Life in China through the eyes of a young Pakistani entrepreneur

BEIJING: A Pakistani entrepreneur who went from being a young graduate in Pakistan to a Social Media Manager for the universally acclaimed singer Akon, shared his experiences of studying and living in China.

Seldom do we get to hear about the success stories of Pakistanis living in China or how life is for Pakistanis in the only country considered to be our 'all weather friend'. After graduating from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 2015, Hamza Ayub took it upon himself to venture out to China and got himself enrolled in Peking University in Beijing. According to him, he had read up on China and his love for Peking University was what got him to take the plunge for China.

"Every article, book and news headline I read was talking about this one massive country in the East that no one seemed to have any clue about. China was always in the news as some sort of mythical creature that the outside world couldn’t quite comprehend," he said. "The Master’s campus of Peking University was in Shenzhen; Huaqiangbei was in Shenzhen; and Shenzhen was one of the world’s best start-up hubs. I knew I was meant to be there."

Hamza started making commercials for a friend of his who started a small company and pretty soon, he was contacted by Akon's people.

"I got scouted by Richard Chiang, the CEO of KonLive China (Akon’s company), and he gave me a contract for running his social media. It’s a YouTube show called ‘Millionaire Dance’, where I’ll demystify modern China from the eyes of big celebrities including Akon, B. Howard (Michael Jackson’s son), Justin Timberlake and Afrojack, as well as promote tech products from Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China," he said.

With regard to technology and life in China, Hamza Ayub was all praise for the advanced Chinese and how he felt that he had 'stepped back in time' after the Pakistani came back from China.

"I get to see things happen here before they happen anywhere else in the world. If I step out of China, I feel like I step back in time. I feel weird when people ask me for my phone number, or whether I have cash on me. I no longer carry any cash; it’s all on WeChat. You might be using it in Pakistan, but you don’t fully understand the sheer power of this app until you use it here," he stated.