2016年12月14日
Start-Up from CKGSB - Where Business Dreams Come True
长江的创业基因，吸引了世界各地有志于在中国市场大潮中冲浪的人，大卫就是其中之一。26岁的他已经是一家欧洲体育教育公司的CEO，如今，他将目光投向了中国市场，并希望在这个新兴经济体中，杀出一条属于自己的道路。
The Entrepreneurial DNA of CKGSB draws talent from around the world. William Davidson is one such example. The 26 year old has had past experience in sports entertainment, technology and education project consulting. In this exciting and rising China economy, William is carving out his own path.
大卫出生于英国格拉斯哥，本科就读格拉斯哥大学法律和法语专业，期间作为交换生在法国里昂让穆兰大学攻读法学硕士。本科毕业后，大卫离开家乡，到意大利西北部城市托里诺游学，并在牛津中心、英国国际学校等机构担任兼职英语教师，这段经历，在大卫心中种下了从事教育事业的种子。
William was born in Glasgow in Scotland, UK. He enrolled at University of Glasgow in law for his undergraduate studies and completed junior-honors year on exchange at the law school of Université Jean Moulin: Lyon 3 in Lyon, France. Post-graduation, William took a gap year and travelled in North-western and central parts of Italy and settled in Torino. During this time he taught English at Oxford Center and the British International School as an English teacher, gained experience in a network, software engineering role for an IBM sub-contractor and became fluent in Italian.
一年之后，大卫从意大利回到英国，继续攻读格拉斯哥大学法律硕士学位，顺利毕业后，他加入了Libero足球管理公司，担任法律顾问和合同经理。这是一家国际足联授权的足球经纪公司，酷爱足球的大卫很快就在这里确定了未来的人生目标——去开创体育教育事业，而那颗在托里诺种下的种子，也发出了嫩芽.
One year later, William returned to UK from Italy and continued legal practice studies with a graduate program at Glasgow towards a Master’s in Law. Post-graduation, William worked as a commercial contract manager and in-house counsel for Libero Professional Football Management, a leading FIFA intermediary for professional soccer players and travel management business. In addition to legal, contract management and negotiation duties, this role involved frequent travel for business development and operations event management duties. William around this time began to envisage creating his own sports-related education start-up.
工作一个月后，大卫便加入了Libero内部孵化的一家体育教育公司担任COO和负责销售工作的VP。同时兼任三个职位，他也收获了超过三倍的经验：法律和合同管理，让他掌握了一家公司在法律方面可能面临的所有问题；而内部创业项目，则让他学到了如何建立一家体育教育公司，尤其是带领销售团队的过程，让他熟悉了市场，也触摸到管理的真谛。
Whilst at Libero, William began developing and market testing different start-up ideas for the company. As COO and VP of Sales, he gained experiencein in sales, team management and business operations.
2015年1月，大卫成立了自己的第一家创业公司——南极光体育教育（欧洲）有限公司，并担任CEO，这家公司致力于为欧洲专业的体育俱乐部提供教育类B2B服务。公司成立不久，大卫便顺利拿到了欧盟赞助的一个体育教育项目，并与9个英国专业足球俱乐部建立合作。而他在法律、合同管理、以及销售方面的经验，让他成功的运作了这个项目，为公司节约了大量的成本。
In January of 2015, William, together with a co-founder, established Astralis Sports Education. Via cold-call telephone selling, the two co-founders built an initial client base of leading English professional soccer academies, selling key stakeholders on their vision for comprehensive educational travel programs meeting the requirements of the English FA soccer development curriculum and closing B2B contracts to this end. Utilizing industry experience and training in law, contract management and sales, he was able to boot strap the fledgling start-up into business.
除了母语英语以外，大卫还会说法语、西班牙语和意大利语，他本人也在南极光的私教部门担任英语和意大利语教师。对教育与足球的同等热爱，让他希望将南极光打造成一个“以足球为导向，将旅行、教育和体育结合在一起的创新教育公司，为全世界的体育爱好者们服务”。
William envisages a broader future for Astralis as a global education provider, connecting individuals of different geographic heritage and inspiring in its stakeholders a passion for travelling, learning languages and seeing beyond cultural differences. He views his own language skills as crucial in enabling him to communicate his vision for Astralis and scale the company to the widest possible market reach in geographic terms. He is currently learning Chinese and aims to test for HSK 5 by the end of 2017. He is excited for what the future brings and delighted to be sharing the journey with CKGSB.
而作为世界第二大经济体的中国，对大卫的愿景有着至关重要的影响，也吸引着他奔向中国这片体育教育的蓝海。在通过了格拉斯哥大学孔子学院的普通话三级考试后，大卫拿到浙江大学光华法学院的录取通知书，飞到了这个不断强大着的文明古国。在浙大，大卫主要修习中国法，进而了解着中国的历史、政治、经济和文化。与此同时，他也建立了南极光体育教育（亚洲）公司，为中国的中学生提供足球教育。
The world’s 2nd largest economy, China forms an integral component of the vision for Astralis. After completing the Confucius Institute Chinese Mandarin level 3 class, William was delighted to receive an admissions and scholarship offer from Zhejiang University’s Guanghua Law School, arriving in China in August 2015 and enrolling on the school’s LL.M. Chinese Law program. Studying the fundamental legal, socio-political and historical concepts underpinning P. R. China’s rapid growing economy and dynamic business environment, William leveraged the opportunity also to continue growing his business, make contacts and build China-knowledge with a view to future expansion of the business model to P.R. China.
作为一位充满激情的年轻创业者，想要在中国市场破浪前行，大卫还需要建立起对中国更全面的认识，并拓展更多的人脉，而长江商学院是他最好的选择，“长江商学院的企业家精神、全球视野以及对中国市场的洞察，都有助于我开拓中国市场；而志同道合的同学、卓越的导师计划以及各种丰富精彩的课外活动，都将助力我快速融入中国商业社会。”
A young entrepreneur ambitious to develop a successful niche offering within the vast Chinese market, William requires comprehensive China-knowledge, relationship networks and start-up incubation support. CKGSB has been his choice as the optimum environment in which to attain his ambitions. “CKGSB’s entrepreneurial spirit, globalvision, unparalleled alumni network and profound insight into the China market have been and continue to be essential to my development and progress towards my business objectives. The career development opportunities and alumni contact support provided by the school’s CMC facility have already proven vital in enabling me to build my network. The alumni mentoring activities have already opened doors for me within the Chinese market. Excellent partnerships exist for internship at top MNCs, leading China start-ups and exchange at leading business schools globally.”
生活中的大卫不仅热爱足球，也是业余拳击手，他曾代表格拉斯哥大学参加拳击锦标赛；他也享受着每一次旅行的机会，在陌生的环境中结交新的朋友，学习当地的语言，发现全新的文化、美食和音乐。因此，这段长江之旅中，让大卫更加期待的是，“与长江的同学一起游遍中国，并结交终生的友谊。”
Outside of his work, William is an amateur boxer and has represented both the University of Glasgow and his local hometown club in Scottish University and interclub tournaments. His other hobbies are travelling, spending time with friends and classmates, and learning local languages. He also enjoys culture, food, and music. During his time at CKGSB, he has enjoyed immersing himself in Chinese culture, travelling and forging life-long friendships with classmates.
