Retail in Asia

In Markets

Start-ups decline in Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Hong Kong and Shenzhen have seen a big drop in business start-ups due to the financial crisis, with the number of people engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activities falling by more than a half, according to latest research.

A poll of 4,000 Hong Kong and Shenzhen citizens in the middle of last year showed that fewer than four out of 100 Hong Kong people were young entrepreneurs whose business was set up within the last 3.5 years. This is a significant decline compared to the same survey conducted in 2007, which found one in 10 Hong Kong people had just started up a business.

Only 14 percent of the interviewees from Hong Kong had confidence about expanding their business in the following six months, down from 81 percent in the previous survey.

(Source: scmp.com)