70% of undergrad entrepreneurs start businesses at university

There’s an increasing number of university students who have a strong desire to create a startup and do so at younger ages, according to a report on China's undergraduate entrepreneurs in 2017 released by Renmin University of China on Saturday, Beijing News reported.

The report initiated by Renmin University of China covers 52 universities, including Beijing Normal University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as well as some enterprises and social organizations that jointly formed an investigative tracking network. Seventy percent of undergraduates start a business while at university, and 26 percent of students have a strong will to launch a startup, an increase of 8 percentage points compared to 2016.

Referring to the motivational power of entrepreneurship, the main reason for them to start a business is to pursue "a free and independent lifestyle", which was chosen by 31 percent of the respondents. Meanwhile, 18 percent of undergraduates want to "achieve their personal dreams", while 10 percent of students do so because they have found good business opportunities.

According to the investigation, industries such as catering, agriculture and information technology are still undergraduates' major options when they start a business. However, 19.3 percent of them have chosen the consumer and e-commerce sectors, which reflects the increasing influence of Internet Plus on the consumer sector.

The report points out that the main difficulty for undergraduate entrepreneurs is still insufficient funds.

"Thirty-seven percent of their business funding comes from the entrepreneurs themselves, and 25 percent is from their team,” said Mao Jiye, the president of the business school in Renmin University of China. “Meanwhile, their families also support them, so over 70 percent of their funding is self-raised."

The report suggests it is necessary to further strengthen the cultivation and development of the entrepreneurship environment at university, particularly the development of undergraduate entrepreneur financing systems, in order to build a more entrepreneur-friendly undergraduate business environment.