City rolls out series of initiatives to help new business startups

Echoing the nation's encouragement for more innovation and entrepreneurship, China's young generation is keen to set up businesses.

In Guiyang, the capital of China's southwestern Guizhou province, the local government is aiming to attract worldwide companies with government support and economic incentives, as well as build platforms for startup teams to start their businesses.

"Guiyang has become one of the pioneer cities to boost social and economic development towards big data and the cloud computing industry. The city's fine environment and joyful climate play a important role in attracting IT-related companies," said Chen Gang, Party chief of Guiyang.

Since 2013, Guiyang has pushed for the development of big data as one of its economic pillars.

It is also hosting the World Crowdfunding Summit from Friday through Monday, which has attracted thousands of participants from all over the globe, including field experts, venture capital investors and business startups. Under the theme of "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Makers", the summit is keen to build a platform for new enterprises to build their futures.

"We will build Guizhou into a leader in big data innovations and applications in the next three to five years," he said, adding that emerging industries, such as big data and cloud computing, were key for western regions of the country to catch up in the era of information and technology.

To achieve the goal, the government of Guiyang has rolled out a series of policies to attract big data enterprises, such as subsidies for renting offices, servers and tax rebates.

"By hosting the summit, Guiyang will push forward to attract more investment and further accelerate the development in the financial industry. We will also try to aid each project in a bid to facilitate them to operate smoothly in the city," said Liu Wenxin, mayor of Guiyang.

Currently, China's big three telecom operators - China Mobile Communications Corp, China Telecommunications Corp and China United Network Communications Group Co - are devoting 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) to constructing three big data centers in Guizhou, which are expected to house 2 million servers.

The three carriers promised Guizhou-based big data companies better Internet connection speeds with lower prices.

In September this year, the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a guideline to boost the development of big-data-related industries. The guideline listed Guiyang as the nation's first big data pilot zone.

"Despite the fact that we are at frontline in development, the lack of talent and cutting-edge technology is still the weak link we have to overcome," Chen said. He added that compared to developed regions and cities, Guiyang has to put more efforts into encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.

To encourage more creative and innovative companies to establish branches in Guiyang, the city has issued more than 30 supportive government policies since January, some of which provide both funds and offices for startups.

During the summit, participants are expected to attend several conferences to voice their opinions regarding the future of crowdfunding in China.

The event also includes a fundraising contest where more than 500 small - and medium-sized enterprises will demonstrate their business projects and products to investors from home and aboard.

"What Guiyang has accomplished in the big data industry in recent years gives us the advantage to seek more business models such as crowdfunding and Internet financing. It will be a great boost for young entrepreneurs to find their way to success," said Chen.

Why Guiyang?

A survey showed that startups no longer focus as much on being based in first-tier cities and most businesses are set up in high-tech and other modern service sectors.

The survey also said, when choosing where to be based, entrepreneurs consider social networks, industry base, the strength of the market and the environment.

"Contrary to traditional industries, technology companies suffered the least in terms of being located regionally," said Wang Yili, who runs a communication based company in Guiyang High-Tech District.

"Most of our business and work is based on the Internet, although developed cities have the advantage in funding and talents, but the lower cost of living helps new companies to balance their consumption," she said.

"With the help of new financing methods such as crowdfunding we save a lot of unnecessary expenses for a roadshow in big cities such as Shanghai or Shenzhen," Wang said.

To help more young entrepreneurs like Wang, Guiyang established the nation's first crowdfunding exchange in May this year. During the past few months, 10 enterprises were listed in the exchange with total investment of 7.1 million yuan.

"In 2013, the total capital from crowdfunding reached $5.1 billion, 90 percent of which was in the American and European markets. However, there is rapidly growing demand in the Asian market, and this is one of the reasons we established the exchange in Guiyang," said Qu Peng, general manager of the Guiyang exchange.

"With implementation of the nation's innovation-driven development strategy, industries that are involved in innovative sectors will attract more investors from all over the world, the new financing methods will definitely help many young startups to set their course right," he said.

Contact the writers at yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaokai@chinadaily.com.cn