United States. He told his New York audience that China's aviation infrastructure and work force have much room to grow. Ariel Tung / China Daily New York

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

Squaring off

Two competitors face off in the 2012 US Open Martial Arts Championship was held at New York's Queensborough Community College on Sunday. The event, now in its fourth year, was hosted by the World Fighting Martial Arts Federation, the Zen & Kong Fu Association, and sponsored by ANL Express. Starting with the first Open in 2009, more than 400 contestants have competed each year. China News Service New York

Chinese entrepreneur parades with peers

West coast welcome

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