Newman Huo

    YOUNG American entrepreneur, Brent Deverman, said he had no regrets after moving to Shenzhen when he graduated with degrees in computer science and East Asian studies from Michigan State University in 2000.

    “If I hadn’t chosen to come to China eight years ago, I would never have been able to have so many opportunities I had in Shenzhen. I’d probably have ended up as a software engineer for a company in Detroit,” said Deverman, 31, from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    Today he is the owner and general manager of ShenzhenParty.com, a professional Web site specializing in providing information, such as nightlife, bars, restaurants, dating, jobs and real estate, for English speakers living in Shenzhen.

    Before moving to Shenzhen, Deverman had learned Chinese for four years in Michigan State University in the United States midwest.

    However, he was not content with his book knowledge of China and decided to look for a job on the Chinese mainland so he could continue to practice his Chinese.

    He first worked as a software engineer for a French watch factory in Futian District for three years.

    His main duties were to meet with partners to design system requirements to develop an e-commerce shopping cart platform for custom watches designed online, as well as handling backend order management and keeping the servers running.

    In 2003, Deverman began to work for the Shenzhen factory of Concord Camera Corporation, one of the world’s largest producers of disposable cameras.

    There he managed a cross-functional 12 person team producing 15 million single-use cameras every year for the Kodak Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) project.

    During the early part of his stay in Shenzhen, life and work was easy for Deverman, but he found there were not so many entertainment places for him and his friends to go for relaxation in their spare time.

    In August 2001, Deverman decided to launch a Web site together with three French co-workers, Yann Le Berre, Matthieu Charlier, and Pierre Bouchez, to provide an online hub for expatriate partygoers in Shenzhen.

    As time passed, the early co-workers left ShenzhenParty.com for various reasons. Deverman had only himself to keep the Web site running.

    In 2006, he decided to quit Concord Camera Corporation and devote all his time and energy to running the Web site. In doing so, he turned a part-time hobby into a business.

    “Doing business in China is not too easy for a foreigner like me, but it has been a good learning experience as I’ve been through ups and downs over the past years,” he said.

    To run a successful business, Deverman has transformed ShenzhenParty.com from a network of parties into a more general Web site covering many other services.

    The most difficult aspect of doing business here was getting the Chinese customers to understand the value of advertising and public relations.

    “In the West we understand that you have to spend money to make money, but most of the Chinese owners have an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality,” he said.

    About two months ago, he launched a sister Web site, ShenzhenGuide.com, to provide a platform of social networking for both Chinese and expatriates in Shenzhen.