Photo: Hong Kong youth face challenges in starting their own businesses in the Bay Area. The Hong Kong Restart Alliance and the Hong Kong Unity Foundation published a report on their investigation in Guangzhou.
[Ta Kung Pao News]Reporter Gong Xueming reported: The Hong Kong Restart Alliance and the Hong Kong Unity Foundation jointly published “Opportunities and Challenges for Hong Kong Youth in Guangzhou Entrepreneurship” yesterday. Some interviewed entrepreneurial youths reflected that there were certain difficulties in obtaining entrepreneurial information and the development of entrepreneurial bases was homogeneous. The report suggested that the SAR government should help young people understand the mainland society and industry culture in the form of “employment first, then entrepreneurship”.
Through field visits and in-depth interviews, the Guangzhou team of the Hong Kong Restart Alliance found that young Hong Kong entrepreneurs in Guangzhou face problems such as a gap between their perceived abilities and actual needs, and difficulty in obtaining entrepreneurial information. Some entrepreneurs said they had applied for a license for their business, but were not sure which department or window was responsible for the relevant matters.
Some young people also reflected that Hong Kong-funded start-ups incubated in Guangzhou lack opportunities to expand into Hong Kong and overseas markets. The differences in the institutional systems of the two places make it difficult for start-ups to expand into the mainland market.
First, understand the mainland society and industry culture
The report recommends that the SAR government help young people understand the mainland society and industry culture through the form of “employment first, then entrepreneurship”, so as to gradually establish an entrepreneurial network. For example, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has cooperated with the Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to promote short-term training for electrical and mechanical maintenance personnel in Guangzhou.
The report also suggested that the HKYouth+ youth mobile app could be used as a one-stop platform for distributing the latest youth entrepreneurship policy information, connecting to the mainland policy information platform, including strengthening policy publicity and establishing communication channels, enhancing the publicity of successful cases, and establishing communication channels.
As of July 2023, Guangzhou has 52 innovation and entrepreneurship bases for Hong Kong and Macao youths, attracting more than 2,000 Hong Kong and Macao youths to Guangzhou for innovation and entrepreneurship, incubating 2,100 projects covering more than 20 industrial directions. The report suggests that Guangzhou’s incubation bases can strengthen cooperation with Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport. Startups are incubated in Guangzhou, returned to Hong Kong for cultivation after they mature, and then expand their markets from Hong Kong.
Li Zhengyi, deputy secretary-general of the Alliance and president of the Hong Kong Unity Foundation, said that the report hopes to pool the power of the Hong Kong and Mainland governments and the public to improve the policy support of the two places for Hong Kong youths starting businesses on the Mainland, and help them pursue and realize their dreams on a broader platform.
Huang Bingfen, director general of the alliance and Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, pointed out that in the future, they will consider further investigating other innovation and entrepreneurship bases in the Greater Bay Area to understand the latest and actual situation of Hong Kong youth in innovation and entrepreneurship in other mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, so as to help them better utilize the market size and regional advantages of the Greater Bay Area and create better conditions for them.