When the city of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province held the opening ceremony for its Dream & Starry Sky project for people who dream of starting their own business, on April 13, it attracted business people as well as experts in consulting and investment to provide help in understanding the market, and even a system that allowed startups to demonstrate their business to investors from a remote location.
The idea behind this Dream & Starry Sky event was to provide people wanting to start a business not only with information but also with office space, Internet connections and cheap accommodations. At one of the event's booths, 22-year-old Yang Zongye and four colleagues, who are freshmen at Guizhou's Commerce College, were introducing their business to visitors.
One of those young entrepreneurs, Lu Caiqiong, told China Daily that the project they're working on concerns energy-saving, environmentally friendly street lights that use human pressure to turn the electricity on, and,"The electricity is generated by people walking along the street, in parks or on plazas."
Yang added to this by saying,"We have no engineering background and lack of capital support, which is the reason that we come to Dream & Starry Sky, to look for technological and capital support."
Fortunately for these types of entrepreneurs, Dream & Starry Sky has set up a seed fund for the initial stage, with a million yuan (&160,000), to help support startups and, in the words said by Ren Bing, its leader,"Dream & Starry Sky is connected with Internet to provide support and to be a place for younger generation to pursue their dreams."
In giving Guizhou's view of the project, He Li, its vice-governor, who encourages entrepreneurs to gain experience, "The Guizhou government and its departments and institutions' support on startups is tremendously important, and it needs a joint efforts with society to promote the businesses."
