GOING FOR GREEN
A Yemeni computer-science engineer and entrepreneur shares the story with Zhang Zefeng of how he became one of the first foreigners to get permanent residence through a pilot program in China’s “Silicon Valley”.
Yemeni Ahmed Alsayadi never imagined he’d join a rare species among expatriates in China when he decided to study in the country after graduating from high school in 2005 — that is, a Chinese “green-card” holder.
He knew little about the country before attending university in Hefei, East China’s Anhui province, but had noticed the rising profile and was curious about its history.
“There are only a few ancient civilizations around the world, and one of them is China,” he says. “I want to know more about it.”
Alsayadi now works as a computer-science engineer and entrepreneur in Beijing.
He recalls giving a high five to the immigration officer when he received permanent residence in late January. The green card endows him with social and economic benefits equal to Chinese citizens.
His WeChat post about receiving residency received about 450 likes, and congratulations in Chinese, Arabic and English.
“Living in China for more than 12 years, I have never met any Chinese green-card holders,” he says.
“In our imagination, it is very hard to obtain. It’s like you have to have a Nobel Prize or invest a lot of money to qualify for that.”
Only 7,356 expats have received permanent residence since the program was launched in 2004.
But China has been lowering the threshold to attract more talent. It granted 1,576 green cards in 2016 — over twice as many as the previous year.
Alsayadi says the Chinese language was the greatest challenge he faced after enrolling as a computer science major at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2006.
He was the only foreign student in the program. Despite a yearlong language-study experience at Anhui Normal University starting in 2005, he was overwhelmed by Chinese textbooks, especially the computer-science jargon.
“Chinese is really hard to learn,” he says.
“I bought the textbooks for the first semester and then translated the books before studying the courses.”
In the following semesters, he borrowed Chinese textbooks and studied them before the new semester started.
“I just wanted to understand my major because I like computer science,” he says.
At the USTC, Alsayadi’s life was mostly confined within the realm of classes, libraries, dormitories and soccer fields.
“Like other students, I didn’t have a real life,” he says.
“It’s much easier when everyone around you lives like that.”
Alsayadi says his undergraduate education at the USTC laid a solid foundation for his future development.
“It’s very fundamental and theoretical,” he says.
“When I work on a project, I see the basics and methodologies behind it.”
He moved to Beijing and enrolled in Tsinghua University as a postgraduate student.
“Beijing is the tech hub in China, especially for the internet-based startups,” he says.
He spent more than half of his time off campus studying technology ecosystems. He worked as a software engineer with the Chinese internet giant Baidu, developing the Arabic version of its search engine. At the same time, he launched his own tech startup.
In 2014, he partnered with an entertainment-industry professional and launched the data-analytics company ABD Entertainment.
“My partner has worked in entertainment for more than a decade, so he knows a lot about the industry. We tried to model his thinking as an algorithm,” he says.
One of the company’s services is movie-risk control, which uses machine-learning techniques to make box-office predictions for investors. The company has successfully predicted some big releases, including The Continent, Breakup Buddies and The Golden Era.
While working as an entrepreneur in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park, Alsayadi heard about a pilot project that enables foreign entrepreneurs or skilled professionals to apply for permanent residence in 2016.
The program is a meritbased system that accounts for such factors as education and professional experience. So, he and 44 other foreign candidates applied.
The whole process from collecting application materials to completing assessments took him around three months.
Zhongguancun management committee director Guo Hong says the program is a trial to pragmatically evaluate foreign talent.
Last March, Alsayadi founded his second startup, Sigma Technologies, which aims to use data analytics to recommend news to readers in the Middle East.
The Arabic content-distribution service to third parties has reached around 5 million readers. Its own news app, Sigma News, is available on Google Play and Apple’s apps store.
“The main goal is to deliver high-quality content,” he says.
“Arabic continent is not very well organized yet in the Middle East. We try to collect content from the internet and bring it to the users in an easy and smart way.”
Alsayadi hopes he can help bridge the tech gap between China and Arab countries.
“In my view, Arab countries are one unit — the same culture and the same civilization,” he says.
“The current Belt and Road Initiative is a very important project. I hope I can be a bridge in terms of technology cooperation and help foster mutual understanding between China and Arab countries.”
I hope I can be a bridge in terms of technology cooperation.”
Ahmed Alsayadi,
Yemeni entrepreneur and Chinese “green-card” holder