Alfred Fung ’01

Years in Peace Corps: 2002-03; 2003-05
Countries: China; Palau
Regions/Cities: Duyun, Guizhou Province, China; Koror, Palau, Micronesia

From an early age, Alfred Fung ’01 wanted to impact the world. Fueled by a sense of adventure, his Peace Corps service was the first step towards that goal. “I attended an information session during my third year at UCLA,” he says. “I was just a kid in college with a desire to do something unique before the realities of adulthood.”

Fung served two assignments; his first was in China teaching writing at a teacher’s university in Duyun, Guizhou Province. A mountainous region, the area is known for its natural resources. Fung’s experience at UCLA UniCamp and tutoring for Asian American Tutorial Project (AATP) gave him the expertise he needed to teach in China. However, the assignment only lasted one year when he was recalled due to the SARS epidemic. Feeling he had not completed his service, he then served in Palau, an island country with over 500 islands in the Pacific Ocean.

In Palau, Fung worked as a consultant for the island’s Small Business Development Center, a training arm of the United States Small Business Administration agency (U.S. SBA). “I helped write business plans and trained locals in areas such as accounting, marketing and operations,” says Fung.

Despite significant cultural differences, Fung learned to adopt local norms and formed unforgettable bonds. “Had I not become an educator in China, or studied economics and finance at UCLA, I would not have been nearly as effective as a business counselor in Palau.” He believes service is a basic part of the human experience, and says, “After the Peace Corps, I developed a distinct sense of empathy having seen contrasting standards of living and gaining small insight into cultures vastly different from my own.”

Fung later received his MBA from USC. His company, FUN-GI Games, designs and publishes video games, and their game, House Flip, is the No. 1 home renovation game in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.