30 projects win Qianhai entrepreneurship contest

Merit prize winners pose for a group photo. Courtesy of Qianhai Service Group

Thirty projects emerged as standouts among 1,694 participants, claiming victory in the final of the 2023 Qianhai Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest held Friday in Qianhai.

The final contest featured two gold prize winners, four silver prize winners, six bronze prize winners, and 18 merit prize winners, with prize money ranging from 100,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan (US$56,192). These winners will also receive various forms of ongoing support, such as waived or reduced office rent and development guidance, if they opt to base their projects in Qianhai.

Among the 18 merit prize winners are Francis So from Hong Kong and his business partner, Matey Yordanov from Bulgaria. They established their company in Hong Kong last year and are now contemplating shifting their primary business to the mainland, particularly Shenzhen.

“The entrepreneurial atmosphere here in Qianhai is vibrant, especially for ventures in the food industry like ours. There are far more opportunities in Shenzhen compared to Hong Kong,” said So, expressing their intention to register a branch company in Qianhai next year.

Since its inception in 2016, the competition has drawn over 9,000 entries in the past eight years, including nearly 4,300 entries from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. This year’s contest saw a record influx of projects from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as some overseas countries, which constitute 50.3% of the total number of registrations.