The Dream Factory of China

　　The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone has launched a special fund, offering up to 2 million yuan ($321,844) in financial support for each qualified registered Hong Kong enterprise, especially innovative startups.

　　In addition to the zone’s preferential policy for overseas talents, the incentive is expected to further help startups attract high-end employees.

　　Ricky Leung, chief executive officer of a Hong Kong startup registered in Qianhai and focusing on high-tech hardware products, said they are interested in applying for the fund: “Hiring more people to do the development and administration work which is getting heavier would be helpful to us.”

　　Hong Kong companies can apply for the money either through a two-year, three-percent discount in loan interest, or a one-time subsidy of half of the company’s registered capital. Both incentives are capped at 2 million yuan for each firm and will take effect next month.

　　The Qianhai administration said the fund will open up a channel for young Hong Kong entrepreneurs to start their business in the newly established Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub.

　　Recruitment of talent has become a bottleneck in the development of many companies in Qianhai.

　　Miu Xiang, general manager of Shenzhen Electronic Commodity Trading Center in Qianhai, said 70 percent of his work is on recruiting talent.

　　“Talent is the key to our company. We need integrated and high-end talents who know about trading model design, value-adding service operation and Internet business model, but there’s a huge shortage of such people on the mainland,” Miu stressed.

　　Qianhai plans to increase the proportion of overseas talents to 10 percent this year and to 20 percent by 2020. To achieve its goal, the zone has implemented various preferential policies and measures.

　　For many professionals, Qianhai’s most attractive policy incentive is the offer of income tax rebates, entitling qualified overseas talents working in Qianhai to a 15-percent individual income tax. The Shenzhen government will subsidize the rest.

　　For instance, if a talent earns a salary of 100,000 yuan a month and an annual bonus of 1 million yuan, he should pay 810,000 yuan tax, but under the policy, he only needs to pay 330,000 yuan. The other 480,000 yuan will be paid through government subsidy.

　　Last year, Qianhai officially launched the tax subsidy and had recently paid back 4.4 million yuan to 23 overseas professionals, 17 of whom are Hong Kong residents. A chief executive of an investment company obtained the highest subsidy of more than 1.4 million yuan last year.

　　The second tax subsidy was enforced in October last year, with 66 overseas professionals from 14 companies registered in Qianhai applying for it in one month.

　　A new round of overseas talents’ tax subsidy began last Thursday, with more qualified staff at Qianhai-registered companies expected to apply.

　　Besides tax rebates, Qianhai has also made breakthroughs concerning profession qualifications between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. So far, 14 professions can practice business legally in Qianhai, including price assessors, licensed pharmacists and housing managers.

　　Moreover, about 18 Hong Kong certified tax agents are allowed to practice in the zone after training and examination.

　　Qianhai has also tried to attract talents through industry associations. Associations from Shenzhen and Hong Kong signed a cooperation agreement on Dec 30 last year to promote professional talent communication and exchange.

　　Ni Yong, director of human resources with the Qianhai administration, said: “Hong Kong’s talent is completely marketized, so we need to set up such platforms and make use of intermediary agents to let more Hong Kong talents know about Qianhai and work here.”