'Win in China'
Donald Trump, eat your heart out. In a sign of just how capitalist Communist China has become, the hottest television sensation on the mainland is a game show -- for entrepreneurs.
Much like "The Apprentice" -- with a dash of "American Idol" mixed in -- "Win in China" pits aspiring moguls against each other. To win, contestants have to convince the judges -- successful venture capitalists, CEOs, and the audience -- that their business plan has the right stuff.
The force behind the show is Anna Wang Lifen, who rose to fame bringing talk shows to China as executive producer of the popular television program "Dialogue." During a book-writing sabbatical in America, Ms. Wang realized that reality television was the next big thing, as she witnessed the explosive growth of shows such as "Survivor" and "American Idol." That phenomenon reached China last year when "Super Girl," a singing contest, was watched by more than 400 million people. But Ms. Wang wanted to use reality television to do something more, by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.
Anna Wang Lifen
"Every young Chinese person wants to realize their dreams," Ms. Wang told me in Beijing recently. "The best way to realize dreams is start-ups."
You might think China isn't ready for an entrepreneurial revolution. Despite decades of economic reform, state-owned enterprises still play a prominent role in the economy. And traditionally in China, businessmen are looked down upon, and depicted as corrupt, while government leaders, scholars and workers are highly respected.
But the success of "Win in China," which started airing March 28, has shattered such stereotypes. More than 120,000 would-be entrepreneurs applied to take part, with the top 3,000 being interviewed in 54 locations across China during May and June. Just 108 were invited to compete in Beijing, where they were whittled down to 36, and then to 12 finalists using Miss America-style interviews, where judges asked live questions about business plans and real-life case studies to test how well candidates performed on their feet.
Over the next two months, the 12 finalists will compete in a series of weekly reality shows by performing real business tasks for real companies. In one show, to be aired Oct. 19, participants hit the streets in teams to sell insurance. Another episode requires the contestants to design and execute an operation that distributes free dairy products to schools in poor areas. On the finale, to be aired Dec. 5, audience members will select the winner via SMS messages.
The prize? Not a job as somebody's personal assistant. Instead the winner gets 10 million yuan ($1.2 million) in venture capital financing and 20% of the equity in the new company. Half the equity goes to the venture capital firms that fund the deal. The rest will go to text-messaging viewers and China Central Television, the state-run broadcaster which airs the show. The five top finalists will jet to New York to visit NASDAQ -- and win scholarships to study at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Wang sees the show as being about more than making a fortune. "Entrepreneurs are the heroes of our peaceful times," she explains. "They make employment and pay taxes. Our country can only be rich if we have a lot of entrepreneurs."
But to be successful, real-world entrepreneurs need access to all types of capital -- tools, education, training and technology. Today, countries are competing for capital as never before. Investors who don't like the business climate in one country can simply move their investments elsewhere. Governments who ignore capital mobility do so at the risk of stopping entrepreneurs in their tracks. China's government shows signs of getting it -- adopting tax, regulatory, and education policies designed to attract capital and encourage entrepreneurs.
Ms. Wang, of course, really gets it. She has copyrighted the format for her show and plans to roll it out in other countries. When she does, I wouldn't recommend betting against her. The originator of "Win in China" is the most impressive entrepreneur I have met in a long time.
Mr. Rutledge is chairman of Rutledge Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut and president of Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship Business School in Beijing.
赢在中国
唐纳德?川普(Donald Trump)，你可能要有危机感了。从中国最热门的一个创业真人秀节目中不难看出，社会主义中国在市场经济的道路上已经走得多么远。
“赢在中国”(Win in China)是一个旨在选拔精英企业家的游戏节目，与美国的“学徒”(The Apprentice)颇为类似。为了赢得比赛，选手们必须过关斩将，让包括风险投资家、首席执行长们和观众在内所有评委相信自己的商业计划最好。
总策划王利芬曾经因担任收视率极高的“对话”节目制片人而一举成名。在美国考察时，王利芬已经深切地感觉到，真人秀节目将掀起电视行业的下一波浪潮，她亲眼目睹了像“生存者”(Survivor)、“美国偶像”(American Idol)这类节目的爆炸性增长。去年，这种现象在中国得到印证，歌手选拔节目“超级女声”(Super Girl)一度赢得了4亿观众。不过王利芬的目标比这更为远大，她希望借此类节目鼓励创新和创业。
“每个中国人都想实现他们的梦想，”王利芬在近日接受我采访时称。“实现梦想的最好途径就是创业。”
你或许认为中国尚不具备企业家发展的条件。尽管中国经历了几十年的经济改革，但国有企业仍然在经济中扮演主要角色。在中国，传统观念一直认为商人是卑微的，人们经常把商人与腐化联系在一起，而受人尊重的往往是政府领导人、学者和工人。
但“赢在中国”的成功已经将这种传统观念彻底打碎。该节目于3月28日开始播出，先后有120,000名有着创业理想的人报名参与。5月和6月，节目组在全国54个地区选出了3,000名选手进入面试环节。之后有108人被选入北京的竞技训练营，通过有关商业计划和实际案例分析的现场问答，这些选手中最终产生了36强，12强。
接下来的两个月，这12名决赛选手会一起参加每周一次的真人秀竞赛，为一些真实存在的企业解决经营中切实遇到的问题。在10月19日即将播出的一场竞赛中，参赛选手将分组走上街头推销保险。另外一场则是要求选手设计并实施一项向贫困地区的学校分发免费牛奶的计划。在最后的决赛中（定于12月5日播出），冠军将由观众通过短信选出。
那么奖品是什么？绝不是一份私人助理工作。最后的冠军将获得一家注册资本不低于人民币1,000万元的新设企业的经营权并获得其20%的股份。前5名还将有机会参观那斯达克市场，并获得马里兰大学(University of Maryland)的读书奖学金。
王利芬表示，这场竞赛的意义并不局限于赚钱。她说：“企业家是我们和平时代的英雄。他们为社会创造了就业，为国家贡献税收。只有企业家层出不穷，一个国家才能走上富裕之路。”
要想获得成功，现实社会中的企业家需要具备多种条件──必要的经营手段，良好的教育和培训以及对技术的掌握。时至今日，各国对资本的竞争也比以往任何时候都要激烈。如果一个国家的商业环境不能获得投资者的青睐，那就只能眼睁睁地看着资金流向别处。忽视资本流动性的政府也将面临断送企业家发展前程的风险。中国政府已经认识到了这一点──它实施了一系列税收、监管和教育政策以吸引投资和鼓励创业。
王利芬对此更是深有感 。她已经申请了这一节目的版权，并计划在其他国家推广。我对她的能力丝毫不感到怀疑。这位“赢在中国”的创始人是很长时间以来我见过的企业家中最能打动我的一位。
（编者按：本文作者约翰?拉特利耐(John Rutledge)是康涅狄格州Rutledge Capital的首席执行长，兼任北京蒙代尔国际企业家大学(Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship)商学院院长。）
