Chinese Youth Entrepreneurship Education On The Rise

With a glut of graduates facing ever more competition in a tough job market, entrepreneurship is being presented as one possible solution.

According to Xinhua, some 20,000 Chinese students have taken so-called ‘Know About Business’ (KAB) courses.  These courses, developed by the International Labour Organisation’s International Training Centre (ITCILO), aim to equip students with grounding and practical advice on running their own businesses. The objective of KAB courses, as stated on their official website, is the promotion of “awareness among young people of the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship and self-employment, and of their role in shaping their future and that of their country’s economic and social development.”

The program has been deployed across 100 Chinese universities, among them the elite Tsinghua and Zhejiang, with a further 200 more having personnel qualified to conduct KAB courses. Over forty universities have established ‘KAB Clubs’, offering students extra-curricular opportunities to learn more about establishing and running a business.

The China Education Blog recently reported on several government initiatives to address flagging graduate employment prospects, though none explicitly focused on the promotion and nurturing of entrepreneurship.

Shanghai’s Administrative office of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) recently released eight policies to make it easier for university students and new graduates to start their own companies. Mr. Chen Xuejun, SAIC’s Vice President, says they are doing what they can to support youth entrepreneurship during challenging times. “It is difficult for graduates to find jobs at the moment, and they simultaneously lack the financial resources to start their own companies,” said Chen in a recent interview, highlighting new regulations that remove minimum capital requirements for young entrepreneurs. Previously, starting a company required a minimum of 30,000 Chinese Yuan, or slightly more than 4,000 US Dollars, in officially registered capital. A small fortune for many young students.

In addition to toppling barriers to company incorporation, Shanghai is establishing a team to support young entrepreneurs and track their progress in the initial years of business operation.

It is positive to see wider promotion of entrepreneurship and business realities to the younger population, as well as favourable government policies to support the entrepreneurial process among this group.  These trends underscore Chinese market opportunities for developers of entrepreneurship and management learning content, business coaches, mentoring groups and business planning competition organisers. If you are interested to explore any of these areas, please do get in touch with us.