HONG KONG — GF Securities Co., Ltd. (with its subsidiaries, as “GF Securities” or the “Company”, HKSE: 1776; SZSE: 000776) and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center (“HKUST Entrepreneurship Center”, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, “HKUST”) successfully held a public seminar on entrepreneurship at HKUST on 9 November 2017, which attracted a large number of students and entrepreneurs.
GF Securities has been actively devoting itself to student entrepreneurship activities. Leveraging on its advantages and experiences in China’s capital market for years, the Company spares no effort to deliver entrepreneurial knowledge to young people as well as to support them in realizing their dreams. Since the Company started to sponsor and participate in “The Seventh Annual HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition” in April this year, GF Securities, adhering to its company principle of giving back to society, continues to work jointly with HKUST to hold the seminar entitled “All About Startup Fundraising”. Mr. Steven Ma, managing director of GF Securities holdings (Hong Kong) investment subsidiary and co-head of global direct investment and Leo Chiu, entrepreneur and angel investor, attended the seminar and made the main speeches, sharing successful experience and expertise of startup fundraising with a crowd of young entrepreneurs on campus.
During the seminar, Mr. Steven Ma, the representative from GF Securities, introduced the investment cases of GF Securities in Hong Kong and China, so as to enlighten university students on the development of startups from the perspective of investors. At the same time, for students having ambitions to start their businesses, Mr. Ma explained that venture capital can bring different values to startups in addition to funding, such as entrepreneurial market opportunities, team building and business management experience. Also, he introduced the venture capital eco-system under the synergies of different investees. Another speaker, Leo, from the perspective of a successful entrepreneur, shared his excellent entrepreneurial experience in the United States and analyzed how to attract investors from the angle of an angel investor. Leo revealed the decision-making process of angel investors in business investments, and also explained the factors that may affect the decision-making of investors. Meanwhile, he demonstrated to new startup entrepreneurs the key indicators of a business in initial phase of operation.
Wonderful speeches followed by a heated Q & A section, participants had a full interaction with the guest speakers. Through the seminar, the university students learned about the essence of operating a startup company, and studied the cases of starting business in markets of Hong Kong, the Mainland China and the United States, thereby acquiring clear guidelines for their entrepreneurial blueprint in the future.
When talking about the seminar, Mr. Lin Zhihai, President of GF Securities and Chairman of GF Securities Social Charity Foundation, said, “We are very honored to collaborate with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. As an international research university, HKUST is closely linked to global thinkers and Mainland China. Over the years, GF Securities has always adhered to the core propositions of corporate citizens, and we have engaged in public welfare while continuously developing and expanding our businesses. Collaborating with HKUST and leveraging on the strengths of both sides, GF Securities helps to boost the growth of a new generation of young entrepreneurs. In the future, while continuously creating values for shareholders and customers, GF Securities will undertake corporate social responsibilities to achieve the unification of social and economic benefits. We aim to develop more meaningful public service projects, so as to become a modern investment bank with international competence, brand influence and system importance.”