A sweltering afternoon in Hong Kong. Julian Gaertner is sitting in the air-conditioned conference room of the Cyberport business park and is explaining the advantages of innovative language exchange. After years of struggling with Chinese, the young entrepreneur with German roots began working on LiveItChina, which is now one of the most successful language learning portals for expats in the Middle Kingdom.

Gaertner is convinced that you can also achieve quick success in learning Chinese. The prerequisites for this are motivation and a good learning structure based on a sophisticated concept. This is exactly where LiveItChina comes in. “Our platform provides Chinese learners with a selection of language schools, tutors, and exchange partners. We enable users to interact with each other online and offline, arrange meetings, and make lifelong friends.” Gaertner’s platform enables schools to quickly and effectively reach a large number of language enthusiasts.

Language schools and tutors have the opportunity to contact potential customers directly via LiveItChina. There are currently more than 5,400 language partners and over 1,400 tutors to choose from on the platform: A large proportion of active users live in Hong Kong but also economically up-and-coming metropolises such as Guangzhou or Shenzhen. “In the medium term, we want to further expand our activities in the mainland and help companies optimize their language training,” says Gaertner. LiveItChina primarily uses LinkedIn to contact (potential) business partners. (Potential) Users of the Internet platform and customers are informed about innovations and updates via Facebook and Twitter.

Coworking between the offices of Microsoft and IBM

Gaertner receives support not only from his now-eight-team colleagues but also from Cyberport Management Company Ltd., which is 100% owned by the Hong Kong autonomous authorities. The complex, located on the southwestern edge of Hong Kong Island, sees itself as a “Creative Digital Community”. It is a cluster of high-tech companies such as Microsoft and IBM, as well as several start-ups: “We are particularly proud of this innovative mix of large and small companies,” says managing director Herman Lam. “When the Asian crisis hit us in 1997, the year Hong Kong was returned to the People’s Republic, we realized that our city needed new economic stimulus. That was the birth of Cyberport.”