Every young entrepreneur, bursting with energy and eager for customers, hopes to make it big. The first criteria for a Federation YBHK start-up is a sound business plan.

Kane Lui gave up his job as photographer to start a garden design company called City Greeny. Greening the city is catching on with the authorities as well as with keen home gardeners and Kane supplies decorative flowers for events as well as running workshops. He also does maintenance for school gardens, parks and residential developments. What were the most important factors so far?

Kane Marketing skills and sheer persistence have been fundamental. I lost some clients to begin with because their aesthetic was very different from mine, but being part of YBHK really gave me confidence and I'm determined not to give up.

Joe Ngai of McKinsey and Christina Li at the Bank of China are on the YBHK Steering Committee. Both are highly experienced in the world of commerce. We asked them how they would define entrepreneurship. Joe's reply echoed Kane's:

Alex Our business concept combines recycling, education and helping the deprived. Landfills will be full in 5 to 10 years' time and government policy on waste management must evolve quickly. We believe in taking a proactive role in education and already have over ten years' relevant experience and are familiar with the industry.

What did YBHK provide?

Felix First, YBHK gave us financial support and mentorship. That put us on the fast track so we wasted no time or resources. Later, HKFYG's synergetic relationships with partners and wide networking gave us unexpected power to help us grow our business.

Our third start-up was JJ Bar, a fresh fruit juice delivery service opening shortly in Fortress Hill. Annie, the boss, is an ex corporate administrator in her thirties. She did a lot of market research and really appreciated the help given by the YBHK network:

Annie I am going to make natural, healthy juices and smoothies to take away. I have found Italian ice cream makers for partners who have a great range of flavours. The information and advice offered by experienced people in the network was invaluable.

These creative young businesses have got a head start through YBHK. It lets ideas flourish as well as providing back-up:

Unemployment: the latest

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates overall in the city were down to 4.7% by September but for 15-19 year olds overall unemployment was 26.8% and for 20-29 year-olds it was 7.9%. The figure for males and females differ significantly in the upper age bracket with 5.6% of young women now out of work and 8.3% of men although the figure for females has actually risen in the past year from 5% whereas it has dropped from 9.4% for young men.*

The number of women in the workforce has been growing but they are paid less for comparative work than their male equivalents. For example, only 6.5% of all employed males get under $5000 per month but over a quarter of all women do. Looking at higher incomes, 13.7% of men earn over $30,000 a month, whereas only 7.9% of women do. This is despite the fact that the proportion of all employed people with degrees is the same (just over 20%) in both men and women.**

* HKSAR Census & Statistics Department, Table 011 [20/10/06]
** South China Morning Post 25 September 2006

Young casual workers: a rising trend

The phenomenon of regular switching of jobs is more and more popular with Hong Kong school leavers. Hourly wages are between $10 and $20 and figures show a large increase in 15-24 year-olds doing this kind of work and those doing less than 35 hours' work a week has doubled from 10.8% in 2001 to 20.8 this year.* 71,000 youngsters are working part-time, a jump of 80% in the same period.

The concern among economists and academics is that this trend has long-term implications for the ability of today's young people to earn reliable salaries and subsequently take care for older relatives. They are on no career ladder and are badly qualified for full-time jobs with a career path. This news comes at a time when Hong Kong's unemployment rate is at its lowest for some years. Nonetheless, figures show that 19,200 young people in this age group were not at school and were not prepared to join the workforce early in 2006.** This figure is up from 16,700 in 2002. The projected end-of-year figure for unskilled 15-19 year-olds is 28,000, up by 6% since 2005.***

* South China Morning Post *21 August 2006 C3, ** 4 September 2006 C3, ***14 August 2006 C1