My Personal Statement for Nottingham University Business School China

As a skydiver and a glider pilot I know risks must be assessed before getting into the air. Once there, the whole experience might be frightening sometimes but always amazing. My first business cost $200 to start and crashed after only 12 months of continuous operation. The start-up was based in Hong Kong and it was a great learning experience about entrepreneurship for me.

However, as a candidate for graduate study in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at Nottingham University Business School in China, I am eager to expand my knowledge and committed for my next higher stake venture to take off.

After graduating in Communication and Multimedia in France, I decided to live in the United Kingdom to improve my English. I discovered that learning and teaching a language could be very interesting and exciting work. In fact, the greatest satisfaction I had professionally came from teaching in China, as my students could significantly enhance their life due to the language skills. This experience sharpened my natural curiosity into value creation for others.

Hence, I created a website to resell Western films dubbed in Chinese because I knew those materials would interest many Mandarin learners worldwide. Thus, I turned my attention to business, spending countless hours reading blogs and books in order to educate myself. As I knew the demand was there, I registered a company. However, I learned the hard way that Hong Kong and Mainland China have separate copyright regulations, so I had to cease operations a few months later.

Nevertheless, this experience was an eye-opener and a true call towards entrepreneurship. During those twelve months, I had the unrivalled experience of running a small business; from choosing a product, testing it, to the thrill of sales and the gratitude of a satisfied customer. Although I made many mistakes, I was passionate about every step as they were all part of the bigger picture: “A successful business.”

When I returned to France, I was determined to run my own business the right way. I joined an entrepreneur club and searched for profitable ideas. I finally found my next challenge due to those years of personal reflection, research and social interaction. Indeed, I will create a business selling high quality French lavender products to a growing niche market in China, whom are interested in looking after their appearance and health. I already have an ethical, trustworthy manufacturer, and partner, who is ready to enter the Chinese market. I am now seeking to transition into a full time entrepreneur and business owner.

I believe your program at Nottingham University Business School China will provide me with a firm foundation for my future enterprises and business skills. Besides its excellent reputation and all the core skills taught, to create and run a new venture, Nottingham University Business School China is the perfect place to have in depth and hands on experience about Entrepreneurship in Greater China. It is a unique combination of British education with Chinese characteristics, which connect together international teachers and like-minded students, who have strong interests in turning viable ideas into real businesses in China.

My varied work and life experiences in three countries over the last decade helped me to be very open minded, adaptable, dynamic, and self-motivated. As a candidate in your program, I will bring my cross-culture perspective, excellent communication skills, perseverance and dedication. Currently I am studying Mandarin (HSK4) and I enjoy the challenge of learning. I am confident that this graduate course will help me strengthen my skills in entrepreneurship and the business plans I will write at the end of the year will be key to my new venture's and success.

I sincerely believe that entrepreneurship is one of the best way to contribute to global economic growth. Thanks to globalization, more and more new businesses are created than ever before. My ultimate goal is to make an impact by joining this global changing entrepreneurial trend.