Christian Nothhaft has been living and working in Asia for the past twenty years, twelve of which were in China. He is one of the leading business minds dealing with the Asian markets, and especially when it comes to China and the Chinese consumer. A German native with a background in marketing, retail and FMCG consulting, Mr. Nothhaft moved to Asia in 1997, raising investor capital and setting up several chain stores and food businesses in Korea, Hong Kong and South East Asia. In 1999 he had his first experience in the Mainland China, where he set up and expanded food manufacturing businesses. After building up two high-profile online and offline consumer businesses for Hong Kong’s largest conglomerate, he moved to China in 2007 to develop a consumer retail business for young female white collar consumers. The company has since become the market leader, consisting of over 3,000 stores in over 450 cities, a shopper database with over 60 million members and a fast growing mobile commerce platform. After ten years, the company is still in hyper-growth, opening 500+ new stores each year. More importantly, Mr. Nothhaft has been accepted as an equal amongst China’s leading business figures, a fact that grants him unique access to Chinese companies and consumer entrepreneurs alike.