By XU JINGXI in Zhuhai, Guangdong
Jia Fan has already sketched an enviable resume at the age of 25: founder of a chain of six restaurants with 200 employees; founder of a working community that has attracted 22 startup companies.
The young entrepreneur attributes the achievements to his four-years of study at United International College. The experience honed his leadership and social skills, he said.
“I was a college student who couldn’t sit still studying,” Jia said. “Luckily, UIC provides a free, open and supportive atmosphere for us to try as many new experiences as possible to enrich our college years.”
In his freshman year, Jia boldly ran for president of the student association. He formed a cabinet of 10 members, all of whom were also freshmen, to compete against a cabinet formed by students from across a spectrum of freshman to junior year.
Despite losing the campaign by a narrow margin, Jia was not downhearted. He set up a student society with his teammates and grew it to 50 members in his sophomore year.
The society used UIC’s long summer vacation — three months — to raise funds to establish a primary school in a remote mountain village in Guizhou province.
The members traveled to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and to Hunan and Guizhou provinces, recruiting 1,000 volunteers in each place. Together they raised 1 million yuan ($149,700) in the streets.
The county government, where the primary school was located, also provided a 1.4 million yuan supplement for the school.
The Chen Jia Zhai Primary School opened in 2013 and brought hope to more than 200 rural kids.
In his junior year, Jia and some classmates borrowed a total of 1 million yuan from their families and friends and opened a restaurant. There are now six in a chain.
After graduation, Jia established Bee+, a working community in the high-tech zone near campus that has become an entrepreneurship base for young people.
Jia’s team transformed several storage containers into a place where young entrepreneurs share offices, meeting rooms, a lecture hall, a restaurant, a bar and a gym.
Attracted by the UIC’s idea of international education, Jia, from Inner Mongolia, traveled south to the fledgling school, which is just six years old.
“I feel like having bought a diamond in the rough. It has appreciated much in the stock market and has great potential to keep going up in the future,” Jia said.
媒体链接：http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2016-07/26/content_26219857.htm
