{"id":8743,"date":"2021-11-15T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T07:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8743"},"modified":"2021-11-09T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T05:22:11","slug":"entrepreneur-spotlight-oscar-fuchs-mosaic-of-china-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/entrepreneur-spotlight-oscar-fuchs-mosaic-of-china-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneur spotlight: Oscar Fuchs, Mosaic of China podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this series we look at China-based entrepreneurs, the businesses they have developed, and how they have coped with recent obstacles created by the pandemic. Oscar Fuchs, host of popular podcast Mosaic of China, recounts his China journey<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve lived in Asia for 18 years,<\/strong> with the majority of that time spent building my own headhunting company and working mainly in Singapore and Japan. After a while, I headed over to Hong Kong SAR for three years, before finally moving to mainland China in 2015. I\u2019ve been here ever since, based in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

I have one of those careers that looks great on paper<\/strong> \u2014 a corporate career in market research and conference production, followed by a decade of entrepreneurial success as a specialist headhunter. But the truth of the matter is that my career has been largely a result of circumstance and pragmatism. My move to China was no exception; my company\u2019s growing reputation in mainland China meant that it made sense to base myself here. But that coincided with a number of other personal factors that weighed more importantly in my decision-making at the time.<\/p>\n

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Having spent so many years advising senior executives on their careers, I\u2019ve seen too many people obsess over how their choices would be potentially interpreted by future employers.<\/strong> But that\u2019s no way to live your life. I\u2019ve always gravitated towards curious people whose first priority is to seek out adventure and experience above those who prefer to manage their careers in a more conventional manner. I daresay many Focus readers will have made similar life decisions, wherever practical, to seek out intellectual growth and personal contentment above linear career progression.<\/p>\n

In 2019, my headhunting firm received investment from a Japanese company<\/strong> that allowed me to divest my entire share and exit completely. So I had the luxury of devoting my time to a passion project like a podcast, without the focus on making it into a commercial success from the outset.<\/p>\n

Having spent the previous decade conducting intimate career discussions with senior executives, I had developed a personal interviewing style that lent itself to a podcast.<\/strong>\u00a0I could transfer those skills to a platform that would allow me to engage with people in China from all walks of life, across the worlds of business, the arts, science, sports and academia. As an early fan of the podcasting genre, it didn\u2019t take me long to formulate the idea for Mosaic of China.<\/p>\n