From left, front row: Vincent Yu, managing director of China Merchants Capital; Alex Yeung, vice chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and vice chairman of Emperor Group; Adam Kwok, vice chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd; Hu Zhanghong, JP, CEO of Greater Bay Area Homeland Investments Ltd and director of the Financial Services Development Council; Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Daryl Ng Win-kong, chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and deputy chairman of Sino Group; Salome See Sau-mei, group managing director of Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings and managing director of ET Net; Kenneth Fok, executive vice chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation, member of the Legislative Council and vice president of the Fok Ying Tung Group; Christopher Kwok, vice chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd; Calvin Choi, vice chairman of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and chairman of AMTD Group; and Yang Bin, CEO of Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation.From left, second row: Vincci Hui, former olympian for Hong Kong Triathlon; 2-time olympic games TV program host and commentator; Mathias Woo, artistic cum executive director of Zuni Icosahedron, convener of the “HK Belt Road City to City Cultural Exchange Conference”; Fred Ngan, co-founder, co-CEO and director of Bowtie Life Insurance Company Ltd; Tat Lee, chief executive and executive director of WeLab Bank; Eric Yeung, founding president of Esports Association Hong Kong; Michael Li, co-founder and director of Titanology Ltd; Hendrick Sin, co-founder, executive director and vice-chairman of CMGE Technology Group Ltd; Stark Chan, founder of Bull.B Technology Ltd; Cindy Chow, executive director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund; Winston Wong, co-founder and CEO of Qupital; William Keong, executive director of Manner Culture Ltd; Prudence Mak, founder and creative director of Chocolate Rain. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Guests of a local youth forum highlighted the enormous opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the technology, finance and culture and sports sectors, and called on Hong Kong’s young minds to build strength and courage to forge their way ahead.

They shared the insights at the “Gathering Young Talent, Making a Difference” GBA Youth Development Forum 2022 on Monday. Co-organized by the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation and the Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, the event attracted more than 700 young people, including high school students and undergraduates.

Delivering a speech at the event, Daryl Ng Win-kong, chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation, who has been involved in youth affairs for many years, said the Greater Bay Area has huge development potential. More and more high-level cooperation platforms, such as Qianhai in Shenzhen, Nansha in Guangzhou, and the Northern-Metropolis in Hong Kong, provide wide support in entrepreneurial services, including funding, training, and exchange opportunities.

With favorable policies offered by Chinese mainland cities, and deepening intercity traffic links in the region, Ng said the Greater Bay Area presents Hong Kong young people with “unprecedented” development opportunities to build their dreams.

Officiating at the event, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai cited President Xi Jinping’s July 1 speech that the development of a nation is inseparable from focusing on youth, gathering talents and seeking innovation.

He noted that the Greater Bay Area blueprint is a major national development strategy of reform and opening-up in a new era, and encouraged young people of Hong Kong to keep an open mind, equip themselves and seize opportunities in the promising cluster. 

GBA Youth Development Forum 2022 “Gathering Young Talent, Making a Difference” was held in Hong Kong on 24th October, 2022. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

With the nation’s support, young people will have enormous opportunities to realize their dreams with a view to making a contribution to the nation, serving Hong Kong, and becoming pillars of the world, Tsang said.

Echoing Tsang’s words, Zhang Zhihua, director general of the Department of Youth Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said he hopes that all Hong Kong community sectors can make use of the promising platform of the Greater Bay Area to nurture local youths and help the underprivileged by providing internship and employment opportunities.

The forum, which featured three themed panel discussions held both online and on-site, brought together youth leaders to share their views on how the continuous development of the Greater Bay Area will benefit Hong Kong youngsters in the technology, finance and cultural and sports areas.

Speaking during the panel discussion on “New Realm of Innovative Technology”, Hendrick Sin, the co-founder, executive director and vice-chairman of  CMGE Technology Group Ltd, shared his entrepreneurial journey and introduced the preferential measures that have been launched by local authorities in the Greater Bay Area, such as business incubation schemes and venture funds.

Particularly upbeat about the future of mobile games and esports developments, he said he hopes Hong Kong and Guangdong province can deepen collaboration on related talent cultivation and form an esports ecological chain. He also encouraged Hong Kong to tap into the fresh opportunities in the 

metaverse and non-fungible tokens and establish its own advantages.

Cindy Chow, executive director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, noted that Hong Kong’s position as a financial center remains strong. She said she hopes that the government will provide more support to enable startups to develop better in the Greater Bay Area. Startup leaders also need to have the courage and innovative thinking to adapt their product positioning to the changing environment.

Kenneth Fok, member of the Legislative Council in the Functional Constituency for Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication, said that to further Hong Kong’s mission of developing into a global cultural hub, the Asian culture widely accepted by the global market is something that Hong Kong can explore and leverage. Young people in Hong Kong can make good use of the city’s convergence of Chinese and Western cultures to better tell Chinese stories, he noted.