What kind of business to start in China

[yaoluck]

hi there,

I am thinking of moving to beijing/china permanently. That means living my comfy job in Europe.

I am thinking of starting out on my own. What I have now is

1. USD20k(or more if i can have a 2nd partner)

2. A PRC trustworthy friend who wants to take the plunge too

3. I am ethnic chinese, grew up in Europe ( no language barrier )

I know it's not much money, but I rather do something than work for someone else.

What kinda business should I venture into?

[roddy]

I was about to reply to your question about an English school, but . . .

Given that you haven't yet told us what you can actually do, you don't have any ideas yourself, and have minimal capital - I'm going to have to be overwhelmingly negative and say don't start any kind of business.

[muyongshi]

Honestly, what experience do you have and what do you enjoy doing? Or are you in it for big money?

[yaoluck]

zero experience. Know alot about computers, so starting a computer company, web site is almost the only way

[Erbse]

If You do some software stuff consider this:

Go to a place where living is dirt cheap. Develop Your software product. Move back to a place with big business and sell like hell.

[roddy]

Sorry, but unless you're willing to wake up in a year's time and find you've swopped your USD20K for some fun stories, don't do it.

[AxelManbow]

Venture into any kind of business you think will work. Ideas are cheap, implementing them isn't. USD20,000 is scraping the minimum capital requirements for any business with minimal outlay.

[Scoobyqueen]

I would have thought it takes a while to build up a guanxi network no matter what business you enter. Or do you already have a thorough network in place?

[Simon_CH]

If You do some software stuff consider this:

Go to a place where living is dirt cheap. Develop Your software product. Move back to a place with big business and sell like hell.

Sound advice here. If you're good enough get some software orders locally(US), move to China, live very cheaply and see how it developps. If the concept works gradually involve Chinese software specialists on a order-basis, ie let them write parts of the code and see how useful it is.. Learning by doing, start very small and get wiser. Don't blow out your limited capital on anything else than your own living costs.. it won't last too long anyway.

[yaoluck]

how about starting a web portal kinda thing? Would that work?

[imron]

Depends how well you can compete against all the other web portal kinda things, many of which are still searching for a business model.

[zozzen]

learn from our ancestors in American, open a restaurant.

Western food market is booming in China and the price is often higher than local food.

20k should be enough in small cities. In beijing? I don't know. It seems very tight even in Kunming.

[zozzen]

btw, yaoluck, how old are you? I mean, some impossible choice can be a good adventure if you're just 20. Life in Europe is boring, get some fun in china. And why not?

[BrandeX]

Also:

I am thinking of moving to beijing/china permanently

As you don't have PRC citizenship, you might find that one a bit difficult. Immigration is virtually unheard of, even for those of us who have married citizens, we are still tourists.

[Sp0cK]

Sure you could open a restaurant - tho I bet you don't want to spend 24/7 worrying about the restaurant. Try to invest it in something that will pay it's way back without too much effort...

Or else you'd be better off getting weekly payslips no?

[agimcomas]

If you have a good product, and you believe it could sell, then develop it in China at a low cost and export.

Make sure it will end up cheaper to produce in China, having all costs into consideration, labor, capital, permits, fees, etc.

Don't forget to write a business plan. It will help you to organize your ideas and to see the whole picture much more clearly.

And one more thing, your business will always be centered around you. Promoting your business is promoting yourself, your core competencies, your expertise, your contact network, etc. So first, think a bit about who you are and what you can do best.

Then tell us how you're doing! (it is the payback for the advice)

Courage,

Edited July 25, 2009 at 12:39 PM by agimcomas
Added one more piece of advice

[m_k_e]

I think business opportunities are abundant. As others have suggested, opening a Western food joint is a tried and true method. Personally, I'd go for pizza, since it is really simple to make and the ingredients are cheap.

Computers, on the other hand, is a tricky business in China, I believe. You're going to compete with thousands of locals that are willing to work for peanuts. And if you later on decide to hire staff, I think you are going to find it very difficult to find people that are both good and reliable. As for the web portal, do it the Chinese way: figure out what the latest trend is online, and then just copy it.

If I were you, I'd have your partner do some serious research on the ground. Maybe, he knows someone who is already running their own business and might be interested in teaming up with you to expand. Perhaps, he could also apply for a loan to raise additional capital.

Wish you good luck!