[Choi Chin-si / President of Sunwah Global Youth Innovation Center]

It's like raising a baby. It seems to have grown up now.

My name is Choi Chin-si, I am 24 years old, a native Hongkonger. After graduated from UK, I returned to mainland China, Nansha is my first stop and three years is passed. An important reason why I came back is because we officially established the Sunwah Global Youth Innovation Center in Nansha in 2021.

I came to mainland China when I was a little kid, probably six years old. The first time was going to Shenyang. I came to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games when I was eight years old. I even went to mainland China every summer and winter vacation. Although many Hong Kong people like to go to Japan during holidays, I only wanted to spend my holidays in mainland. However, going to the mainland was not just for fun; I have want back to the office for work. Since I was a child, I have been exposed to a lot of mainland affairs. 

I have often been at meetings, and thus I have known what happened within the company all the time. I know how to interpret China’s policies to the youth of Hong Kong and Macao. The Sunwah Global Youth Innovation Center in Nansha serves as a bridge of communication to explain these policies to young entrepreneurs. The initial purpose of establishing the innovation center was to help these young people from Hong Kong and Macao solve daily problems.

Why choose Nansha? We found that Nansha is highly valued by Country. It is connected by high-speed rail, and has a superior geographical location, so we decided to establish the innovation center in Nansha. In fact, it took a quite short time for us to set up this innovation center.

One of the things that impressed me the most was when we were about to complete the decoration after signing the contract with the government. The decoration materials had just been delivered that day, and we needed to make decisions that night because work was set to start the next day. It was a hot day, and I was wearing a suit since I had just finished a meeting. I ended up rolling up my sleeves because I felt so hot. 

While it wasn't my first time picking out materials at a construction site, it was definitely my first time eating at. None of us had free hands to take pictures because we were all holding bowls of rice, and the dishes laid out on the table. Meanwhile, one of our colleagues was at a banquet hosted by the Consul General of France. Our colleagues took a picture of his fancy French meal and sent it to us, then I took a picture to show him how we were eating at the construction site.

It only took around one and half months from signing the contract to completing the decoration, including setting up the exhibition hall, inviting investments, and building our team. It was very challenging at the beginning because we had to explain the concept of Nansha to so many different people. We call it Sunwah Global Youth Innovation Center because we hope to play an important functional role in helping companies go global.

Hong Kong’s traditional business model is first investing. I remember I went to your center after dinner and we have an interesting thought. Gathering designers from Hong Kong and then moving to the mainland is an idea that many people have mentioned to us. I think the whole plan is viable.

For entrepreneurs, Nansha offers significant business advantages. Nansha enjoys preferential corporate and individual income tax rates of 15 percent. Additionally, the land resource in Nansha is abundant, allowing commercial supply chains and factories to settle here. Another key advantage is Nansha's excellent geographical location, being at the center of the Greater Bay Area. Furthermore, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge is making it possible to travel from Nansha to other cities in the Greater Bay Area in just one hour. It is very convenient.

We now have an air purifier company preparing for a pre-IPO. I hope that within the next two months, we can share some good news with you. Supporting a company from its initial stages to being listed on the market has taken us almost four years, from the end of 2020 to now, 2024. I have witnessed the entire process, so naturally, I have a deep affection for Nansha. Whether it’s me or my friends, our confidence in the development of Nansha continues to grow stronger and stronger.

We have gone through so much, done a lot of work, and the process has been incredibly hard. That's why we must cherish the results even more. It's like raising a baby. It seems to have grown up now. I hope that our innovation center will continue to thrive and become more and more successful in the future.