Alessandro Zhou and Italian-Chinese Business
A population full of tradesmen and entrepreneurs, Chinese people interesting in starting a business in Italy have one important barrier: the language. This often makes it difficult for Chinese residents to have relations with locals who would like to buy or sell goods. A solution to this problem has been created over the past few weeks. Alessandro Zhou, 25 years old, who was born in Italy in a Chinese family and graduated from the Bachelor of International Economics, Management and Finance at Università Bocconi, has created and launched the website www.vendereaicinesi.it along with a few partners. It's the first website where Chinese people living in Italy and locals can publish economic ads, with the support of a professional translation service. "Thanks to my parents, I had the chance to start from a higher level than them," says Alessandro, from Rome, who moves around between Rome, Milan, Castagnito, in the Province of Cuneo, where his company is based. "But I have the same entrepreneurial drive that they have, which I honed during my years at Bocconi, where I built a solid foundation for understanding business."
There are several Chinese language newspapers in Italy, but Italians never publish ads in them. On Alessandro's portal, however, they do. "Our website also has a social function, because it fosters cultural exchange. The reason for this contact is business," says Alessandro. "In the end, this is common territory. I believe that the reason the Chinese community seems so isolated is in large part due to linguistic reasons, because the values of the two societies are similar." The website is divided into sections, Real Estate, Activities, Luxury, Professionals and Services, Work and Other Goods. It has over 1,000 ads at the moment, which reflect the aspiration of Chinese users not only to launch businesses but also to approach the traditional leading Made in Italy sectors of luxury, fashion, design and agribusiness. "The Chinese want new things," says Alessandro. "For example, there's a lot of interest in hotels, and they are also willing to move to smaller cities, since larger cities like Rome, Milan and Florence are overfilled."
The website was launched in late January, and feedback has been positive with over 2,000 hits every day. It's the only website of its kind in Italy and, "as far as I know, there's nothing like it in Europe, where we would like to expand. But our final objective is to reach demand directly in China, possibly promoting exchange between small Italian entrepreneurs and their Chinese colleagues."
This is why Alessandro has also created a twin website, www.maimaiouzhou.com, only in Chinese. And if the idea works, the already large number of Chinese companies in Italy (41,000 in 2012, according to data from the Milan Chamber of Commerce) will increase even more.