Jenny Chan- Strength, Dreams and Aspirations
Entrepreneurship is built on dreams, aspirations, and strength. Strength comes in many different forms, physical, mental, spiritual, and strength of character. We all have these in varying degrees, and this strength keeps us going when life is difficult, and we want to achieve our dreams and aspirations. The past two years have been both a test and a testament to everyone’s strength. Jenny Chan is one such person.
If you have ever been to Mbar, one of Ningbo’s most popular nightspots, you would have met Jenny. She is usually behind the bar, serving and trying to help people. If you didn’t know, you would never guess she is the manager because of how personable she is and how she interacts with her staff. She comes across as a well-respected aunty who is always there to help in any way she can. I believe that is one of the main reasons people keep coming back to Mbar. She always makes sure to welcome everyone and remembers nearly every name, which is significant.
Sacrificed to provide for her child
Jenny is from Manila in the Philippines and came to China in 2004. Her first city was Suzhou in Jiangsu. Initially, she came to China in search of greener pastures. She is the eldest of 9 children, and unfortunately, their parents died when they were young. This left Jenny in the difficult position of being both mother and father to her siblings. I cannot imagine the toll this load took, which was made heavier when she had a child. She handled this with grace and strength. She even sacrificed seven years with her child so she could provide. This also meant putting her dream of having a restaurant aside for some time.
She came to Ningbo in 2009 and worked as a waitress at the Londoner pub, which was in the Portman’s area. It closed around 2012 when she went to work for a talent recruitment agency. When the Londoner pub closed, she was faced with a decision. She had two offers: continue working at another bar or jump into the unchartered and untested waters of a talent recruitment agency with a Chinese friend. She weighed her options and went with the talent agency because she felt they could grow together even though both she and her friend were new to the industry. This proved to be a great decision because her friend is also the owner of Mbar now, where she ended up being the manager.
She dug into her strengths
It wasn’t easy at first, but she dug into her strengths and helped recruit Filipino dancers and performers. She also started managing Mbar but found it took too much time from her work at the agency and so had to stop. It was only when the virus hit, and the manager was stuck in the Philippines, that she took over the reins again. The agency had slowed down slightly because of the virus, so she had more time on her hands. It was also when she started building Mbar into what it is now.
Held her dream and love for food close
She still held her dream of owning a restaurant, and her love for food close in all of this. Jenny knew her opportunity was coming one day, and it finally did. She had one week to get it all together, but she persevered, and so Jenny’s place was born. The restaurant is located near Raffles City Mall in Jiangbei. They serve a variety of dishes, including some Filipino food. I was so happy because I hadn’t had good Filipino food since I was in the Philippines. I even had a chance to have some San Miguel.
Jenny is known to the ex-pat community not only because of what she does at Mbar but also because of how helpful she is. I remember a friend messaging her because she needed a red carpet for an event at the last minute. Jenny was not only able to get the red carpet, but the price she got it for outstripped every other possibility. She did this without a second thought. She admits she loves helping people. If the strength of character is a judge of a person’s stature, then Jenny is Titan.
The unofficial aunty of the Ningbo Filipino family
She has become the unofficial aunty of the Filipino family in Ningbo. Many young Filipinos come to her for advice on everything from work-related issues to relationships, and they are all welcomed with a smile. Thinking about the first time I met her, I feel like this is the role she was always meant to play. Her advice to everyone is straightforward but reflects the person she is.
“If you are having hardships or there are very bad things happening right now, don’t give up, just keep fighting. Fight, Fight, Fight!”
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine
Kamal Bijani-A Ningbo Father
A city is built on the shoulders of its people. They make the city what it is. Ningbo is synonymous with people helping each other to achieve a greater goal. You don’t reach 1200 years without people working hand in hand to ensure greater prosperity for all. Most expats share this ethos and belief in the city. Kamal “Kenny” Bijani is no exception. He has lived in Ningbo for decades, has started a family, and has built a life in Ningbo.
You would probably have seen this quiet and humble man at events around the city, and you wouldn’t know how huge a part he has been in knitting Ningbo’s diverse tapestry. Ningbo wasn’t his first city in China, and he originally came to China to work at a company in Guangzhou. The company later moved to Ningbo when they realized the vast potential the city had. He opted to be the first to come and set up their offices. The rest, as they say, is history. He fell in love with the city.
Family is viral to Kenny
Family is vital in Indian culture, and Kenny is the embodiment of this belief. He married his childhood sweetheart, and they have been together ever since. They have been each other’s rock, shelter, and springboard, always supporting and pushing each other to do better to make a better life for their only daughter. A daughter who has since made them proud, even getting into the highly prestigious Oxford Brookes University.
As we sit watching Moon Lake’s calm waters from the deck of Tree City café, he reminisces on how much Ningbo has changed. When his daughter was born, there were no international schools in Ningbo, so she attended a public school. He feels this was an essential step because it helped her adapt and know Ningbo’s culture better. Their one uphill was finding vaccination programs and healthcare for her as a baby, so he, along with other expats, had a meeting with various people in the Ningbo municipality to make these more readily available for all. Expats in Ningbo can enjoy the fruits of these labours. He brushes it aside when I mention this. It seems gratitude is not important to him. He only wants to help quietly where he can and doesn’t need the applause. I find that refreshing in these times when demanding accolades for every small action is the norm.
The company Kamal Bijani works with and for is in the export and production business. They produce a line of home appliances and then export them overseas. They even have patents in Europe, where certain malls can only use and stock their products. His family has managed to create a comfortable life in Ningbo. He tells me how they have lived in the same community for nearly 20 years. Their landlord even calls them his children. The most difficult challenge of moving to a new country is adapting and assimilating into the new environment. Kamal and his family have done this. He is quick to point out that it wasn’t always easy and was only possible through hard work and humility.
“Always remember, no matter what happens, I am always here to catch you”
His daughter came to our interview. You can tell how close they are. I see his eyes dart to her face every time she speaks. There is a look of wonder, adoration, and pride on his face. She talks about how in Indian culture, boys are prized over girls. However, her father has always made her feel invincible and able to do whatever she put her mind to. “Always remember, no matter what happens, I am always here to catch you” is the pleasantly broken record she has heard since she was a child. Instead of creating a lazy, entitled child dependent on her parents, Anjali and Kamal Bijani have brought a competent, independent, and self-motivated young woman. She knows the blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifices her parents have gone through to get her where she is, and so she believes it is her responsibility to live up to their expectations and her own.
The Indian community in Ningbo is tight-knit tightknit tight-knit. They have built families in Ningbo and have assimilated, but they make sure to pass on their values, morals, and traditions to the younger generations. Harshita, Kamal’s daughter, values this very much. She may have been born in China and lived her whole life, but she still values where she comes from. One of the morals Kamal and Anjali have passed on is service to others.
Volunteer work is his true passion
Talking to him, you can see that his volunteer work is his true passion. He volunteers at 81890, where they help Ningbo’s elderly. He was even honoured with Star Volunteer in 2020. Pre-corvid, he and other volunteers would spend their weekends going to communities around Ningbo, assisting where he could. They would help with everything from house cleaning to washing the elderly’s hair. He proudly shows off a picture of him and a smiling 90-year-old granny from the program. For him, the smile is all he needs.
Kamal, Kenny, Bijani is a man defined by the relationships he has cultivated. A doting father, devoted son, and loving husband, his every action is dedicated to the people around him, none more so than his daughter. His greatest wish is for his daughter to live the life and wishes he could only dream of as a child. Ningbo and its people have helped him realise this goal and have been quietly in the background, doing what he can, where he can.
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine
Lena Chou-A Testament to Ningbo’s Growth
When you look at Tianyi Square, one of Ningbo’s oldest shopping centres, you probably can’t imagine any foreigner having been here before it was built. However, for some, like Lena Chou, the prospect of Tianyi Square being built and everything that came with it are some of the reasons why she stayed in Ningbo. Now decades later, she jokes about how excited she was for Tianyi and then after the Shangri-La. Lena has been here living, working in, and adding to Ningbo.
8-year-old Lena Chou trying to match outfits and different looks
Lena Chou was born and grew up in Singapore. Looking at her current business interests, one would think she has always been interested in fashion. I even joke that I imagined an 8-year-old Lena trying to match outfits and different looks. She merely laughs with her elegant but infectious laugh. And she then goes on to tell me that she has always had the business bug. She has always been more interested in merchandising than fashion. Which then begged the question: how did you end up in Ningbo doing what you do?
It would be better first to explain what Moda Fashion does. Customers come to her with designs and specifications for garments. Her company then goes into operations where they create the fabric, colours, and thread, resulting in a fully finished piece of clothing. This process may take up to a month if not two. However, they do not do bespoke/custom single outfits. Instead, they focus on bulk purchases for resellers. The upshot is they get to see the following seasons’ fashion, styles, and trends. This also means their business is very time-centric. She tells me a story about having to pay extra for air freight to get products to her buyers in time because if she hadn’t, it would have significant financial ramifications for the business.
There was only one hotel
After living and working in Singapore for a merchandising company, she moved to Hong Kong, where she stayed for 17 years. In that time, she would come to Ningbo for business. At that time, Ningbo was a manufacturing hub and, as such, saw many such business trips from foreigners. There was only one hotel where foreigners congregated and stayed. At that time, the idea of moving to Ningbo daunted her. It was still relatively small and undeveloped. However, she could see the potential. In fact, when she finally made the decision, it was because: “I wanted to be where the action was, and it was in Ningbo.”
Her business trips also meant she courted business partners and customers, which is how she met her husband, Jimmy Zhu, a Ningbo local. He was in production, and she had to lay a claim against his company. And the rest, as they say, is history. He still sometimes jokes if you hadn’t made that claim, we might have never gotten together. Today they own the business, overseeing the production and customer-facing functions of the factory. With his experience in manufacturing and production, Jimmy takes a hands-on management approach, making sure everything is where it should be and it looks and feels how it should. Lena, with her marketing and sales experience, deals with customer-facing operations. This includes wooing new customers, building and strengthening current business relationships and sales. A function that has gotten harder given she cannot visit her customer or have them visit her because Corvid has made international travel nigh impossible. Online communication helps but lacks the warmth necessary.
Non-profit organization connecting Singaporeans in Ningbo and build relationships
Lena Chou is very passionate about building relationships, and the idea, everyone wants to feel special inspires her. This emphasis on relationships is one of the reasons she is the current president of the Singapore Association Ningbo. This non-profit organization aims to connect Singaporeans in Ningbo and build relationships and connections between them and other ex-pat groups in Ningbo. They hold socials and networking events where everyone is welcome. They also work with other Ningbo organizations and groups such as Rotary, Ningbo Nights, the Ningbo Foreign Ladies (NFGL), and One World One Dream (the latter two of which she is a firm member). In fact, I first met Lena while working with Stacey from Rotary, Natasha, Ningbo Nights, and Susan, NFGL, in creating a networking event that was a great success.
Lena is currently working with One World One Dream (OWOD), one of Ningbo’s premier events. The group has picked breast cancer as its nemesis, and they have been fighting valiantly by raising funds.
Lena has been in Ningbo long before the development. She was here even before the Shangri-la, before the subway, Tianyi Square, and the High-Tech zone. She stayed because she has always seen the potential in the city, and like she likes to say: I want to be where it is happening, and that is Ningbo.
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine
Karen-Vision and Dreams
Entrepreneurship is built on dreams and vision. Where do these dreams and visions come from? Karen has always believed in things falling into place at the right time. Her dreams and ambitions come from being a child and looking through magazines. She only knew she wanted to go to these stunning places. She just didn’t know how she would achieve it.
When you listen to everything, she has been able to achieve, it is difficult to believe her when she talks about being a child in Singapore and her family not being well-off. She admits that she could never have imagined the adventure her life has been when she was a child. I think that is one of the best aspects of a life well-lived.
Karen went to university in Australia but was back home pursuing her dreams of world travel as soon as she finished studying. She took a job with a Singaporean airline to further these dreams. She travelled across the world and saw all the places she once dreamt of as a child. After four and a half years, she started to feel that if she stayed any longer, it would become her career, and she still had so much more to see and do. The jet-setter lifestyle is beautiful, and you get to see many things, but there is a drawback. Forming lasting, stable, strong relationships is difficult when you are at home only for a few days at a time. After the airline, she hopped from job to job, everything from working for Estee Lauder to working for the Singapore Government as a youth probation officer, where she saw life in all aspects.
As we grow older, we evolve, and so do our dreams. Twenty-two years ago, she left the Singapore job market for good and never returned. She evolved, and education became part of her dreams and her story. Karen lived in Shanghai, working for the Raffles Education Group as a department manager. She chuckles as she recalls she was in China before Burger King, and in fact, she was one of the first customers when it opened. She stayed in Shanghai and absolutely loved it. Working for the airline fostered an obsession with countries’ food, architecture, and history.
After four years in Shanghai, she was promoted to look after a school in Ho Chin Min, Vietnam. The change was a huge culture shock. She went from Shanghai to Ho Chin Min, where there weren’t even traffic lights. The traffic seemed to go in all directions, and there were lots of bikes and people. There was only one six-story building in the whole city, and it was a shopping mall. She remembers being in tears as she was driven to her hotel that first night because she was so overwhelmed.
Nonetheless, she adapted and assimilated into the city. She only stayed for one year, but she learned a lot about entering a new culture and country. She believes it is up to us, the ex-pats, to try and assimilate into the culture rather than try and dictate and judge when we do not have in-depth knowledge and experience of the culture. That year she understood that things might not look logical as a foreigner, there was a method to the madness, and she had to adapt. So it came full circle when it was time to leave. She cried all the way from her home to the airport again.
That was when she moved to Bangkok, Thailand. She stayed there for 12 years and worked as the regional manager for the Raffles Education group. She decided to make Bangkok her home. She told her bosses they had to promise to keep her there for an extended period because she wanted to develop different aspects of her life. She bought herself a house in Bangkok and started making it a home by filling it with her personality, taste, and sentimental pieces. Being a regional manager meant looking after schools in Cambodia, the Philippines, outer Mongolia, Sri Lanka, etc. So, in total, she had to look after about six schools. Her boss decided to expand and literally build two schools in Thailand. Yet again, her passions for history, architecture, beauty, and language fell into place with where she was in her life at the time. She built schools to create a space for children to develop themselves fully.
She was thinking about her retirement years when an old friend got in touch and started talking about Ningbo. The rest, as they say, is history. She has lived in Ningbo for three years now. During that time, she built a kindergarten in Yinzhou and opened a new restaurant, Savoy. The restaurant is billed as a place to get good western food at an affordable price. She says she loves the fact Savoy is not stuffy, and you don’t have to dress up if you don’t want to. This labour of love is a dream shared by the two head chefs.
Karen has followed her dreams from building schools worldwide to creating a new chill-out spot in Ningbo. She believes things fall into place and are meant to be. If things are not falling into place as you would like, you need to reevaluate things.
“Never take life for granted. Always look ahead and see the rainbow and chase after it because you only have one chance to live.”
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine
Big Shade’s Zero Gravity Elevating Ningbo’s NightLife
It is funny how quickly we make assumptions about people before we have even indeed met them. Philip, better known as Big Shade, Arthur is one such person. If you see him at his events or even online on Wechat, you may think he is nothing more than the party guy with no regard for anything but the next event. You would be sorely mistaken. Once you sit down and talk with him, you find a truly genuine, down-to-earth and contemplative human being.
We sat down one even at the Crowne Plaza hotel, outside one of his Ningbo successes, Mbar. Mbar used to be successful before him, but their popularity skyrocketed when he came on to manage their events. There was a time when no weekend went by without him promoting something happening at Mbar. Some people even joke he is behind 75 % of all the foreign events happening in Ningbo.
Philip Authur, from Ghana, sees himself as an entertainer. He does everything from organizing events, making and producing music and is also an MC, basically anything to get the party started and going. His journey in China began in Yiwu, followed by a short stint in Hangzhou. He made it to Ningbo while studying for a second degree in international trade, and economics, at Zhejiang Wanli University. That was when Zero Gravity entertainment started to take root. He began by organizing a party here and then when he finished his studies, he decided to do it full-time.
One may look at events and entertainment as trivial, but to Big Shade, entertainment means bridging the gap between people, communities, and cultures. We all love to have a good time. The fact that people from all walks of life can enjoy the same music and create a welcoming and joyful atmosphere means that an event goes way beyond just the fun. One of the first events I went to in Ningbo post-lockdown was organized by Big Shade. Seeing people together having fun and sharing moments felt therapeutic and cathartic. And that is the beauty of a good event, it touches people in different ways, and you never know what it means for other people.
You would think there is some massive secret behind his success. All he says is, “I have to remember I am not the party, and the party is not you.” When he has an event, his core mission is not only to give people something new but also to make sure they get more than they thought they would get. This philosophy has worked so well for him that his events are always full. He even jokes about an event he had in 2016. The party got so packed that they had to shut it down four hours into the event even though people had not arrived and had to be refunded. He kept going, choosing to see it as a testament to people’s trust in his brand rather than a failed event.
He has high aims for Zero Gravity, looking to become an entertainment house that hosts concerts in Ningbo and brings all the pop and hip-hop artists to Ningbo. And he is paving this road to this aim with blood, sweat, and tears, and pulling off events in various cities like Hangzhou and Shanghai. With all of this, music is still his main focus. He always loved music as a child, having been influenced by his parents. He jokes his mom wouldn’t even start the car unless he had specific cassettes ready for the trip, no matter how short the trip. As an adult, he records and writes music, and has had a radio and TV tour as well-produced music with some of the best producers in Africa and the World. He has even done three songs with Guilty Beatz, who is on the production lineup of Beyonce’s Lion King Album.
He values hard work and dedication, saying that even if you are trending and are a hit, it doesn’t pay to rest on your laurels. The secondary factor is the people around you because it doesn’t matter if you are a hit right now. If your support system doesn’t look after you, then you will not succeed. He uses this for his music as well, believing everyone has something to add. “In Ghana, we say not all fingers are the same” this means everyone will have something to add or a different perspective on the issue. When he thinks up an event, he does a focus group poll among his closest friends for a different perspective.
Hard work, perseverance, and constant focus on the end goal have created a daily regime of the gym, home, brainstorming, reading, and taking lots of walks to get inspiration. Unless he has an event, in which case, he is running around at breakneck speeds to secure event milestones and make sure everything is in place.
Many things make up a city, the people, buildings, and parks, but the events genuinely give a city life, vision, and atmosphere. They may seem trivial and just a chance to go out and drink, but there is a depth to events and the people who organize them.
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine
Natasha’s Ningbo Nights
When we talk about business, people always look at the monetary benefits and rarely ever look at the other benefits. The core seed for any business is the identification of a need and satisfying that need. This comes with financial remuneration in most instances, but sometimes one must look a little further and look at future prospects. Natasha Fuller is one such person. She started Ningbo Nights to fulfil the needs of Ningbo foreigners for events happening around the city.
Fulfil the needs of Ningbo foreigners
Before Ningbo Nights, there was no central platform for people to find out what was happening in the city. Many people felt they only knew about events after the fact. This also meant event organisers did not always get as many participants as they wanted and needed. Seeing this, Natasha created the Ningbo Nights WeChat group to connect the city’s people with event organisers. This grew into an official account and has the potential to grow even more prominence as it bridges the gap between foreigners and Chinese people in marketing events to everyone.
Natasha is fascinated with ideas of creation, growth, and helping people. When people ask why she is putting so much effort into something that has no financial benefit, she cites the experience she is gaining and the feeling of being able to help people.
Natasha, a Texas native, was initially drawn to radio and marketing.
Natasha, a Texas native, was initially drawn to radio and marketing. She followed this passion through her university career, where she studied mass communication with a focus on radio, TV, and journalism and a minor in marketing. Her love was radio more than TV. Her backup was in broadcast sales and did an internship with Clear Channel radio, a big broadcast group in the United States. After university, she got a job in radio where she sold advertising on-air while her weekends were spent on the air as a country radio DJ. She did this for about three years before getting a job with the broadcasting group.
When her other calling, helping people, called, she switched to teaching. Her love for teaching had reared its head in high school when she did half days at an elementary school. She went back, got retrained as an elementary school teacher and made the change from media to education. She then left Texas and went to Abu Dhabi, where she started Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc’s, her sorority, first middle eastern chapter. Her next step was Ulsan, South Korea, working as a teacher, where she became the Asian Pacific state director of her sorority. She stayed in Korea for two years before moving to China. When she got to Ningbo, she moved up to international area director of the sorority. It seems her need for creation and connecting people has always followed her. Ningbo is her home because of its convenience, beauty, tranquillity, and people.
Why Ningbo didn’t have platforms like That’s Shanghai?
Being a voracious media consumer, Natasha was left asking herself why Ningbo didn’t have platforms like That’s Shanghai. When we couldn’t travel in the summer because of Corvid restrictions, she came up with the idea of Ningbo Nights. Initially, the focus was on nightlife and events happening in the city, and she opened a Wechat group to help inform everyone about those events. It snowballed, reaching about 500 people within a week. She then set up a WeChat account for the blog, which has grown to reach all corners of Ningbo.
She spends her time looking for more events to share and talking to various business owners around the city. Her mission is to provide a space for people to know where to go and wishes more businesses would take up her free service. There are other blogs like hers; however, they are in Chinese, and she hopes to help integrate the communities. Hence, she tries to make sure the events she promotes are bilingual. She is grateful that her life in Ningbo allows her to do all of this in her free time. She freely admits she didn’t start Ningbo Nights to make it into a fully-fledged marketing business. Her idea was to satisfy the need. As to the future, she feels there are still steps that need to be taken before that can be realised.
Ningbo is a city alive with possibilities
Ningbo is a city alive with possibilities for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. She likens it to Abu Dhabi where people came as a teacher but left with a second career. The question is how many foreigners are up to taking advantage of those opportunities. To that end, her focus is on creating networks and surrounding herself with like-minded people.
Networking is the cornerstone of business. Natasha’s goal is not only to meet people to work with and learn from but also to create a space for others to do the same. Recently she partnered with Stacey from the Rotary club, Lena from the Singaporean society, and Susan from the Ningbo Foreign Ladies group to organise a business networking event where Ningbo’s various “factions” could meet and make connections.
The belief that success can only be measured through financial gains falls short when one looks at the experience and connections one makes when your business runs smoothly. Natasha focuses on creation, growth, and constant learning, which she then puts to use in helping people find what they need and love in Ningbo.
Feature Article was written by me and originally appeared in Ningbo Focus magazine