1800 GEM Alumni in China! Really?

The first Chinese who graduated from GEM is Julie Zhu, MIB 1999, who obtained her degree on August 6th, 

Grenoble Ecole de Management has been present in China for over 20 years, building partnerships with numerous universities around the country, delivering double diplomas, organizing exchange programs for the students, setting transcontinental semesters and enrolling Chinese students in every program of the school, including the “Programme Grande Ecole”.
GEM’s Doctoral school is also present in China, with over 125 alumni; it is a major branch of GEM Alumni DBA Network.

Such a diversity!

Last Saturday I represented GEM at the annual Doctoral Alumni Association China weekend. This two-day event included the DBA Graduation Ceremony and it was a great honor to welcome 12 new Doctors into our network. The ceremony master was Dr Jie Yan. Among the speakers was Dr Ming Wei, DBA Alumni 2007, Ericson China VP, who gave a very inspiring speech about 5G technology.

On Sunday afternoon, Amy Xu, GEM’s Foreign Office Manager for China, introduced me to more than 30 GEM Alumni. We had a cheese and wine tasting in a French place called “La Crémerie”; for once, it was easy for me to pretend to be an “expert”.
It was a pleasure to exchange with them and to discover/realize how diverse and powerful our network is in China. Graduates from MSc Marketing, MSc Business Development, MIB, and PGE gathered around their pride to be a part of our global network.

I had a chance to chat in a perfect french with Kang Li, PGE 2015. She is working for Total in Shanghai; she used to work for this company in Paris and took an internship opportunity to come back to China.
Jiajun QIAN, MIB 2018, Manager at Amaris Shanghai, explained to me how Fanny Tresallet, PGE 2011, recruited him. Fanny did a huge work to develop Amaris in China; she returned to France last year and is now Chef Innovation Officer and Executive Committee Member.

Our Chinese network is committed and active

They really are more than 1800 GEM Alumni in China, thanks to Chaoqun PAN, MSc 2014, they are organized in 4 Chapters, all managed by volunteers:

• Shanghai : HeJun Wang DBA 2022 – MSc 2015 and Zhuocheng He, MIB 2012
• Beijing : Junqi He, MIB 2016 and Yan Wu, PGE 2004
• Shenzhen: Meiling Pang, MSc 2013 and Loïc Kobes, PGE 2011
• GEM DBA Alumni Association in China: Dr. Hongxiao Zhou, DBA 2017, Dr. Xinqiao Wang, DBA 2012 Dr. Peijian Ge, DBA 2016 and Dr. Ming Xu, DBA 2013

It is up to us, “western alumni”, now to get connected to this “to be discovered part” of our global network! Let’s build and develop our networks and businesses.

Next step will be in spring 2020: a discovery trip in France for our Chinese entrepreneurs who want to meet Grenoble’s Innovation and Startups ecosystem, seeking partners and businesses to invest in.