HE studied only up to Secondary 3, but that didn't stop local celebrity hairstylist Addy Lee from lecturing at a prestigious Chinese university.

The director of Monsoon Hair Group was a guest speaker at Shanghai's Fudan University last Thursday.

Addy, 36, had delivered a lecture on corporate and lifestyle branding to about 70 MBA students from the university's School of Management.

He has never attended branding courses himself, so he based his lecture on his experience in the fashion and lifestyle business.

Addy, who started out as a shampoo boy in Penang when he was 14, came to Singapore when he was 19 and opened Monsoon Hair Salon four years later.

Today, the Singapore permanent resident has 11 salons in Singapore and Malaysia.

The lecture at Fudan - a one-off session - is possibly the first time a local hairstylist has lectured there.

'It was a great honour,' Addy said.

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One of his customers, Mr Lawrence Fu, a 37-year-old IT professional who was an MBA student at the university, had thought of inviting Addy over as a guest speaker.

The talk was for a sub-course on luxury brand management, a joint programme by Fudan, Boconni University (Italy) and Essec Business School (France).

On why he thought of Addy, Mr Fu said over the phone from Shanghai: 'Addy has created his own local brand and I like the way he has branded his salon. I like his entrepreneurship.'

He submitted Addy's name and helped organise the trip. He has graduated from his course, but was there for the lecture.

Addy said he was not paid for the lecture, but the university covered his expenses.

He picked a student from the class and showed how one could achieve personal branding through proper styling before he talking about his own experiences in corporate and lifestyle branding.

The students included younger, full-time students and older, senior management personnel from the banking and IT sectors.

His 1 1/2-hour evening session was extended by an hour.

Addy said a Chinese insurance company has since invited him to talk on personal branding with its agents in March.

He said: 'In the past, I only know about fashion and how to doll people up. Now, I must know more things, about running a business and talking to businessmen.'

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