28/11/2024

Jordi Aránega at the Alumni Breakfast Club: “Investing in innovation and technology is the best way to protect yourself from competition in the Chinese market”

The vice-president and board member of HRC group and Business Administration alum of UIC Barcelona, Jordi Aránega, talked to the participants about aspects of how the Chinese market works and how his introduction to the Asian country was. The event was led by José Ignacio Parellada, president of the Alumni Association and partner of the legal and tax firm Andersen in Spain.

Jordi Aránega looked back over his professional career since his time as a business administration student at UIC Barcelona, recalling this stage as “a period of personalised higher education in which I had the privilege of receiving classes from a great teaching staff and making contacts with colleagues I work with today”.

Since its inception, Aránega showed a special interest in international projects and startups, which led him to become involved in consulting and in the creation of companies with a strong orientation toward technology. His entry into the Chinese market arose from a conversation with Yongtao Gu, a former student also of the business administration degree at UIC Barcelona, who identified the opportunity to apply carbon fibre in electric vehicles and in the European automotive industry. Over time, this led to the development of HRC in China and Europe.

During the session, Jordi Aránega explained how the Chinese market has evolved and how the pandemic accelerated this transformation, noting that 70% of cars in China are already electric. "Before the pandemic, our company had around 300 employees, now we have over 3,000." He also stressed the importance of having a reliable local partner and adapting to the different realities of the country, stating that "China is a complex market with diverse realities; what works in a city like Shanghai is not necessarily replicated in other regions".

Speaking about financing in China, Aránega explained that HRC’s growth required significant initial investment and several rounds of funding. He pointed out that China is no longer simply a low-cost factory, becoming a technology hub with highly competitive and well-prepared human capital. The entrepreneur stressed that the key to protecting himself from competition in China is to constantly invest in innovation.

The Alumni Breakfast Club initiative, promoted by the Alumni department together with the Corporate Development department of UIC Barcelona, offers its alums a space for dialogue and networking on current issues. These sessions bring experts and successful professionals together from different sectors, promoting the exchange of experiences and knowledge in a close environment.