Making business work for you

gzlaser

WHAT do you plan to do after you graduate? Be a postgraduate, look for a job or study abroad? These are common options, but students are increasingly choosing to start their own business as well.

Sadly, the reality of being an entrepreneur is often a cruel disappointment. According to a 2006 51job.com survey of 2,000 student entrepreneurs, only 2 percent survive.

A recent Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau report suggests a shortage of funds and confusion over business direction are the biggest obstacles for student entrepreneurs. A lack of experience is also a widespread difficulty.

Students often struggle to find the capital even to get started. However, the government is now offering a helping hand. Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation and China Merchants Bank launched the local government entrepreneurship fund in Shanghai last week.

Having a vision

If young entrepreneurs find themselves in a financial crisis, the fund will pay off their loans. \"This guarantee will greatly ease students' financial worries,\" says Qi Yuwei, vice-secretary general of the foundation.

Yet students often misunderstand one of the essential requirements of entrepreneurship: having the initial vision to spot a gap in the market or a developing trend.

Hui Xu, pioneering Web entrepreneur and founder of Hipihi – China's first virtual world, says: \"It's more than being a company boss. The true spirit of entrepreneurship involves having a big idea that propels a business forward.\"

Xu achieved this in finance before transferring his skills to the Internet. Now, Hipihi is offering students the chance to be entrepreneurs. \"We are developing a fund to help students set up businesses in real estate development or online language tutoring. As long as the idea is good, we're going to support them.\"

Cash earned in Hipihi will be exchangeable for money in the real world, offering students the opportunity to let their imagination run wild.

Technology is not the only field you can enter. Small companies do not need too much capital, and enjoy tax incentives and other preferential policies.

In 2004, Fudan University Computer Science majors Jiang Peng and Zhang Yong opened a wonton restaurant in Shanghai. \"We earned about 3,000 yuan a month. It doesn't compare with an IT company, but it's safe.\" The pair now own three restaurants.

Trade secrets

Marketing is another frequent problem new businesses face. A Huazhong University of Science and Technology report shows nearly half of student businesses lack marketing skills.

Xu Benliang, deputy director of the Shanghai Charity Foundation's training center, says: \"The best way is to hire a marketing professional. It's impossible to succeed alone in the modern economic environment.\"

Also, when founding a company, a comprehensive and efficient financial and administrative system should be in place. \"It requires legal and financial knowledge. You must understand accounting, as well as Contract and Company Law,\" Xu says.

Recently, universities have opened courses to help students gain this knowledge. Know About Business (KAB) is a training package that provides information about starting and operating a successful business.

\"We opened two courses for 60 students, but there were more than 800 students wanting to enroll,\" says Jin Haiyan, a KAB teacher at Wenzhou University.

Shanghai Jiaotong University, among others, offers young entrepreneurs free professional advice. Ma Dexiu, the University's committee secretary, says: \"We need to instill students with the spirit to overcome the hardships they will face in their careers. Only when they're psychologically prepared to kick-start their own ventures can we expect them to make valuable contributions to society.\"