28
Born in the United States, completed
high school in Italy, and now founder of a
company in China. Mark Secchia represents
a new wave of entrepreneurs who are looking
beyond the borders of the United States
for entrepreneurial opportunities. Mark is
the founder of Sherpa’s Delivery Service
Company in Shanghai, China. Mark was born
and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and
attended high school in Rome, Italy. He holds
a Master of Business Administration (MBA)
degree from the China Europe International
Business School in Shanghai.
From Internship Project to
Business Success
Sherpa’s began as an MBA internship
project in 1998. At this time, Mark and several
classmates conceived and launched a small
company offering call-center and delivery
services in Shanghai. The company started
with six employees—two phone operators
and four couriers. Mark and his friends (or
“volunteers”) managed the company in the
beginning. Because the call-center office
space was on loan from a friend during
evenings and weekends, Sherpa’s originally
delivered only at dinnertime. As the daytime
office staff left about 5:30 p.m., the Sherpa
staff was eagerly waiting to get in to work.
The company was cash-flow positive in
about nine months—three months ahead of
the business plan projection of twelve months!
It was making a profit after sixteen months
of operation. As a company with annual
revenues now more than five million in U.S.
dollars, Sherpa’s employs over 200 people
throughout Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.
While Sherpa’s couriers will transport
almost anything around the city, most
business comes from restaurant deliveries.
Rainy days and Sundays are the busiest
28
times for Sherpa restaurant orders and
deliveries. At any given time, the call-center
representatives might be translating English,
German, or Italian in addition to Chinese.
Customers can now order over 20,000 items
from 300 different restaurants!
International Challenges
Opening a business in a foreign country,
especially a country like China which does not
allow foreign ownership of Chinese companies,
can be much more difficult than opening a
business in the United States. Because Mark
is not Chinese, he has a very complicated
ownership structure that involves a company in
Hong Kong and two companies in Shanghai.
As he grew the company from a few employees
to the over 200 he employs today, Mark also
faced cultural and language barriers.
Maintaining a Strategic Vision
Sherpa’s remains a very hands-on
endeavor for Mark. He occasionally works the
call-center phones and continues to personally
respond to many consumer inquiries. The
combination of strategic vision and well-
grounded business know-how has been
central to Sherpa’s success. Mark chose the
name “Sherpa” so he could expand beyond
food delivery—yet most of the profit and
business still comes from food delivery.
Visit Sherpa’s Web site (www.sherpa.com.cn)
to see the variety of restaurants and menu.
The Mark Secchia Story
Marketing Is International!