The Dream Factory of China

Jordan Lam commutes between Shenzhen and Hong Kong two to three times a week. In the morning, he sets off from Hong Kong and in the afternoon, he works with colleagues in Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub. This is Lam’s normal routine.

Lam is like many young Hong Kongers who are starting businesses in Shenzhen. He is the founder and director of FUSQUARE, a company focused on IBMS (integrated building management system) and energy management.

The original reason for starting a business on the mainland was because many Hong Kong-based enterprises wanted to adopt local building management systems in their mainland market.

“Those enterprises encountered difficulties finding appropriate design teams on the mainland. Then they found us, but the next problem was that mainland projects required the issuing of invoices that we couldn’t provide as a Hong Kong company. After that, we began to consider why not start a business on the mainland,” said Lam.

“The cost of renting office space in Hong Kong, even in obscure poor locations, is too high to bear. Therefore, preferential policies supported by the government in Qianhai, such as free office space, is attractive for Hong Kong youth like me.

“Shenzhen has a unique advantage in recruiting talent. Many young people in Hong Kong chose to study finance, business, medicine and law while only a few studied robotics, engineering and IT. The cost of recruiting them is much higher in Hong Kong than that of Shenzhen. So for me, Shenzhen is a better choice for gathering talent because of the lower employment costs,” said Lam.

Millions of college students graduate on the mainland each year, many of them choose to chase their dreams in metropolises like Shenzhen.

“It is also because of the prosperity of companies like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent that young people on the mainland are inspired by the great potential of the relevant industries. Experienced engineers are not required in this industry, so young graduates who accept lower salaries are my first choice,” said Lam.