HOUSEI Co., Ltd. President and CEO Suga Yoshiko

Even after graduating from university, the important thing in life is to keep learning

Profile

Originally from Hubei Province, China.

After graduating from the Department of Information and Communications Engineering at the School of Electronic Engineering at Peking University, he came to Japan. In 1996, he founded Housei Co., Ltd. (now Housei Co., Ltd.) and became its President and CEO, a position he holds to this day. He has worked on systems development for the Japanese media industry, and most recently has been working hard to promote digital transformation not only in the media industry but also in industries such as healthcare and education, including facial recognition systems that utilize his IT know-how.

HOUSEI develops systems for the Japanese media industry and currently holds the top market share in Japan. Its momentum is not limited to the media industry, but is also spreading to various other industries, such as supporting the promotion of digital transformation in healthcare and education. HOUSEI is attracting attention as a newly listed company that has successfully grasped the trends of the times. We spoke with Suga Yoshiko, CEO of HOUSEI, about his life from his student days to the present.

■Facing my future from a young age during my university years

During my student days, I devoted myself to both studying and sports. I attended Peking University, and Chinese universities are similar to Japanese universities in that students are not strictly controlled. During university life, I had plenty of free time, and I was able to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, including internships. However, internships in China may have a slightly different image than in Japan. In China, as part of the government's efforts to develop human resources who will lead society in the future, there was a program in which students visited companies in rural areas, listened to the concerns of local companies and communities, and solved their problems. I also participated in this program. In fact, I felt that joining a local company with the goal of observing and responding to various social events was an effective learning experience in many ways.

■ A connection led me to Japan and established HOUSEI Co., Ltd.

One day, while at university, I saw a job posting for someone to work on software development in collaboration with a Japanese company, so I applied and was able to participate in the development. This led to a connection that led me to work for Nippon Process Co., Ltd. after graduating from university, and I came to Japan. I stayed there for about three years, and then moved to Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. I was assigned to a new business venture in the IT field, where I was in charge of developing software for creating printed materials using computers. Through this connection, I was able to interact with professors at Peking University and we began doing business together, which led to the launch of Housei Co., Ltd. (now Housei Co., Ltd.).

■ Accepting cultural differences will make life easier

To be honest, I have never felt much of a sense of accomplishment in my work. In a good way, I am always greedy (laughs). I am never satisfied with this, and I always want to create something good, so I always look at things from a bird's eye view.
In running a company, too, if you continue to have the ambition to "make it even better," you will eventually create something that people will say, "This is what HOUSEI is all about!" I believe that only then will you feel a sense of accomplishment.
At the same time, I feel like I didn't have many hardships, like saying, "That was difficult." Because I was exposed to many different cultures when I was young, I feel like I've become able to accept unexpected events and differences of opinion without resistance. In fact, whenever a difficulty arose, I would talk it through frankly with the other members and work to resolve the problem. I also feel like I didn't have many difficulties when I came to Japan because I had lived in the United States when I was young. There are all kinds of people in the world, but fundamentally we are all the same. I think that different opinions and ways of thinking arise because of differences in environment and culture. That's why I value accepting the culture of each region and being interested in it. By doing so, I can often accept and tolerate people who have different opinions.

■We want to create new value in the world through diversity

What differentiates HOUSEI Inc. from other companies is our respect for diversity. Respect allows us to create new value in the world. Furthermore, increasing an individual's capacity and amount of information leads to a wealth of ideas, uniqueness, and the ability to think deeply about things. For this reason, our company values ​​broadening horizons and mutual understanding by accepting people of various nationalities and actively interacting with people from overseas.
I also believe that creating diversity is the same as bringing out the innate charm of each person. For this reason, our company places great importance on making use of the ideas of our employees. Specifically, we frequently provide opportunities for employees to present their ideas, and we often actually invest money in those ideas and move them forward as projects. In a world overflowing with variety, we are conscious of combining a wide variety of things, working together to grow and create new value. To do this, sharing information is also important. We immediately disclose any information to employees, so that they can make decisions and act on what they believe is right for the company and themselves.

■ People who have a desire to grow rather than skills

Our company provides an environment where you can seize opportunities in a variety of areas. The people we seek in the workplace are ambitious people who continue to study, people with open minds who are quick to absorb information, people who can interact with a variety of people, and people who can accept different perspectives. We also believe that it is people with these qualities who can grow in our company. The knowledge you learn as a student is only a very small part of the world. The knowledge you learn there is not the only thing that applies to the rest of the world. Therefore, I believe that people who are always interested in the world and actively gather information will continue to improve, and will ultimately become people who are indispensable to society and recognized. And we are eager to hire people with these qualities.

■Message to university students

During your student days, you shouldn't just work to earn money, but rather it's a good idea to learn about the world by working in a field that you want to go into in the future, or in a field that is close to the area of ​​expertise that you're currently interested in. If you haven't decided what you want to do yet, just try a variety of things. I think it's okay to make lots of mistakes when you're young, and it's also fine to take a year off to find a job or repeat a year to experience a variety of things! I think it's important to find out what you really like and what you're good at as you move forward in life.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on October 5, 2022 by Maho Wada, a third-year student at Nihon University