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August 13, 2013

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Born in the 1990s -- Ke Siyue, 22

Program Code: 0909346130805005

Ke Siyue, soon to turn 22, is already general manager of a media company she established to produce short movies for corporate and individual clients.

All of her employees are older than her. “I am a workaholic,” says Ke, who is also a junior at Donghua University. “I have the dream of running a company that can instill the value of culture into people and make all our lives more artistic.”

Her company, Shanghai INTO Cultural Media Co Ltd, was officially established a year ago, but the idea originally took shape in 2010, when Ke and a few classmates shot a movie as a school assignment. She was hooked.

“There is demand for innovative ways of communicating, and our short movies can capture the culture of a company or an individual,” Ke says.

At first, the idea was mostly for fun, an extension of how Ke viewed university life. As a freshman, she joined more than 20 campus clubs, she had her own band, she learned to play drum and she even dabbled in mixology.

It was the time to dream, and Ke’s dreams knew no bounds. In her sophomore year, Ke started to get more serious. She joined the school’s Youth League, an organization committed to nurturing future leaders.

It was also the year that Ke began to think of commercializing her short movies as products. She entered her movies in a young business leaders’ competition organized by the Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation for Graduates. The youngest of 80 participants, Ke won the award for the best team.

She quit her work at the Youth League, where she had already attained the top post that a student could reach, and registered INTO as a company last September.

“I mean to do business and do it well,” Ke says. “Since my childhood, I have had a very strong sense of responsibility. My current ambition is to provide good jobs for my staff, and, more than that, I want to help them realize their dreams.”

Ke is well on the way toward her dreams. Her company has signed a few corporate clients, and often does films for newlyweds. INTO is making a profit.

Ke employs about 10 people, most of them born in the 1980s.

Her partner, who is 10 years older than her, keeps an eye on the business while she is attending classes.

“At first, it felt strange to be directing people who were older than me,” Ke says, “but they respect me and we share the same dream, so the business works very cooperatively.”

Ke is practical. To her, money is important. One episode in her college life, though trivial, is etched in her mind. One morning, she casually asked a street vendor making her a breakfast pancake how
much he earned. His answer shocked her.

The vendor said he and his wife could make at least 30,000 yuan (US$4,838) a month.

That was in sharp contrast to the average 3,000 yuan a month a college graduate could earn. The vendor’s reply trigger Ke’s decision to start her own business.

Money aside, Ke remains very idealistic. She says she still believes in the value of higher education and wants to lead an artistic life.

Facing graduation next year, Ke won’t be among the classmates hitting the pavement to look for job, even though she has had some good offers. She says her focus will be on making INTO a business success.




 

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