The second day of the conference was jump-started by a discussion with Steve Wozniak , who was extremely optimistic and confident about jumping into entrepreneurship – a contrast with remarks made the previous day .
Perspectives on the role of financial markets in facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship in China that followed this in subsequent talks were particularly interesting . Laura Cha , Chairman of the HK Financial Services Development Council , pointed out that FinTech is now growing fastest in China – but perhaps not so surprising in a country of 800 million mobile users . It was also pointed out that China has abundant smaller-level investors , in contrast to many developed countries .
Several successful Chinese entrepreneurs joined a later panel to discuss the evolution of their own enterprises . Charles Zhang , founder and chairman of Sohu , was particularly memorable , speaking about his decision to stand up to Google ’ s allegedly copied use of his pinyin-type method , and his wider efforts to obtain market share in an internet search space previously dominated by Baidu .
Dr Wang , President of Greater China for Frost & Sullivan , highlighted that there are ‘ few sunset industries , only sunset companies ’. Perhaps bearing this out , we learnt that 12,000 new businesses are registered daily now in China , a welcome sign but also a source of potential concern : multiple panellists cautioned about jumping into entrepreneurship without a clear game-plan .
Nevertheless , facilitating this , 500 new incubators were created in 2015 , with funding of $ 37 bn . By the end of 2016 this is expected to have risen to 2000 , and an estimated 25,000 by 2030 .
The conference concluded with an interview with Robert Zoellick , to whom we had a chance to pose a question about social entrepreneurship . To hear his response , follow the YouTube link below . https :// youtu . be / 8TU209EPS _ w