'Nothing's easy, everything's possible' in the country
Sam Waldo, co-founder of three-year-old eyewear brand Mantra, said he sees great potential in the Chinese market as more people have grown interest in products with fashionable design and unique social value.
After graduating from Colombia University in 2010, Waldo spent two years teaching English in Yongbao town, Lincang, Southwest China's Yunnan province. He found many children had vision（视力） problems but few had proper eyewear（眼睛）.
To figure out a sustainable way of helping them, he founded Mantra in Beijing in 2016 with a promise（承诺） to donate one pair of glasses to children with poor eyesight on sale of a pair of sunglasses.
In its products, Mantra adopted elements of Yunnan, such as terraced fields（梯田）, headgear（头饰） and silver ornaments（银饰） in decoration and design, which attracted many customers, mainly women aged 25 to 35, who favor fashion and are willing to join nonprofit events.
Though Waldo was sometimes confused by the rules and policies in the local market at the beginning, he said he is happy to see the local government has been working on policies to support social enterprises.
"Without reform and opening-up, none of this would have happened. We see great opportunities in the Chinese market in the following decade," he said, adding the company plans to open offline stores（线下店） in Beijing and increase production.
Waldo operated out of a basement（地下室办公室） office for about eight months. He set up stalls（摊位） on busy streets to promote sales. Now, he has got a better office in the Central Business District of Beijing and is invited to forums and to deliver speeches at business events from time to time.
He said what he achieved in China is less likely to happen back in the United States, his home country, because he has been offered many opportunities here to transform his ideas into reality.
"In China, nothing is easy but everything is possible. The atmosphere, the energy and the possibilities here are really unlike anything that I experienced."
About 10 to 20 percent of its annual revenue is donated to support Education In Sight, a nonprofit organization, also co-established by Waldo, which has delivered 37,750 glasses to students in 686 schools in remote and mountainous regions（偏远山区） of Yunnan province.
Nusic to the ears of startup founders
Norwegian Lars Traaholt Vagnes, 24, has been busy of late organizing a music competition that tries to unearth（挖掘） the best original（原创音乐人） music creator around the world. His aim is to popularize his team's music platform Nusic, an AI-enabled virtual DJ platform（配置人工智能的虚拟DJ平台）, through the competition.
According to Vagnes, who graduated last summer from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with computer engineering（电脑工程） as his major, the competition aims to look for innovation and creativity in a musician's approach rather than technique.
Vagnes co-founded a startup a year ago, which allows people with musical creativity to display（展现天分） their talent. The startup currently has its China head office in Shanghai, and has received $250,000 in investment from foreign investors so far.
Musicians in China find it difficult to make money as the market is still maturing（逐步成熟） and improving. "I hope the platform will encourage creative and innovative music," said Vagnes.
Inspired by people around him who are passionate in（对……充满热情的） doing their own business, Vagnes decided to create his own business in the vast China market.
After meeting his business partner Adam Place from Bristol of England, he decided to develop a platform jointly with his other partners for using AI and allowing music creators to monetize（让……变现） their work.
Currently, about 20 music creators from China and overseas have uploaded their works on to the platform. Their number is increasing at a weekly growth rate of 15 percent.
The experience of being an entrepreneur is fun, as one can "get to follow your vision（远见卓识） and be passionate," said Vagnes.
Many people too are planning to start a business, and Shanghai is one of the ideal places to realize their dreams as the city is cosmopolitan（大都市）, has a strong Chinese component, and boasts international talent, he said.
"Shanghai, even the whole of China, is full of energy and opportunity … I'm inspired by people here who are doing big projects, and I want to be one of them," said Vagnes.
