WHY GUANGHUA

#Why Guanghua# is a special feature on our MBA students' stories with Guanghua School of Management. Edward Li, an experienced Overseas Investment Manager in the Real Estate Industries, has spent his last 4 years in India and Sri Lanka. Realizing that Asia has the biggest potential and most opportunities in future, he joined Guanghua to start a brand new journey.

#Why光华#系列专题访谈旨在分享MBA学生在光华管理学院的故事。Edward Li是房地产行业一位经验丰富的海外投资经理，近四年来一直在印度和斯里兰卡工作。在认识到亚洲未来巨大的发展潜力与机遇后，他毅然决定进入光华，开启人生新的征程。

【全文可滑动阅读中文翻译】

Edward Li

Hometown:Hong Kong, China

Fun Fact about Yourself:I really sleep a lot.

Previous School and Major:The Education University of Hong Kong, Liberal Studies

Most Recent Employer and Job Title:Country Garden Group, Overseas Investment Manager

家乡：中国香港

个人趣事：我真的很贪睡

先前就读学校及专业：香港教育大学 通识教育

最近从事的工作及职位：碧桂园集团 海外投资经理

1

Can you give us a brief introduction of yourself?

I graduated from The Education University of Hong Kong in 2015. With the idea that I should explore the world and a lot of passion, I went to India and joined a venture capital. After a year I joined Country Garden investment department. In the beginning, most of my friends told me I definitely will come back after 2 weeks, but instead, I spent almost four years there.

In Country Garden, I worked as an investment manager to look for the rightinvestmentopportunities,including land acquisition, joint-venture and joint-development. Overseas life and work were challenging, but I always tell myself if you put the toughest ahead, the rest of them will be much easier. At the end of 2018, I was in Sri-Lanka, which was the time I started to think about taking one step further to pursue my MBA degree.

2015年，我从香港教育大学毕业，怀揣着探索世界的梦想与激情远赴印度，加入了一家风投公司。一年后，我加入了碧桂园在当地的投资部。大多数朋友起初都认为我两周后就会打道回府，却没料到我在那里工作了将近四年。

我在碧桂园担任投资经理，负责寻找合适的投资机会，业务类型包括土地收购、合资经营和共同开发等。海外的生活和工作充满了挑战，但我总告诫自己做事情需要先苦后甜。2018年底我还在斯里兰卡时，就萌生了进一步攻读MBA学位的想法。

2

How did you enter your industry? What has been the biggest change along the way? What aspects you learned have helped you the most in your career development？

I like tangible things which I can feel and touch. So real estate is a good choice for me. The second year I was in India, I got the chance to join Country Garden investment team. Land investment is very different frommy previous experience --venture capital investment. Both jobs require a lot of people-related work, but you're actually dealing with very different groups of people. Land is always rare and limited, especially in the private land ownership country, so you need a lot of negotiation and balance of bilateral interests behind the modeling and finance feasibility work. You need to find the right opportunity among many options and cooperate with different departments. For me, the most helpful part in this job is to cultivate strong interpersonal skills and ability to build and foster a strong network.

我喜欢看得见、摸得着的东西，因此房地产就是一个不错的选择。在印度打拼的第二年，我有幸加入了碧桂园投资团队。土地投资与我之前从事的风险投资有着天壤之别，两项工作虽然都要与人频繁接触，但实际上接触的对象却截然不同。土地属于一种有限稀缺资源，这在土地私有制国家尤其表现明显；进行建模和财务可行性分析之前你需要进行很多谈判，平衡好双方利益。面对众多选择你需要抓住良机，与不同部门展开合作。

就我而言，在这份工作中的最大收获是培养了良好的人际交往能力，并学会了如何建立强大的人脉网络。

3

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far.

In 2017 February, I was told in the morning to transfer to Chennai and be the investment manager in charge; and on the same day, company bought me the flight ticket.

I landed in Chennai at night and went to the hotel, feelinglike an airborne troop who lost the map and the weapon. It was difficult to find a land according to the criteria of the headquarter. Lands more than 10 acres are rare in city or under litigation. The Payment structure is totally different from China. Getting development approvals in Chennai such as different NOCs and building permit are quite difficult and takesextraordinarylong time.

With more local talents joining the team, we finally found the landowner who accepts joint-development, which is a revenue share model and makes us community of interest, so local landowner can help us get the approval and license of development. We worked on deal structure, started due diligence, drafted the term sheet and finalized the 3.38 acres land located in the heart of Chennai.

In May 16th, 2017, I took the landowner's company back to our headquarter and visited many of our projects in Guangdong. The chairman of Country Garden, Mr. Yang Guoqiang met with the chairman of the partner company and signed the agreement. That was our first project signed in south India and the first time I stayed in an Indian cityalone and initiated a project from zero.

2017年2月，公司于某天早上告知我前往金奈（印度城市）负责当地的投资业务，并为我订好了当天出发的机票。

我于当晚降落在金奈，住进了宾馆，感觉自己像是一个弄丢了地图和武器的空降兵。寻找一块符合总部标准的土地并不容易：面积超过10英亩的土地在这座城市要么少见，要么牵扯到诉讼；这里的支付结构也与中国完全不同。在金奈，土地开发许可（比如各种NOC）和建筑执照很难获批，而且申请过程非常耗时。

随着更多本地人才的加入，我们终于找到了愿意合作开发的土地所有者。这是一种收益共享模式，我们以利益共同体的身份参与项目，由土地所有者帮助我们获得开发许可和执照。在确定交易结构，进行尽职调查和草拟条款清单后，我们终于敲定了金奈市中心一块3.38英亩的土地。

2017年5月16日，我带领对方公司的高管回到碧桂园总部，参观了我们在广东的许多项目。碧桂园董事长杨国强先生会见了合作方董事长，并签署了合作协议。那是我们在印度南部签下的首个项目，也是我第一次在印度的城市独自一人从零开始运作成功的项目。

4

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career?

In 2018, I moved to Sri-Lanka to participate in a One Belt One Road project. That was the first time I got involved in a country-level investment project, and I believe in the future, China will play a more important role in the world, and there will be an increasing demand of talents in overseas land business. I need to learn more about my own country and have a systematic business study since my bachelor's degree was not business-related.

2018年，我来到斯里兰卡，加入了“一带一路”建设项目。那是我第一次参与国家级的投资项目，我认为未来中国将会在世界舞台扮演更重要的角色。海外土地开发方面的人才需求将不断增加。我需要进一步了解自己的国家，更系统地掌握商业知识，因为我在大学并未学习商科专业。

5

What was the key factor(s) that led you to determine on PKU Guanghua instead of other school, and why was it so important to you?

It's related to my future plan. I want to root in Asia where I believe has more opportunities in the future. I was looking for a school which can help me to know more about my own country and develop a global perspective at the same time. Guanghua international MBA class offers English teaching environment, China related topics and cases, the best faculty and resources, and an expansive alumni network both in China and across the world, which fulfills all my needs perfectly.In the end, we all know PKU Guanghua is the best, don’t we?

这与我的未来规划有关。我想扎根亚洲，我觉得这里将有更多机会。我一直在寻找一所能让我更多地了解自己的国家，同时又有助于培养全球视野的学校。光华国际MBA项目采用英文教学，讲授与中国相关的课题和案例，而且拥有一流的师资和资源，以及遍布中国和全球的庞大校友网络，能够满足我的所有需求。还有最后一点，我们都知道北大光华是中国第一，对吧？

6

What was the most challenging part of the admissions process for you?

I revised my application essay many times but I won’t say that’s the most challenging part. I took the flight from India to Beijing in weekend for onsite interview but that’s not the most challenging part either. I would say the video essay, one of the required application materials, was the most challenging part of the admission process. I think it's a very creative and unique way to know about the candidates,a way that is not used by any other business schools I applied for. I know this is the very first chance for Guanghua to see me before the in-person interview, so I put a lot of effort in the video essay. Within the 3-minute video, I talked about the projects I invested in Sri Lanka and India, all the challenges I've went through, and how my life has changed after I moved from Hong Kong to India. Besides, I also included some comments from my superior and colleagues in work. I feel like that 3-minute video was a miniature of my 4-year career life.

申请文书需要经过反复斟酌和修改，我还在某个周末从印度直飞北京参加现场面试，但这都不算难事；对我来说，准备必需的申请材料之一——视频文书——是申请过程中最具挑战性的环节。光华管理学院是我所申请的所有商学院中唯一一所采用视频文书的院校，这种了解申请人的方式非常新颖和独特。我知道这是在面试之前第一次向光华介绍自己的机会，因此花了很多心血来设计视频文书。在短短3分钟的视频中，我谈到了自己在斯里兰卡和印度的投资项目，所经历的各种挑战，以及从香港到印度的生活体验。此外，我还加入了上司和同事对我的一些评价。这段视频就是我工作四年来的一个缩影。

7

Which course/event/activity impressed you the most in your MBA Studies?

There are many inspiring courses in Guanghua which help me to rethink about the problem I faced in my previous work such as the Assets pricing and stock valuation, Management Economic and Organization Behavior, etc, but I think the most impressive one is CDC (Career Development Course), which invites different speakers to talk about different topics. Bysharing their career stories, they provided us with a lot of helpful insights and advice. The course is rich in content and well-covered of different areas, like MBTI test to find out your personality,guidelines of working on your resume and first-hand industry experience shared by different professionals. For me, CDC was not only a learning process but also a self-exploration.

光华的很多课程都具有启发意义，能够帮助我重新思考以前的工作中所遇到的问题，比如资产定价和股票估值、管理经济和组织行为等，但最令我印象深刻的要属CDC（职业发展课程）了。这门课会邀请各行各业的嘉宾针对不同主题各抒己见。通过聆听他们的职业故事，我们收获了许多有用的见解和建议。这门课程内容丰富，涵盖到了很多领域，比如MBTI职业性格测试、简历制作指南以及不同专业人士分享的一手从业经验。对我而言，这门课程不只是学习知识，而且还是一种自我认知的过程。

8

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why?

They are a group of people with different backgrounds but same open mind who are really supportive. They work hard, and they play hard. The best thing about my MBA class is everyone can share their own thoughts in the class with their own knowledge andexperiencefromdifferent background, making the case discussion more attractive and interesting. In our class, half of the students are international students, and the whole class supports each other not only in the teamwork and group projects but also in daily life.

同学们的背景虽不相同，但心态却是一样的开放，经常相互提供支持；他们既会埋头苦学，也会尽情娱乐。我们MBA课程的一个特色是来自不同文化背景的同学们可根据自己的经验和知识在课堂上畅所欲言，案例讨论由此变得更具吸引力和趣味性。我们班级有一半学生来自海外，但都能在团队合作和集体项目中互相支持，在日常生活中互相帮助。

9

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Swimming, that’s why I like warm place. Meeting friends and travelling.

游泳，我也因此更偏爱温暖的地方；另外还有结交朋友和旅行。

10

Name one person that influences you the most.

My mother.

我的母亲。

11

Describe one of the best days/moments in Guanghua so far:

The welcome show of Guanghua MBA2019, when the whole class got involved in the performance. We had a tight timing for rehearsal but I think we did a great job. I was in the Peking Opera part in the performance, playing Zhaoyun, a “Sheng” male character. There was one spear fight plot between me and my classmate Giovanni who was a “Jing” painted face character, and we practiced many times with the heavy custom. That was the first time I tried Peking Opera and anunforgettable shared memory for the whole class.

在光华MBA2019迎新晚会上，整个班级都参加了演出。排练时间相当紧张，但我认为我们的演出很成功。我在京剧节目中扮演了赵云，属于“生角”，还与扮演“净角”的同班同学Giovanni上演了一段打斗戏，我们穿着厚重的戏服排练了很多遍。那是我第一次尝试京剧，这场演出也成为了整个班级难忘的共同记忆。

12

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are?

The moment I decided to go to India to start my career. I had no idea that in the future four years that decision would make me practice a lot of my cross-cultural communication and problem-solving skills. It alsogave me strong ability to adapt to different living and working environment and encouraged me to be more open-minded when facing difference. I’d like to specially thank my superior Bala who ismy life and work mentor in my previous job and always being so supportive and helpful. Without him, my journey won’t be that great and fruitful.

我决定去印度开启职业生涯的那一刻。我根本想不到这一决定会让自己受益无穷，我在后来的四年里很好地锻炼了自己的跨文化交流和解决问题的能力。我学会了适应不同的生活和工作环境，懂得了面对文化差异要保持开放心态。我要特别感谢自己的上司Bala，他是我生活和工作中的启蒙导师，给予了我很多支持和帮助。如果没有他，我的这段人生旅程不会如此丰富多彩和硕果累累。

13

What’s the plan after graduation?where do you see yourself in ten years?

I asked the same question to my superior in work before who is the investment director and already had his MBA degree. He told me: Ed, the world is changing fast and becoming more and more unpredictable. I even don’t know where I will be in the next 5 years. I haven’t planed that far but I would like to go back to real estate industry like real estate fund or hotel investment after graduation to get more experience and connection and one day I would like to start my own business.

我以前曾向上司提出过同样的问题，他担任公司的投资总监，并已取得了MBA学位。他告诉我说：Ed，这个世界变化得太快，而且越来越难以预测，我甚至不知道自己五年后会在哪里。我还没有想得那么远，但希望毕业后能回到房地产行业——比如从事房地产基金或酒店投资，以积累更多经验和人脉，希望终有一日我能开创自己的事业。

供稿 |Edward Li

特 别 感 谢

出品 | 光华MBA国际事务部

点击链接阅读：

Why光华 | 职业生涯进步的阶梯

Why光华 | 加速发展亚洲事业

因梦而来，携光同行|Why Guanghua

PKU GUANGHUA MBA

Peking University, Guanghua MBA values the global mindset of our students. All the courses are taught in English to cultivate the cross-cultural communication skills, global leadership and decision-making ability under a multi-cultural background. The program is specially designed for candidates worldwide who aim to work in transnational corporations or international organizations；or those who target at expanding the global market.

北京大学光华管理学院国际MBA项目注重中外学生融合，采取全英文授课模式，以培养学生的跨文化沟通能力、立足中国而面向国际的领导和决策能力为目标。适合以跨国公司、国际组织或以开拓全球市场为目标的世界范围内学生报考。