People :
An entrepreneur who is involved in the running of multiple businesses even as he studies at graduate school
Mr. Shigeo Ozeki.

Mr. Shigeo Ozeki Born in 1974, currently a 2nd year student of Professor Takeru Oe at the Graduate School of Asia - Pacific Studies. After graduating from Senshu University and working for companies such as Cyber Agent and the Netage Group, he created his own company, “axiv.com”, in 1999. After becoming a Waseda University student in 2003, he sold his shares in the company and turned it over to others. At the moment, he is involved in the clothing industry and is managing three on-line companies, one of which is called "Zeel". [URL] http://www.zeel.co.jp http://www.e-birth.jp

The IT industry is a place where many young entrepreneurs are born. Ozeki is one of the pioneers in this field, and is still involved in the running of multiple businesses. You would expect him to be a highly energetic, workaholic type, but when you meet him, he says things like “taking it easy is the best policy” and “I've been a passive guy almost all my life”. He has a unique, laid-back, loose air about him.

He came to know many IT entrepreneurs in the era just before the so-called “net-bubble” days, and started up a business because “somebody recommended it”. However, he handed over his business just when it was becoming stable. “I was bored by the business. I also felt it was reprehensible to sit in my office and take in money for being the CEO, just because I'd created the company. That looks so bad”. At this point in his life, he had no plans for the future.

Mr. Ozeki made a considerable amount of money by selling his stock in the company, yet the next path he chose was to be an entrepreneur once again. He comments, “I guess people just need to seek social satisfaction”. He set up a company with his friend from graduate school, and soon was the manager of multiple companies. He gains satisfaction from the process of creating services that do not yet exist in society. He is not picky about the type of industry he works with, and has a surprising lack of interest in expanding his successful businesses. “There aren't many people who want to do something that has no successful precedents. I like to make the blueprints and realize the ideas, then leave the rest to people who are good at running businesses. In this way, the social value of what I do becomes higher, too.” “The basic idea behind the creation of a business is actually the combined result of many phenomena. If you think outside the entrenched line of thought, then there are many opportunities there, even now. And I think it's harder if you're doing what everybody else does, because you have to make efforts to differentiate. I'm a lazy guy by nature, but I'm greedy, so I'm always thinking up ideas.”

Ozeki does not consider entrepreneurship something monumental or difficult. He acts first and emphasizes the importance of action because, according to him, that is the fastest way to learn. “And if you want to ride the big waves, then you have to wade out into the ocean, not wait on land. If you wait on land, you'll miss the waves. But, you know, I think you should have as much fun as you can when you're an undergraduate and play around until you're bored. That way, you'll be a more interesting person when you're a full member of society.” We predict that there will be more young people who work outside the existing structures of society, like Ozeki. This is the nature of the society that we live in today.