The China Chopsticks business networking group held its annual luncheon event at the Hotel Parc Alvisse on Friday, with over 100 people in attendance.
Introduced by event organiser Francis Hoogewerf, the Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg, Huang Changqing, addressed those present in French and talked about the financial sector links between China and Luxembourg, as well as in logistics (air cargo), and also trade facilitation and various projects of collaboration between the two countries, the synergies of which will provide long-term benefits. He also mentioned the planned railway connection linking the two countries.
Guest Speaker Rupert Hoogewerf, famous for his Rich List in the Hurun Report for China (which has become a benchmark for the private sector in China; Hurun also launched its report for/in India in 2012), talked on the topic "How to stay relevant to China in 2016? Is Luxembourg a gateway to Europe for Chinese Entrepreneurs?"
Having been born in the Grand Duchy, he expressed how delighted he was to be back here and played a brief video outlining his company and its services and achievements. Having set up his own business in 1999 in Shanghai, he has become well-known in China during the intervening period.
He talked about the megatrends of fiscality and glogalisation, as well as the rise of China (and India too) which affects everyone. He talked about the dip in the Chinese economy in which the stock market prices have fallen. However, he stressed that there was more wealth created in China last year than in the last 15 years and described it as the biggest explosion of private wealth, in China. Despite the fall in the stock market there are a lot of opportunities "out there". Traditional industries including manufacturing and real estate have slowed right down, but others are emerging, driven by new megatrends, including the digital economy, biotech (including 3D printing applications).
He described the "bottomless pit of entrepreneurship" existing in China and the 4th industrial revolution, where someone takes technology and links it with manufacturing. People with brilliant ideas, together with investors, are making money in China today.
He has identified 1,877 people in China worth more than USD 300 million (with an average age of 54), but estimates the real number is three times that. The top three are Wang Jianlin of WANDA (property, entertainment), Jack Ma of Alibaba (IT) and Zong Qinghou of Wahaha (drinks), the latter having been to Luxembourg. There are now almost 600 Dollar Billionaires in mainland China, representing 37% of the world's billionaires (in the USA there are 537, with 97 in India, 93 in Russia and 80 in the UK).
Unline Bill Gates being the (sole) undisputed No.1 in the US over the past 15 years, China has seen 12 different #1s over the past 17 years. Also, 70% of the top female wealth creators in the world are Chinese. On the level of millionaires, there are 530,000 alone who live in Beijing, with thousands more in other Chinese cities. For those who want to immigrate, the top destination (by far) is North America.
He stressed that the current wealth in China, together with the opportunities being presented, make Luxembourg an ideal location for growth into Europe.
Photo by Geoff Thompson: Rupert Hoogewerf
