Empowering Students’ Social Enterprise Startup Dream
Launched in 2015-16, the I‧CARE Social Enterprise Startup Scheme (SESS) provides funding for CUHK students and young alumni to transform their creative business ideas into meaningful startups. The Student Experience and Development Section (SEDS) of the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) provides a wide array of training to upskill students and young alumni in supporting their startup journey. Training covered topics on "Five Things a Social Entrepreneur Must Not Overlook", a startup experience sharing session, "Design Thinking", "Social Impact Assessment", "Business Planning and Financial Knowledge" and more. Besides, SEDS connects mentorship from experts in the real business sectors to share real-life experiences on students' startup journey. The participating teams will then enter the final selection stage and to deliver a pitching presentation, and the winning team will receive the seed funding to build their own social enterprise!
This year, SEDS hosted the 9th anniversary of the I‧CARE Social Enterprise Startup Scheme (SESS) - Award Presentation Ceremony in March. The ceremony garnered more than 90 participants, including the University Dean of Students, Professor Ko Wing Hung, Director, Office of Student Affairs, Ms. Elaine Tam, Head of Student Experience and Development Section of the Office of Student Affairs, Dr. Tommy Law, distinguished guests, SESS mentors, student participants, and alumni who own different social enterprises.
Professor Ko shared in his welcome speech that CUHK supports promoting and nurturing students in their pursuit of socially driven business by providing them with the necessary skills and platforms to develop sustainable and influential social enterprises that contribute to the community. Three teams namely "Far Away", "Shower La" and "Freeze Lab" from the SESS 2022-23 were awarded HK$100,000 seed funds to support the launch of their social enterprises.
One of the awardees Ms. Dora Lai from "Shower La" shared that: "the event provided us with an excellent opportunity for business collaboration and allowed us to connect with members of the CUHK community who are also running social enterprises. We had the pleasure of engaging with other social enterprises here." Another awardee Ms. Wong Chi Ka from "Freeze Lab" also shared that: "The training on Business Planning and Financial Knowledge organised by the OSA was very useful in preparing our proposal and financial reports. Moreover, our mentor Ivan, not only provided valuable advice on market research, regulations, and promotion but also shared his personal experiences and insights on running a startup. That supports our startup journey."
