The award for Danish business person of the year in China went to Jens Eskelund, the managing director of Maersk China Ltd., the Maersk groups investment company in China, while the entrepreneur of the year award went to Kasper Leschly who is the cofounder of shoe company D:Fuse.
183 people from all branches of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in China (DCCC) showed up for the biggest Danish Business Person- and Danish Entrepreneur of the Year Gala Ball ever at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai the 25th October. A factor that might have helped to attract the impressive amount of attendees was the fact that Danish soft rock legends Big Fat Snake were playing at the event.
Even though the logical center of the party, Business Person of the Year, Jens Eskelund had to be on the ship Marie Maersk bound for Singapore, he was celebrated and had arranged for Grundfoss’ Humphrey Lau to receive the award in his place. Jens Eskelund has lived in China for 16 years and has been managing director of Maersk China ltd for the last 7. He was awarded the prize because of his years of lobbying for regulatory change, not only to the benefit of Maersk but also to the entire Danish industry operating in China. Furthermore he has been putting lots of hours into helping other Danish companies by sharing his knowledge through DCCC.
The man who won the Entrepeneur of the Year award, Kasper Leschy, co-founded the shoe company D:Fuse in 2006 with an ambition to take trendy design within an industry that traditionally has seen little innovation, while still making the shoes interesting for local consumers. In 2013 Kasper and his investors sold 80% of the company to the Chinas 3rd biggest shoe company ST&SAT, where he is now Vice President Retail Sales. Out of ST&SAT’s 10.000 employees 1.000 work in D:Fuse.
Sending this article about Kasper Leschley to his uncle Lennart Leschley