Richard Kinfay: International Entrepreneur (to be)

    Richard Kinfay Holguin Dominguez, 24, came to China from Equator in 2008 and began his studies of Chinese Mandarin for almost three years. Now, he is on his fourth and final year of an All-English International Business program. He was introduced to GDUFS through a Guangzhou’s local and friend of his father, who was kind enough to take him into the city and helped him settle down.

Richard Kinfay Holguin after class. 

    “Guangdong Province, alone, is bigger than my own country”-, he learnt after his first taste of Guangzhou city and visiting its surroundings, witnessing first-hand all the tall buildings and the numbers of people. “If you stay in your country you would not learn in years, what you can learn here every single day”. Not only inside the classroom, but outside too Kinfay stated. Previous to coming to China, he couldn’t picture the country of China beyond the idea of huge rice and bamboo fields. 

    When he first came to Guangzhou he had just graduated from high school. He didn’t even know how to turn on a washing machine: “Independence and survival” are two of the most precious skill sets he has gained with his life here in China. “The beginning was hard, but also time passed by fast.”

During the Chinese New Year of 2008, Kinfay returned to his home city of Guayaquil, in Ecuador, not fancying much his first feelings of so many drastic changes but, after half a year being back in Equator, he didn’t feel so comfortable there either. He felt like he just retrogressed in time, as he had never left and realized how much he had grown and how much he had learned living overseas, all within only a year’s time. He decided to return to Guangzhou and, as he already knew the place, this time he would be completely on his own.

“I’m very grateful to China and Guangwai for the person I’ve become. If you come with your mind open and willing to learn, you will not only learn but you can transform yourself into something beyond all you’d ever dreamed.”

    International Business has always captivated Kinfay’s attention; the whole business is like an independent world inviting you to dive in. When he came to China he realized that everything here is about business and most of all, progress. This situation helped him to be certain about what his major should be. 

Kinfay has also become fluent in Korean. What’s more, he learnt it just by listening and talking with Korean students from GDUFS. He didn’t know much about the culture or country in the beginning, but his first roommate when he first came to GDUFS was Korean. He started to hang out more and more with Koreans and then, day-by-day and year-by-year he absorbed, improved and perfected his abilities in this language.

Now, he would like to do an English MBA in Korea and, as well, take Korean language classes and the official language skills exam.

“I see my future in Korea, I have always found myself attracted to it. It's a possitive consequence of coming to GDUFS, that I found my passion.”