Tony Guo

Summer 2019 Engagement Scholarship Recipient

The PES Engagement Scholarship has made it possible for me to participate in the Global IT Entrepreneurship Program in China, where I had the opportunity to learn from the executives of the Chinese technology giants and experienced entrepreneurs in the industry. At DJI Innovations, I was surprised by how advanced their drone technologies are. For instance, their drones can be controlled by hand gestures and are capable of following the user as the user travel in motion at high speed. While there, they also taught us some entry-level drone flying techniques, which was an experience of a lifetime. When visiting Kingdee, the biggest software provider in China, and Suishouji, a personal financial services startup acquired by Kingdee, I saw how entrepreneurship can co-exist with a corporate setting. Another highlight was the conversation I had with executives of Alibaba’s Cloud Service, where I learned the difference between their value proposition and Amazon’s AWS and how Alibaba is tailoring their services to the local small businesses with the goal of “To make it easy to do business anywhere.” 

Not only I got to see how the big corporations are doing it, it was also eye-opening to learn the local startup atmosphere, entrepreneurial resources, innovative management strategies, and the Chinese IT work style, famously known as the ‘996’. Overall, this engagement activity greatly enhanced my understanding of IT Entrepreneurship and my academic learnings beyond the classroom. Without this scholarship, I wouldn’t have gained such knowledge and insights. Therefore, I’m very grateful for the support from PES.

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