Small is beautiful when it comes to making it big in business
University hopes to rekindle the city's sense of entrepreneurship with competition
Hongkongers seeking a good living are being offered the chance to become "seed planters, not bean counters" in a university programme aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) account for about 98 per cent of the city's economy and provided 47 per cent of total employment - excluding the civil service - at the end of last year, according to the Trade and Industry Department.
Professor Ali Beba , director of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Entrepreneurship Centre, said this statistic showed it was not the "big guys" - the multinational corporations - that were driving the world economy but small businesses.
This is similar to the situation in the European Union and the United States, where SMEs account for more than 90 per cent of businesses, according to official statistics.
"Entrepreneurship is a monetary or social wealth creation process," said Beba who is advocating for more people to become their own boss through HKUST's One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition.
Beba hopes to revive the spirit that drove entrepreneurs in Hong Kong in the late 1950s, so that the city can keep its place as the "powerhouse of the region."
"Entrepreneurs are seed planters, not bean counters," he said. "They are not satisfied with simply having jobs. Instead they use their initiative and imagination to generate breakthrough products and services."
