City policies help entrepreneurs get a start
Print Edition
SHANGHAI residents and foreigners alike are taking advantage of new municipal policies aimed at giving entrepreneurs a hand with starting up businesses related to science and technology.
It’s part of the city’s blueprint for becoming a center for innovation. Shanghai has announced that encouraging innovation is a major priority in the next five years. By creating an alliance of “incubators,” the city said it hopes to nurture 200,000 entrepreneurs, drawn from the ranks of white-collar workers, university graduates and overseas returnees.
The idea for a new business may start with a brainstorm, but turning a great idea into something tangible and profitable involves money, sweat, management skills and a measure of good luck. An estimated 95 percent of new companies fold within the first five years.
One team of about 20 entrepreneurs, equally divided between Chinese and foreigners, is determined that won’t happen to them.
Taking advantage of government assistance under the “incubation alliance” policy, the team is developing apps for foodies searching to share, rate and review local restaurants and bars. Bon App is in both Chinese and English.
Since it was unveiled last June, the app has drawn more than 60,000 users. “The company started in my living room in 2013,” said Stone Shi, a Chinese who returned from the US to try his business skills in Shanghai. “We had to move to a real office when our staff grew last year. Everyone on the team has an interest in Western and local food, and a passion to start their own business. Some of us quit very good jobs to chase our dream.”
Shi quit as manager for a British company involved in consumer electronics.
The company chose Ming Innovator, a private incubator company specializing in start-ups, to help it get established. Ming Innovator’s clientele is one-third international teams.
The company is headquartered in an office building on Jianguo Road W in the downtown Xuhui District. Its prime location gives it access to the heart of the city’s cultural and commercial life.
“Ming Innovator staff initially showed me a small office where Bon App could be housed, but I decided to rent a bigger place immediately because I anticipated rapid growth in our company,” Shi said. “Today, we are running smoothly within this incubator framework.”
Shi invested more than 1 million yuan (US$161,000) before the company gained enough traction to attract money from an angel investor last October.
“We will kick off a second round of financing later this month,” he said.
Sara Jen, a Taiwanese whose family emigrated to the United States when she was 10, is another start-up hopeful working with Ming Innovator .
Her company runs Viki, a streaming video platform with real-time subtitling and video-sharing.
“We’re a small team, so need a service provider like Ming Innovator to help cover routine issues,” she said. “It also allows us to communicate with other start-ups, sharing information.”
Her team is working with domestic TV producers to introduce TV drama and entertainment programs from China’s mainland to international audiences interested in learning Chinese culture.
To help Jen and others like her, the Shanghai Technology Innovation Center, an arm of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, has organized an alliance of incubators and offers the network favorable policies, like low-interest bank loans.
Last week, the commission announced that start-up business are eligible to apply for e-coupons worth up to 100,000 yuan a year in subsidies.
The assistance is available to innovative small private companies registered in Shanghai and to science and technology entrepreneurs who want to set up companies to develop their ideas. Previously, this kind of government help was available only to state-owned companies, universities and research institutes.
Xu Xiaoguang, managing director of Ming Innovator, said the new policy is encouraging but doesn’t go far enough.
“The government should give more support to private incubators, which still don’t enjoy the same favorable policies as state-owned ones,” he said. “Private incubators must struggle to develop their own growth.”
Time, he said, is the biggest cost factor when a company is just starting up.
“Young companies don’t want to waste time on the road, braving traffic to visit clients,” he said.
“That’s why our central downtown location is such a draw,” added Xu.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
