校园故事

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 different 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. After the development stage, the winning teams will receive a maximum of HK$100,000 seed funds from the CUSE Fund to establish their enterprise with a social mission!
This year, SEDS hosted the 9^th anniversary of the I‧CARE Social Enterprise Startup Scheme (SESS) – Award Presentation Ceremony 2023-24 on 15 March 2024 at the ESG Innovation Lab in Central. As we celebrate this significant milestone, we recognise the immense value of bringing together our students, mentors, and alumni interested in social enterprise startups to foster connections among the CUHK community.

The ceremony garnered 90+ participants, including the University Dean of Students, Professor Ko Wing Hung, Director 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: “As our team did not have a strong background in business, the training on Business Planning and Financial Knowledge 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.”

This year (2023-24), the application number of SESS was record-breaking! 40 teams of over 100 applicants received, which is the highest application number in the past 9 years. We keep on committed to supporting our students in transforming their creative business ideas into impactful social missions.