Why I Started the Serge Dumont Fund

Although deeply involved in philanthropic activities, I am first and foremost a businessman. Why then did I start this fund? A few simple reasons:

I have made a career in communications, a field too often seen as appropriate for people with outgoing personalities but few hard skills. This is a gravely misguided view of the industry.

Communications lies at the core of any business activity, and of many non-business activities as well. In its highest form, it’s about power – the power to get things done.

Communications experts identify key players in a given field and use the influence of those players to produce positive business outcomes. Whether the goal is to win market share or fight a disease, communications are central to strategy, and to business success.

Today’s China has a multitude of issues to resolve, horizons to explore, and goals to achieve. Fortunately, it also has plenty of exceptionally bright young people. I wanted to encourage some of them to go into communications, and to give them the tools needed to bring to their work the depth and intellectual rigor it deserves.

To that end, I founded the Serge Dumont Fund, with the support of the very powerful partners the China Youth Development Fund and the Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication. Its goal is to support initiatives that contribute to the establishment of a modern, professional, ethical, and effective communications industry in China. We envision that the Fund will be used to support academic initiatives such as the Serge Dumont Tsinghua Communications Scholarship Program. It will also aid government activities aimed at promoting strategic communications in both the private and public sectors.

As China becomes an integral part of the world community, it must have a first-class communications industry made up of the best and brightest. I hope, and I believe, that the Fund represents a modest step toward achieving that goal.