Innovation and entrepreneurship conference held in London

A conference showcasing the innovation and entrepreneurship environment of Suzhou together with an overseas on-campus job fair of financial institutions from Suzhou was jointly organised by Suzhou municipal government and International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

While introducing innovation and entrepreneurship-friendly Suzhou and its supportive policies towards overseas financial talents, the aim of the conference was to attract high-level financial, innovative and entrepreneurial talents to work in Suzhou.

Over 10 finance enterprises located in Suzhou provided more than 60 job opportunities in core positions. After on-site interviews, enterprises including the retail banking headquarter of Bank of Suzhou and Suzhou Financial Leasing Co., Ltd signed intention agreements with dozens of students.

Jianlin Huang (pictured below), secretary of the Communist Party Committee and chairman of the board of Suzhou International Development Group Co., Ltd, delivered the opening speech on behalf of the Suzhou delegation.

He said that as a pioneering model of educational cooperation between China and the UK, XJTLU was the best choice for financial institutions in Suzhou to jointly hold such an overseas on-campus job fair in the UK.

He expressed his delight to meet so many outstanding Chinese overseas students in London and invited them to work and live in Suzhou.

Beifang Chen, delegate of the Financial Affairs Office of Suzhou, elaborated on the advantages talents in Suzhou would enjoy including: good policies, numerous job opportunities, a high-quality life and beautiful environment. She indicated that open and inclusive Suzhou has benefited a lot from talents and emphasised that innovation-driven Suzhou is in great demand of young professionals and offers a brilliant future for those who choose to pursue their careers there.

In addition, delegates from Suzhou International Development Group Co., Ltd, Suzhou International Development Venture Capital Holding Co., Ltd, Bank of Suzhou, Soochow Life Insurance Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Trust, Suzhou Financial Leasing Co., Ltd introduced their companies and specific requirements for talent recruitment.

Xinyi Chen, an XJTLU alumna who graduated in 2011 and currently working at London office of Bloomberg, detailed the development of finance companies in the UK and shared some job-searching tips with students.

She first plans to work in the UK for three to five years, and then return to China with her accumulated knowledge to work to promote the development of China’s financial market

Xinyi (pictured below) focused on the innovation- and entrepreneurship- friendly policies the municipal government of Suzhou has been offering and reminded Chinese overseas students to keep track of job demands in China.

The overseas job fair in London enabled Xinyi to communicate with personnel from Suzhou financial institutions. She was grateful that XJTLU hosted this kind of career development activity.

Another alumna of XJTLU, Yumiao Wang, who graduated in 2017 and is currently studying at University College London, hosted the conference and said: “No matter where they are, Chinese overseas students should always make their own contributions to the development and transformation of the economy of China”.

Story and pictures provided by IBSS

Translation by Shuang Li, edited by Guojuan Wang and Jacqueline Bánki