One World: Erik Desrosiers’ Blog About Business, Life and Having a Good Time!

I’m writing this because I haven’t taken the time to update my site in almost 2 years and I feel like it’s well due. I now run a solar energy manufacturing company, Opsun Panels Inc., and I live in Toronto. I spent about a year and a half living in China (Shenzhen and Shanghai) and it was the best time imaginable. I’ll be sure to post pictures and write more about my experience. Also, my blog will probably undergo some transformation — I’m thinking about writing a lot about solar business, since that’s what I do day in and day out. If you’re involved or interested in solar energy or China be sure to give me a shout.

During this semester, I worked on an Honors Thesis to get a Summa Cum Laude with my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida. This is the abstract:

This thesis paper takes an in-depth look at the wholesale markets in China, specifically in the city of Guangzhou. During a trip in China, I found that the manner in which wholesale markets there conducted business was unusual compared to what we usually see in Western countries. In particular, it seemed that, despite officially being wholesalers, many businesses seemed to target end consumers to a certain extent to sell their merchandise. So, I attempt to answer the following question: is this behavior attributable to a wholesale/retail identity crisis or is it simply a hybrid approach to business?

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My friend Amanda Li sent me this by email and I absolutely loved it! Anyone who has traveled to Asia or has Asian friends will surely get a few pleasant laughs from it. Regardless, this is a very expressive portrayal of key cultural differences between the East and the West. I love how it is 100% visual, which enables it to seamlessly cross language barriers.

The images were designed by Yang Liu, who was born in China and educated in England and Germany.

The colors signify: West | East

Last weekend I attended the International Franchise Association’s annual global conference. The IFA is the leading association for franchise owners in the world, with over 853 members. The conference took place in Orlando from February 9-12, at the Marriott World Center. Myself and my Delta Epsilon Chi partner Dan Bruns were invited there as part of our award for winning the DEX International Entrepreneurship Challenge back in the Spring of 2007.

The conference itself was amazing. There was a wide range of activities available to attendees, from seminars and roundtable discussions to trade exhibits. The very first day that we arrived at the Marriott, the IFA hosted an event called “Tastes of Franchising”, where various franchisors such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Tropical Smoothie and Wing Zone offered free food. What was amazing about this, as with most other events at the conference, is that the booths were usually staffed by the franchises’ very founders. At the Wing Zone stand, for example, I had the opportunity to chat with the founders of Wing Zone, both of whom went to the University of Florida!

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I added my résumé to the website (see in the navigation panel to the right). For security reasons, I will not put the standard PDF version of my résumé directly online, however those interested can contact me and I will send it.

I have already thought of starting a websumé service but never got around to it, so I’ll begin with my own. My concept is that I want to have a main short version of my résumé with links provided to go in-depth on different items. For example, I have already written a post about last year’s Delta Epsilon Chi competition, complete with pictures, links and even the slides that we used for the presentation. I will attempt to make blog posts for most of the items on my résumé, making it as dynamic and multimedia as possible.

As final exams are ending in China right now I figured I would pay them a little tribute. I found this on Davie Xie’s Blog.

New school semester:

At the first week:

At the second week:

Before the mid-term test:

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In April 2007 I competed as a University of Florida student in the Delta Epsilon Chi 2007 International Development Conference. I have been apart of this organization for a few years now, my first competition dating back to the spring of 2005 while I was still at Indian River Community College. As usual, the competitions were a great success and we had a really good time. The people that you meet in DEX - the college division of DECA - are amazing and the level of competition is fierce, especially at the international conferences, where several thousand top business students compete arduously.

At the state level I had competed and won 1st places in both Business to Business Marketing and International Marketing with my friend Leanna Caimi, who had also attended IRCC and previously competed in DEX with me. Our school was very well represented in the competitive events; there were nine University of Florida students present and all of us placed in the top 3, several of us even rising to the 1st place in both our events! Other colleges competing were the likes of Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University, so there was an ample amount of Gator spirit in the air driving us to beat the competition.

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Last night was New Year’s eve and, as in previous years, I went with my aunt to a music jam in Québec City’s countryside. The party was a lot of fun and the music was good. Somehow so much happened this year that it didn’t feel weird to be in 2008. Looking back, 2006 seems so far away…

The day was January 9th, 2007. The Florida Gators, after being talked trash of by just about every other school in the nation, were about to face the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national football title. Everyone thought we would lose. Even in our own preview show, the host was rooting for the Buckeyes.

Since the game was in Phoenix, Arizona, and thus could not actually go, we settle for the O’Connell Center, the University of Florida’s basketball stadium. At the entrance we received a free T-shirt that said “If you ain’t a Gator, you’re Gator Bait!” It was awesome. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing; the game hadn’t even started yet and already everybody was cheering their lungs out.

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Next time you buy a computer don’t be crummy. Get a Mac.