Nihao, China! Swiss entrepreneur designs app to help foreigners in China

Lucas Rondez [Photo provided to China Daily]

Taking time to understand China

Rondez is decisive.

Once he made up his mind to move to China from Switzerland, he accomplished it in just four days. When he did come to China, his hopes to start a new career took a little more time.

"Team, capital, connections, resources and a thorough understanding of the local market, all of these are indispensable." All of which he did not have when he arrived.

Rondez started off by working in local banks. By 2016, he decided he'd gained enough experiences and resources, as well as ideas for a product --  an app targeted at foreigners living and working in China.

"One needs to deeply understand a particular area in order to run a business. And at that time, what I understood the most were problems foreigners may encounter in China."

According to Rondez, there are three major areas that foreigners struggle with; visas, where to go for fun and paying travel expenses.

"Chinese locals may not have any idea how difficult things are for foreigners when purchasing train or plane tickets. One time I saw a foreign couple in line buying train tickets. They were speaking to the staff for a really long time, but still couldn't finish the transaction with their debit cards. In the end they had to withdraw cash from the ATM. These kind of experiences are just too painful."

These encounters, the lack of any services targeted at expats, along with Rondez's judgment on the rapid development of China's e-commerce, led to the birth of Nihao, an app that "strives to make foreigners' lives in China easier".