Alumni Story| Matthias Keschka, Tough Guy Conquers the Desert

Matthias Keschka’s Chinese name is 王德. He chose this name during his registration at the police office. He thinks 王(Wang) is a simple family name and 德 (De) can indicate he is from Germany. During his bachelor program at the University of Mannheim, the top-ranking business school in Germany, Matthias was awarded an internship at BASF M&A Department in Hong Kong. Supported by the scholarship provided by Confucius Institute, he also spent one year studying Chinese at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which further enhanced his passion for China. Starting from his initial interest in Chinese culture through to his love, education and career in China, his oriental adventure has been full of excitement.

来自德国的王德本名是Matthias Keschka，到中国的公安部门登记时因为王字很简单，自己又来自德国，所以就起名为王德。本科就读于德国排名第一的商学院曼海姆大学的王德，在就读期间就赢得了在香港BASF并购部门实习的机会，并拿到了孔子学院颁发的奖学金，接着他来到交大开展为期一年的中文学习，然后就读高金、结婚、工作，他与中国结下了难舍的情缘。

Matthias is the eternal challenger, and for him, SAIF is one of the challenges. He said that when considering which MF program to take, some people like his professor and future fellow classmate Xiang DING offered him sincere advice, which helped him get a general idea about all leading MF programs in China. After careful consideration, he decided to apply for SAIF MF Program for mainly two reasons. Firstly, SAIF MF is extremely internationalized. And secondly, it focuses on finance and is more challenging.

王德一直是一个热爱“Challenge”的人，SAIF也是挑战之一。他坦言，当初在思考应该去哪所大学深造金融学时，遇到了很多乐于提供帮助的人如教授及丁祥同学（MF2013），因此对清北复交等各大重点高校金融项目都有所了解。但经过慎重考虑后，他还是果断选择了SAIF。一方面是SAIF MF（金融硕士项目）的国际化，一方面是在金融专业领域的针对性及精益求精，相对其他高校项目更具挑战性。  

The courses that impressed Matthias most include Prof. Fei WU’s “VC PE” and Prof. Tan WANG’s “Financial Mathematics”. The former gives inspirations to his current career, while the latter fits his passion for mathematics. “The courses are all quite challenging, but they also train our mindsets. Prof. Tan WANG is good at hands-on coaching. The fact that Chinese classmates are particularly strong in mathematics doesn’t reduce my enthusiasm.”

对于王德来说，印象最深的课程当属吴飞教授的“VC/PE”和王坦教授的“Financial Mathematics” 课程。前者对目前的工作非常有指导性，而后者则出于他本身对数学的热爱。王德坦言，“王坦教授的课程很有挑战性，但是对思维训练非常有帮助，虽然中国学生的数学很强，但并不影响我的学习热情。”

The Asia Pacific Regional Championships of the 2015 Hult Prize is another challenge faced by Matthias during his study at SAIF. Initiated by Ahmad Ashkar in 2009 and supported by Mr. Bertil Hult, founder of English First (EF), this prize partners with the Clinton Global Initiative and is awarded by Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the U.S., in person. It is designed to encourage worldwide college and university students to find solutions for the greatest social issues in the world with the most creative ideas. Comprised of Matthias and four other team members, including Michael Custer (MF2013) and Callum Porter-Harris (MF2014), the teleStory team defeated 38 other teams in the contest, including teams from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Cambridge University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Pennsylvania, University of Toronto and the National University of Singapore, and won the Asia Pacific Regional Championships, becoming the first Chinese champion in this category. 

霍特奖2015年度亚太区冠军团队，是王德在高金期间攻克的又一难关。该奖项于2009年由Ahmad Ashkar创立, 并由EF英孚教育创始人 Bertil Hult支持，与克林顿全球倡议合作，每年由美国前总统克林顿亲自颁发，该奖旨在鼓励全球大学生通过最创新的想法解决全球最大社会问题。当时，王德和其他四名成员——Michael Custer (MF2013), Callum Porter-Harris (MF2014)等人共同组建了“teleStory“团队，齐心协力、一举击败了清华大学、北京大学、剑桥大学，香港科技大学、宾夕法尼亚大学、多伦多大学、新加坡国立大学等38支参赛队伍拔得亚太区头筹，也由此成为首个在该奖项上获胜的中国本土团队。

“It’s a rare and amazing opportunity. It all began with an idea or a rough business model, which soon evolved into a proposal. Starting in February 2016, after we won the Hult Prize Regionals, we managed to raise 300,000 RMB in just four months. We engaged in a pilot in Dawu County, Hubei Province and were part of a startup incubator in Boston, USA. We also started teleStory India. We spent two months there and went through its initial business development and local content development phases. It’s an exceptional entrepreneurship experience.” Matthias was still excited when recalling the competition, when the team presented its idea to Mr. Clinton, Nobel laureates, billionaires and thousands of people. “Though we did not win the final, it was an extremely important and good experience.” 

“这是个非常棒，也很难得的机会。当时可能只有一个想法或者商业模式雏形，然后就开始提案。 从2016年2月份提案到6月份，短短四个月团队成功融资30万人民币，并且在湖北大悟县做了测试，还去了波士顿参与创业孵化器，经历了创业初期相对完整的孵化。此外还在印度生活两个月,着手运营teleStory India,经历了融资与试运营等阶段，是很难得的创业体验。”回忆起这个比赛，王德还是十分激动，“It’s a rare and amazing opportunity. 尽管没有赢得决赛，但仍然是一次很难得的历练体验。”参加决赛时，能够在美国前总统克林顿、诺贝尔奖得主等名流上千人面前演讲。

During our interview, two words were frequently heard. One was “challenge” and the other one was “lucky”. Matthias considers himself a lucky boy, from the enrollment at SAIF, the victories in various competitions and gaining the job offer at Fosun. In addition to a number of life-time decisions, he also got married with his Chinese girlfriend during his study at SAIF after a 8-year relationship, “Arguably, all of these things call for hard efforts, but luck is also essential.” 

在采访中，除了“challenge”高频出现外，另一个高频词就是“lucky”。王德一直在提他是个很幸运的男生，从进高金、赢得各类比赛、包括进入复星工作，可谓人生处处是惊喜。他在高金期间完成了很多重大人生选择，和长跑八年的中国女友也步入了婚姻的殿堂。“当然所有事情的背后都需要很努力才行，不过运气也是很重要的一部分。”

Upon his graduation, Fosun is in urgent pursuit of foreign talents who have certain knowledge about China, Chinese culture and Chinese language. Prof. Hong CHEN recommended Matthias on the request of Mr. Xinjun LIANG, one of the SAIF DBA alumni and CEO of Fosun Group at that time. However, Matthias almost rejected Fosun’s HR call, thinking it might be a scam. However, Matthias had already got an offer after a few weeks. Fosun wanted to recruit full-time staff, however Matthias could only start as an intern as he had not graduated yet at that time. Thankfully, Fosun's HR persuaded his boss to give him an opportunity to try. 

就在王德临近毕业时，复星急需对中国、中国文化有一定了解，并具备一定的中文基础的国际人才，时任复星集团首席执行官梁信军校友（DBA首期）请陈宏教授推荐，王德幸运地成为被推荐人。一开始他接到HR来电时还以为是广告电话，差点挂断。几个星期之后王德手里已经收获一个offer，而且复星的岗位本身是要招聘全职员工，尚未毕业的他只能作为实习生试一试。还好当时的HR没有放弃，她还努力说服了他的老板就算不是全职员工也应该给予机会。

After a period of probation, Matthias realized that Fosun is extremely suitable for young talents. “For young folks, Fosun is wonderful, because there are more learning and networking opportunities than in any other Chinese company. You get engaged in a lot of major projects, both domestic and overseas, and you will even have the opportunity to meet presidents or billionaires.” In high recognition of its corporate culture, Matthias decided to join Fosun after his internship. Therefore, he officially became part of the Fosun team. 

在经历一段时间的实习和了解后，王德惊喜地发现复星是一家非常有朝气，很适合年轻人发展的公司。“对年轻人来说，复星是一个非常好的企业，因为相对其他中国企业来说，这里很开放，学习和接触机会更丰富。作为一个年轻人不仅可以接触很多、很大的项目，包括国内及海外项目，还有很多机会接触很多高层，甚至总统或亿万富翁，从他们身上可以学到更多的东西。因为认同公司文化，实习结束后，王德选择加入复星。

Talking about his current job, Matthias is confident of his potential. “I feel lucky for having participated in three succesful projects in the past few months. Though at the moment, I only deal with a small part of these projects, it helps me to build up my experience.” Although the workload at Fosun is quite heavy, Matthias thinks that it’s a challenge which can enhance his ability to manage his time and priority.

谈及目前的工作状况，王德觉得自己还有很大的上升空间。 ”过去一段时间自己参与或负责的几个项目中有3个项目都通过了投委会评议，虽然目前还只是负责项目中的一小部分，但对自己积累经验十分有帮助。” 尽管复星的工作量非常大，但王德认为这能够考验自己的时间管理能力和对事情轻重缓急的判断能力。

Matthias still keeps exercising despite his busy schedule. He used to train gymnastics when he was at a sports high school in Germany. He joined an exchange program and went to the U.S. for 11th grade. He chose to train running at that time as the school didn’t have gymnastics. He won the championship for local competition just after two week of training. Matthias suddenly became a star at school then. And at that moment he realized his talent of running.

除了工作之余，王德还经常参加各种运动。高中时代他就念的体育高中，主攻体操。高二的时候交换到美国读书，由于那所学校没有体操，他选择去跑步。在练习一两个星期后参加当地比赛竟然拿了冠军，一下子成为全校人尽皆知的明星。那个时候他才意识到自己有跑步天分。

Matthias likes collecting minerals and has a deep love for deserts since he was very young. He heard of Asian Pacific Business School Desert Challenge during his study at SAIF, which he always kept in his mind. The Desert Challenge was only open to MBA students at that time. So he took the initiative and contacted the SAIF team leader of the 5th Desert Challenge. After communication with the organizing committee, he finally managed to participate in the competition as a member of the B Team.

在高金念书的时候，他就听说了亚洲沙漠挑战赛（简称“亚沙赛”，第5届亚洲沙漠挑战赛，简称沙5，以此类推）。从小喜欢收集矿物，向往沙漠的王德就对这个赛事念念不忘。那个时候亚沙赛只限MBA学生参加，他主动联系到高金沙5的队长，通过一番辗转与组委会沟通，到了沙6的时候他终于可以凭B队队员的方式参赛。

“I love deserts and contests. I’m good at running, but I don’t really like it. However, I did my best as I already made my mind to participate in the competition.” To prepare for the 6th Desert Challenge, Matthias commuted to and from work by running. He ran at least 12.5 kilometers every single way. “I have to admit that this was almost too much since I lost all but one of my toe nails at that time.”

“我喜欢沙漠，也喜欢比赛。虽然我知道自己擅长跑步，却不是很喜欢。既然决定要比赛，就要尽全力做到最好。”为了备战沙六，王德早上跑步到公司上班，下班跑步回家，单程12.5公里。由于锻炼量太大，以至于当时脚趾甲都快掉光了。

王德与余忠（右）

Matthias and Zhong YU (right)

Everything comes to him who persists. On the first day, Matthias and his team mate Zhong YU were far ahead the third place with a 10-min gap. In the following two days, he stayed stable and was the first to finish. Eventually, Matthias hold the winner trophy of the 6th Asia Desert Challenge in his hands. According to him, “the most important thing in this competition is to maintain your body condition, because there may be a number of serious problems such as a sudden faint, salt depletion or a sprained ankle.” It is critical to move on with your own pace, both in competition and in life.

功夫不负有心人，沙6比赛第一天，他跟他队友余忠（FMBA2016）就以远超过第三名10分钟的完赛成绩遥遥领先，在随后两天的比赛他稳定发挥，均以第1名的名次冲线，并最终赢得了沙6男子组冠军。他分享到，“比赛中最重要的还是保持状态，因为会有很多突发情况，比如突然晕倒，缺盐，脚崴了等等。”保持自己的步调是很重要的事，比赛中是，生活亦然。

At the end of interview, Matthias mentioned that there are still many foreigners who don’t know a lot about China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University or SAIF. For overseas students who are interested in the MF program yet know little about China, Matthias’ advice is to come and experience China by yourself. Perhaps you will like China. Meanwhile, he also believes that alumni are very valuable resources. It is important to keep in touch and support each other during work and probation. Matthias also shared his insights and advice for international students who expect to develop their career path in China, that is, “Learn Chinese, stay flexible”.  

采访的最后，王德也谈到在国外还是有多人不了解中国，甚至从来没听过上海交通大学或者SAIF。对于同样对MF项目感兴趣的留学生，他提到建议不了解中国的外国学生先来亲身体验一下，或许你就发现自己很喜欢中国。他认为SAIF的校友和同学资源是很宝贵，应该经常保持联系、互帮互助，在工作及实习上都能互相支持。此外，学好中文是留在中国发展的基本要求，由于文化差异比较大，想在中国发展得更好，还要保留一颗包容的心。