Business

Grade 12 student Danny Zhu is the chair of Prosper Vancouver, the country’s largest youth business conference.

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Young Richmondite focused on business success

By Samuel Cheng

Published 12:18 PST, Fri March 4, 2022

Last Updated: 3:51 PDT, Tue March 29, 2022

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Danny Zhu wants to pursue a career in business.

Richmond’s Zhu is a Grade 12 student at St. George’s Senior School in Vancouver. He is also the chair of Canada’s largest youth business conference, Prosper Vancouver, which is scheduled for June 4.

To Zhu, the term “business” refers to an opportunity to impact people’s lives. Whether through a new piece of technology, a service, or an idea, businesses can create solutions to problems as well as bringing value and positive change to people’s lives.

Zhu gets inspiration from the people around him and the organizations he has been involved with. They not only helped him build up his skill set, but also encouraged him to pursue his passion for business.

He is also grateful for the first business teacher who taught him at Richmond Secondary, Kuldeep Gill. Zhu says Gill discussed many different business ideas with him, motivating him to continue pursuing his passion.

According to Zhu, perseverance is important. In the world of business, there are many challenges and unpredictable elements along the way. Pushing through difficult times will be needed because things may not always go as planned.

Aside from perseverance, Zhu also strives to learn from his mistakes and past experiences. He is not afraid of failure and maintains an open-minded mentality to try and experiment with new things.

Zhu is involved in various leadership positions at his school, including serving as a prefect whose main responsibility is to organize and manage events and activities.

“I think business and leadership naturally come hand-in-hand,” says Zhu.

With the Prosper Vancouver conference planned to be held at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, Zhu says some elements are different this year due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

“We are trying to turn to a more hybrid model. (Some) students are able to participate in-person without travelling long distances. International students who wish to participate and have already signed up will be able to participate virtually,” says Zhu.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Zhu is still trying to create the best possible experience for conference attendees.

“We tried our best to plan a way (to) uphold the previous year’s professionalism while at the same time trying to be innovative,” says Zhu.

Although the pandemic has damaged the global economy, Zhu is trying to stay positive and focus on new opportunities.

“In terms of business, COVID opened up a lot of opportunities to show how instantaneously things change and how opportunities (can) present themselves,” he says.

Zhu has two tips for maintaining a balance between school, extracurricular activities, and social life. His first tip is to have passion.

“Be excited and devoted (to) things that you want to do, and you will automatically prioritize (their) importance over other things you have in life,” he says.

Zhu’s second tip is time management. Rather than simply completing things on time, people should also make sure that everything is done at the best level possible.