Shanghai Young Bakers Sees Success in Class of 2011

Baking program provides a platform for 18 underprivileged youth a skill to succeed in life

SHANGHAI, China. July 18, 2011 – Shanghai Young Bakers (www.shanghaiyoungbakers.com), a non-profit organization aimed at improving the lives of underprivileged youth in China through a one-year training in French bakery, announced that all 18 students from the 2010 cohort have graduated from the organization’s third enrolment. All of them are finalizing their work contract with international hotels such as Marriott, Radisson Hotel, Grand Mercure, as well as with bakeries, House of Flour and Bastiaan Bakery. SYB is a joint program of the Shanghai Charity Foundation and the Chi Heng Foundation.

The graduation ceremony, led by Shanghai French Consul, Mr. Emmanuel Lenain, was held at Pizza Marzano, Xintiadi, Shanghai. In conjunction with the graduation ceremony, SYB organized a career fair where graduates were provided the opportunity to meet potential employers. SYB also worked with a human resource consultant to provide job interview and resume writing training. Aside from Mr. Lenain, Xu Benliang from the Shanghai Charity Foundation also presented the graduates their diplomas. As part of the training program, the students had previously interned at various hotels and bakeries.

In China, “mantao” still represents more than 80 percent of the bread served in China Mr Etienne Maillard of Lesaffre, one of SYB’s corporate sponsors said at his presentation at the ceremony.

“European bread has only been introduced recently, in the late 1980s and 1990s. While there is currently no lack of demand for Western baked goods in China, logistics is the key reason why it has been and still is difficult to transport bread out of the tier-1 cities to the rest of the country. It is then imperative to have pastry schools all over China that can equip their students with both Chinese and Western style baking skills to meet this growing demand. Organizations such as SYB help fill this gap,” Maillard continued.

Ms Zhu 朱韬, from “My sweets” 麦甜 bakery that began operations in Hangzhou on July 15th also echoed this sentiment. “It is not easy to find skilled professionals in the bakery industry in China especially outside of the big cities. SYB is interesting as it’s not just a baking school, but one that is able to marry this need and yet, help provide a platform to train those who need a skill to succeed in life. This certainly makes the program a lot more meaningful than just a school,” said Zhu.

Since most of the SYB graduates are from outside of Shanghai, many of them had expressed that they would like to move closer to home one day. Out of the 18 graduates, seven of them are doing so. However, it is the opportunities that the big cities can offer that still attract the rest to stay on.

“Working in a big city like Shanghai allows me to gain some good experience,” said Zhao Xue Yan, valedictorian of the SYB 2011 class. “However, my wish is to return to my native province, Henan, where I’d like to open my own bakery in Zhengzhou,” said Zhao.

“For now, I am excited to work in Shanghai,” said Zhao. My internship experience with Grand Mercure has so far been very positive. At the hotel, I was responsible for the entire baking process – from preparing the dough, shaping the bread, to baking and presenting them to the clients. It has been a very enriching experience that appeals to me a lot. Moreover, the clients at the hotel are from the business world and professionals. Working there has provided me an opportunity to talk to them and learn what they do,” she continued.

“In a fast growing country like China, where the urban-rural gap continues to widen, there is a need to create a fair platform for the young especially those in need to get access to opportunities just like their peers in the city,” said Mr. Dennis Chang, restaurant manager, Pizza Marzano. “For those of us who live in the cities, it is important to care about the underprivileged and to treat them as equals to make them feel they belong.”

Since the inception of SYB in 2008, 53 students have graduated from this program. The program was founded in 2008, by a group of volunteers who were inspired by similar projects that offer underprivileged youth an opportunity to succeed in life through skills training.

Currently, three graduates from the 2009 enrolment are continuing their studies in France. Upon their return to Shanghai, these three students will continue to work with SYB to help train future recipients of this program. This is to ensure program sustainability since it is not easy to find skilled bakery chefs in China to teach in a program such as SYB.

After the graduation ceremony, guests enjoyed the pizzas provided by Pizza Marzano. As part of its on-going fund-raising efforts, SYB also sold croissants and brioches made by the graduates to the guests.

“The students’ here tonight haven’t had the easiest life, however I would like to tell them: thanks to Shanghai Young Bakers, you can change your destiny!” said Xu Benliang, director of the Shanghai Charity Foundation.

海上青焙坊见证了2011届毕业生的成功

海上青焙坊项目为18个弱势青年提供了一个学习技能的平台，使他们走上成功的道路

中国，上海，2011年7月18日 – 海上青焙坊（www.shanghaiyoungbakers.com）是一个旨在提供一年传统法式烘培技能的培训来改善中国弱势青年生活的非营利机构，它宣布18个第三批的学员全部顺利毕业。同时，这18个学生都已经成功受聘于诸如万豪国际酒店、宏泉丽笙酒店和宝隆美爵酒店等各大国际酒店以及穀屋和跋氏面包咖啡屋等面包坊。海上青焙坊是一个由上海慈善基金会和智行基金会一起联合举办的项目。

毕业典礼由法国驻上海总领事Emmanuel Lenain先生主持，在上海新天地的比萨马上诺举行。为了配合这次毕业典礼，海上青焙坊特地组织了一场招聘会以便为这些毕业生创造更多的就业机会。海上青焙坊还邀请了一名人力资源顾问为这些学生提供求职面试和写简历的培训。除了Lenain先生以外，来自上海慈善基金会的徐本亮先生也出席了典礼，并为毕业生颁发了毕业证书。作为培训项目的一部分，这些学生已经在各大酒店和面包坊积累了很多的实习经验。

“在中国，馒头依旧在中国面包市场上占据80%以上的份额”，Etienne Maillard先生，来自海上青焙坊企业赞助商之一的乐斯福，在毕业典礼上说道。

<“欧洲面包在80年代末和90年代才引入中国。在现今不缺乏对西式烘培商品需求的中国，物流成为了难以将这些面包从一线城市输入到中国其他城市的主要原因。因此建立覆盖整个中国的面点学校来教授学生中式和西式烘培技能，从而满足这种不断增长的需求是至关重要的。像海上青焙坊这样的组织就帮助填补了这个空缺。”Maillard先生继续说道。

来自7月15日在杭州新开张的麦田面包坊的朱韬女士也对该观点做出了回应。“在中国，尤其在大城市以外很难在烘培市场上找到专业面包师。海上青焙坊非常的有意义，因为它不仅仅是一所烘培学校，而且还能满足这种市场需求，并为这些需要技能在社会立足的人提供了一个很好的培训平台。这一点使得这个项目比一所普通的学校更加富有意义。”朱女士说。

由于海上青焙坊的绝大多数学生来自上海以外，他们中的很多人都表示以后要在离家更近的地方工作。18名毕业生中的7名已经这样行动了，然而，大城市所能提供的更多机会仍然吸引剩下的这些毕业生选择继续留下来工作。

“在像上海这样的大城市里工作可以让我获得更多的经验，”赵雪艳——海上青焙坊2011届的班长说，“然而，我还是希望能回到自己的家乡——河南，然后在郑州开一家自己的面包坊”。

“现在，我很兴奋能在上海工作”，赵说，“我在美爵酒店的实习经验对我来说很有帮助。 在酒店里，我负责整个的烘培过程——从准备面团，造型，烘培一直到将它们呈现给顾客。这种丰富有趣的经历非常的吸引我。此外，酒店里的顾客是来自商业领域的精英，在这里工作提供了我一个和他们交谈，并向他们学习的机会。”她继续说道。

“在像中国这样飞速发展的国家，城乡差距在日益加大，我们需要为年轻人，尤其是这些有需要的创造一个公平的舞台，让他们能像城市里的同龄人一样获得更多的机会”，比萨马上诺的经理Dennis Chang先生说，“对于我们这些生活在城市里的人，去关爱、平等对待这些弱势的青年并让他们获得归属感是非常重要的。”自从2008年海上青焙坊的创立以来，53个学生已经从这个项目里毕业。这个项目由一群志愿者创立于2008年，他们的灵感来源于一些类似的项目，通过向弱势青年提供技能培训的机会使他们能更好的立足于社会。

3名2009年入学的毕业生目前在法国继续深造，等到回国的时候，他们将与海上青焙坊一起培养项目未来的学员。这是为了保证项目的可持续发展的需要，因为在中国找到专业的面点师到像海上青焙坊这样的项目进行执教是很难的。

毕业典礼结束后，来宾们享用由比萨马上诺提供的披萨。海上青焙坊还通过由毕业生卖羊角面包和奶油软面包给来宾进行筹款活动。

“这些学生过得很不容易，然而，我想告诉他们说‘海上青焙坊改变了我的命运’”，上海慈善基金会的副主任徐本亮说道。