22 teams compete at entrepreneurship semifinal

A team gives a presentation at the semifinal of the first China Merchants Cup Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. 

Twenty-two teams from the mainland, Hong Kong and countries such as the United Sates, U.K. and Switzerland competed Nov. 7 at the semifinal of the first China Merchants Cup Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in Shekou. 

In response to the call by the Central Government for a “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” policy and to promote the development of interior innovation, China Merchants Group initiated the competition and encouraged participants from its own group and other places to join in. 

According to the organizer, the theme of this year’s competition is financial innovation. Each team can submit a related project under the guidance of a tutor. 

Five judges from external financial institutions were invited to form a panel. The criteria for judging submissions to the competition are based on industrialization and marketization. 

Huang Xiaoli, one of the judges and founder of Ally Capital in Shanghai, said the projects that entered the semifinal were more mature than the submissions to other entrepreneurship competition. 

“I think those quality projects reflect the vast financial market and potential of Shenzhen and Qianhai,” she said. “But they are only prototypes and haven’t been tested by the market. So for them, there is a long way to go.”

Zhang Guodong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Headquarters of China Merchants Ping An Asset Management Co., Ltd., has invited his friend from another institution and a colleague to form a team and submitted their project. 

“Several months ago, I discussed with my friend the possibility of starting up our project. By chance, the group launched the competition and offers employees many preferential policies. So I invited him and my colleague to kickstart it and try to win support from the competition,” Zhang said. “Shenzhen and Qianhai have the mass base of entrepreneurship and they also play key roles in the nation’s financial industry. That is why we flew here to compete.” 

The competition has been in preparation for almost one year, according to Lu Kejian, CEO of China Merchants Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd. He said the purpose of the competition is to discover more creative ideas and new projects to promote further development of the group. 

“We have set up an entrepreneurship fund of 30 million yuan for employees and offer complete tutorship and incubation services to encourage them to realize their creative ideas,” said Lu. “We also welcome external startup teams to join in and bring more inspiration and possibilities.”

Lu said next year the competition will only focus on projects involving transportation, logistics, shipping and port industry.