Entrepreneurship Series

Petros Djakouris shares his journey from Cyprus to the UK and then to China where he has been working to help the youth in many different ways. He has been helping them to move forward in their career paths guiding them throughout their personal and professional lives providing them with the right network, tools, and knowledge to succeed. Petros is in the talent development industry for the past five years and has successfully built a community of 10000+ learners in Beijing and Shanghai. 

As a co-founder at BeHive, Petros has been bridging China with the rest of the world, through employability training, job fairs, and resource sharing, for international talent that wants to work or start a business in China. 

In a lot of universities, students are still not provided with career support and mentorship for their future goals. Petros, through BeHive, is trying to solve this problem for students worldwide through Be-Hive's tailored courses, network opportunities, and online/offline events. His collaborations with organizations like LinkedIn, Peking University, UNFPA, and Volkswagen are aimed to train the organizations' employees with the required skills and mindset to succeed in the job market.

Learning about his journey tells us a lot about the importance of correct mentorship in everyone's life. Students should be a part of not just their university but other community-building activities that helps them to acquire certain skills and experience nurturing them for their future paths.

Kushaal Chawla talks about his journey from a student of Computer Science to an award-winning filmmaker who has written, directed, and produced various movies in Hollywood including his recently released film, “Another Time” that was premiered at the Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. 

He shares that the role of filmmaking comes with a responsibility not just as a director and a writer but also delivering it to the audience. Creating a good story is essential since people learn so much from movies. He mentions his interest in making movies on social issues and their importance. Likewise, he also talks about the current contemporary film industry, the challenges, and how he outgrew from them.

Kushaal shares his inspiration for making good movies and how he has always been a bookworm which eventually turned him into a good writer and thus helped him pave his path to making great movies. He also sheds light on how one can try to build their path to good scriptwriting and a better filmmaker. 

Wahed Ahmadzai talks about non-profit entrepreneurship and career guidance service platforms for international talents. Originally from Afghanistan, he shares his journey from his home country to leading two exciting startups in Beijing, China. 

Founder of one of the first foreign enterprises registered in Beijing Chaoyang Free Trade Zone - NHUB, helps in providing transparent, reliable, and supportive platforms for businesses, governments, and NGOs to transition into global entities.

A veteran of the Beijing startup ecosystem, Wahed speaks about his passion for building incisive and supportive platforms like Alumni Talent Alliance that advocates equality of opportunities for students. He also shares his plans of extending his startup services in his home country Afghanistan.

With years of extensive experience in startup management, HR, and leadership, Wahed shares how he turned into a serial entrepreneur and has successfully led numerous ventures to land investment. Also, majorly mentions the importance of voluntary organizations; how they can shape people and their careers.

Alejandra Slatapolsky, talks about scaling real businesses and exponentially raising their revenues from a branding and communications perspective. Working in the Western side of the globe, helping the fintech and technology firms in the US and Latin America, she shares about the opportunities and challenges of startups in the US. 

She is the CEO and Founder of SCALTO - a creative consultancy enabling firms to jump ahead of the competition by designing all aspects of a truly scalable business: the offering, the client experience, the brand, and the communications and lead generation process.

With SCALTO, Alejandra is helping dozens of companies expand their businesses and create awareness through thought leadership strategies. She shares how one can find the market segment for a business and use branding strategies to acquire clients. Lastly, she also speaks about accelerating businesses growth. 

Baibhav Poudel talks about the Tourism industry of Nepal. Tourism is the largest industry in Nepal. Possessing eight of the ten highest mountains in the world, Nepal is a hot spot destination for mountaineers, rock climbers and people seeking adventure. Nepal hosted 1.19 million foreign tourists in 2019, and the ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ campaign,  aimed to attract 2 million tourists. However, due to the unexpected Corona virus, massive cancellations of hotel and tourist bookings followed, resulting in widespread unemployment, loss of income and threatened livelihoods for thousands.

Baibhav being the owner of a few wellness resorts, beach resorts and a board member of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) shares the insights of current state of tourism.

With a positive note he talks about, how Nepal is gradually increasing its pace back towards the rise of hotel industry creating meaning experiences for their tourists. Baibhav, a post graduate in International Business proudly talks about his upcoming projects which will be a wonderful delight to all tourists. He welcomes people with open arms to visit Nepal and experience its beauty.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1:15 Travelling to Nepal 3:05 Attraction Sites of Nepal 6:05 Hospitality Business 9:35 Strategies to overcome the recession 11:52 Baibhav's vision for young entrepreneurs 14:55 Tourism Potential for other SCO countries

RESOURCES:

Alexey Kolesnikov talks about the IT industry of Russia. Russia’s IT market is one of the world’s largest, with significant potential. The industry is not just significant in terms of what it does, but for the interaction and practical experience working with international markets that are creating the human capital necessary for Russia to play a role in technology in the world and fueling the country's economy

Alexey is the co-founder of SIMBIRSOFT - a global enterprise that develops unique software solutions for enterprises from Russia, the US, and European countries. Established in 2001, Alexey shares his journey of 20 years involved in various projects in Perl, C, C++, Java, Python, HTML, JavaScript, and his engagement in foreign projects for Japan, Germany, and the USA.

Through Simbirsoft, Alexey is now on a mission to motivate youngsters to specialize in programming where his company is also currently offering free IT courses. Alexey shares the importance of belief and strong dedication to fulfill dreams one wants to achieve.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1:26 Idea and beginning of SIMBIRSOFT 6:25 Startup journey 13:20 Strategies and Competitive Advantages 19:28 Quality Assurance at Simbirsoft 24:55 Alexey's words of wisdom for the upcoming entrepreneurs 26:20 Future of IT 

RESOURCES:

Zhaniya Sauranbayeva talks about the Fashion revolution in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's nascent fashion industry is poised to expand and has played a large part in booming the country's economy.

Zhaniya is the founder of ONE ROOM PROJECT - a Fashion school with current over 1000 students that include a studio atelier and one-stop store for consulting, styling and designing.

Building the framework of her company, Zhaniya shares her journey of what started as a passion later turned on a mission to improve the textile region of Kazakh where she believes that the right infrastructure is the key to a strong base for the industry.

With ONE ROOM PROJECT, Zhaniya wants to combine the European and Chinese culture based on her experience studying in Hongkong. She shares the importance of real-time experience and advises to move forward from the academic rules. Embracing the mix of cultures present in her country, she shares how modern designers are on a path to create a strong impact, rethinking their culture in a modern way and applying it to their brands.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• 1:33 The ONE ROOM PROJECT
• 3:22 Global trends
• 6:16 Transition from Fashion to Edtech
• 11:15 Brand building and Technology
• 14:12 The Kazakh Fashion

RESOURCES:

Shershah Hassan talks about the Fintech industry in South East Asia, particularly in Pakistan. One of the fastest-growing fintech markets in the world trying to solve its insufficient financial inclusion.

Shershaah is the founder of KALPAY - a Shariah-Compliant Buy Now, Pay Later platform currently operating in Lahore, Pakistan. Tough to get consumer financing in Pakistan until having a stable job, Shershah started his journey of entrepreneurship to solve this problem for millions of people in Pakistan. He shares the challenges and achievements he experienced during the establishment of his startup.

Through KALPAY, Shershaah is on a mission to revolutionize payment for online purchases where customers can take credit and pay back in installments also postpone their payments with utmost ease with minimal paperwork. Shershah shares the importance of a team while operating his venture and how he motivates them to start their own entrepreneurial journey.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• 1:22 Idea and beginning of KALPAY
• 3:35 Plan-9 Incubation
• 7:20 The Shariah-Compliant Finance
• 11:35 Underbank and the Credit Card Issue
• 12:50 Improving Cash Flow Management
• 13:34 KalPay services
• 14:29 Responsible lending
• 16:15 Focus in Pakistan

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