Young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao flock to S China’s Guangdong to start up businesses

By Cheng Yuanzhou, People’s Daily

 

Young entrepreneurs from China’s Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions are flooding into entrepreneur hubs in south China’s Guangdong province as China speeds up the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area).

 

With a series favorable policies and supportive measures, they are going all out to pursue their dreams in this megalopolis that consists of nine cities in Guangdong province and the two special administrative regions in South China.

 

Three years ago, young entrepreneur Shay Liu from Hong Kong came to Guangdong with a new optical material her company had independently developed. Now, she has become a star entrepreneur at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Base.

 

“The Greater Bay Area has created an extremely huge development platform for young people from Hong Kong and Macao. Young people like me should try our best to not fail the times,” she said.

 

At the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Workshop, an entrepreneur base located in Futian district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province and covers an area of 3,500 square meters, every startup can enjoy individualized services that cover the whole industrial chain.

 

The young entrepreneur base, which is less than three years old, has attracted 21 business teams that have close connection with Hong Kong and Macao, in AI, Internet of Things (IoT), medical technology, and new materials industries. Six of them have generated over 10 million yuan ($1.55 million) of output.

 

At the entrepreneur base, Ding Ke, a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, founded the Shenzhen HinYeun, Technology Co., Ltd., a firm that develops AI products.

 

The entrepreneur base enjoys a series of advantages, such as a solid industrial foundation, complete supply and industrial chains, rich sci-tech resources, and a sound environment of entrepreneurship, Ding told People’s Daily.

 

Xie Zhiheng from Hong Kong runs a company that has deployed business teams in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dongguan, Guangdong province.

 

According to him, the Hong Kong team, in cooperation with local universities, is responsible for algorithm researches, while the Shenzhen team focuses on software designing. The Dongguan team manages production and supplier relations. Now his products have been purchased by over 60 hospitals.

 

As a frequent traveler among the three cities, the man now calls the Greater Bay Area his home. “Sci-tech innovation is a synergetic process, and it’s not very possible that a single city can meet all demands,” he said.

 

After graduation, Zhang Siyuan from Macao joined the ZLF Law Office in Hengqin New Area, Zhuhai, Guangdong province as an apprentice lawyer.

 

The law firm is run under Chinese mainland-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation, and has three lawyers from the mainland, 11 from Macao and 16 from Hong Kong.

 

The abundant opportunities there are drawing many young people from Macao, Zhang pointed out, adding that he hopes it can be a place where his dreams come true.

 

In recent years, a comprehensive transport network has been taking shape in the Greater Bay Area, enabling a “one-hour traffic circle” for major cities in the region, which has ushered in a new era for the integrated development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

 

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen expressway, which was officially put into operation on July 1, 1997, the day that marked Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, is the first expressway jointly invested in and constructed by Guangdong and Hong Kong.

 

Connecting Guangzhou and Shenzhen’s Huanggang port with just a 1.5-hour drive, it not only bridges the two metropolitan areas of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but also serves as a “gold channel” that facilitates the flow of innovation resources and production factors among Hong Kong, Macao, and the nine cities in Guangdong involved in the Greater Bay Area.

 

The busy expressway is of great significance for powering the economy in Guangdong province and Hong Kong, said Wang Wei, an executive with the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai Expressway Co., Ltd., the operator of the expressway.