Life in China isn’t easy for every entrepreneur

Amusing article in the Telegraph about the trials and tribulations of doing business in China.

It follows the story of UK based entrepreneur ‘Chris’ who aims to build and import electric scooters. His two years in the country have not left him feeling very charitable…

‘”Victor is the most dishonest man I have met in my entire life,” says Chris, tersely. “But the problem is that no one takes any direct responsibility. The workers lie to their bosses. The bosses lie to the salesmen, the salesmen are our point of contact, but they don’t know what is going on,” he adds.’

Chris has had such a hard time he has even (almost) considered a UK manufacturing base…

‘”If I had known back then how China works, I would have used a factory in England,” he says wistfully. “Well, maybe not England because it is too expensive, but perhaps Taiwan or Japan. I’m looking at switching production to there for the next batch.””

This is in no way a ‘representative’ sample of entrepreneurs doing business in China, it does make you wonder whether there is any hope for manufacturing in the UK if Chris, despite all his experiences, still wouldn’t consider coming back to the UK.