On 28 November, Andy Ng, founder of Timetable, delivered a keynote speech titled “Seizing Policies' Windows of Opportunity and Promoting In-Depth Guangzhou-Hong Kong Cooperation" at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cooperation and Development Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

The full speech is as below.

Dear dignitaries and guests,
Good morning! I'm glad to attend such a grand forum as a young man born in Hong Kong in the 1990s. I'd like to share my three-year experience of entrepreneurship in Guangzhou.

I'm a ’90s young Hong Kong man. After receiving my bachelor's degree in economics in Hong Kong, I went to the UK to study for a master's degree. When I studied in Hong Kong, I started a business for the first time. In 2017, I came to Guangzhou to start a business for the second time and founded Timetable, an incubator in the Greater Bay Area.Over the past three years, we have incubated over 40 Hong Kong and Macao companies. We could say that we groomedthe first group of companies in the Greater Bay Area after the release of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, helping them attract over USD 100 million of financing. These companies do business in popular areas like digital technology, digital culture and entertainment, new consumption, and new retail. These are some achievements and data that I'd like to share with you first.

I have learned that, for entrepreneurs, what era we are in and what stage we are on really matter. My first startupexperience in 2013 made me realize that it was not practical to focus only on Hong Kong for business. Rather, if we can make use of the unique locational advantages and competitive edges Hong Kong boasts, and set our sights onthe Greater Bay Area, Southeast Asia, and even the whole world, I believe there are huge opportunities.

There are two opportunities for enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan: The first is "coming in"; the second is "going out". I will talk about coming in first. I think we need to make use of the competitive advantages of enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan to enter the Greater Bay Area market. There are currently 86 million residents in the Greater Bay Area, nearly three times the sum of the population of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. But I think just having a big market is not enough. Vitality is also needed. Vitality is a very important element in the Greater Bay Area. Production factors in the Greater Bay Area,including policies, talents, technologies, and consumers, are continuously changing, which stands for opportunities. It means that entrepreneurs born in the 1990s and even in the 2000s have a chance to succeed. As long as we work hard enough and have the spirit of innovation, I believe we can grasp this chance.

Next, I'd like to share my thoughts on going out. Somecompanies from Hong Kong and Macao make use of the cheap tech talents and advanced business models in Guangzhou to go into the market in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Instead of competing with strong enterprises here, it is better to take the stage in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, and even Southeast Asia. Recently, we have invested in acompany which makes use of the mainland’s advanced electronic payment. The company is seven months old and has served over 5,000 SMEs in Hong Kong, with an annual turnover of around four billion. It has completed its A-roundfinancing, obtaining hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

With our Hong Kong designers and operation team at Timetable, we have created an entrepreneurship base in the Innovation Bay of Nansha, with complete support facilities:an incubator, a library, and internet-famous coffee and simple meals. We hope to build this into a Nansha model of and window into in-depth Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation. This year, advocated by CY Leung, vice chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC and former chief executive of Hong Kong, the Consultative Committee on Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation (Guangzhou Nansha) was established. I was honored to become a member on the committee. In November, itsservice center was inaugurated in our base. This willpromote more in-depth cooperation between Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

These years, Nansha has continuously introduced new policies to facilitate the development of Hong Kong and Macao enterprises, for example, the 30 measures to supportHong Kong and Macao youth entrepreneurs, which providesHong Kong and Macao startups with a subsidy from 100,000 to 500,000, and has created a good and friendly business environment. As a young man from Hong Kong, I feel that opportunities in the next ten years will be in Nansha, and Nansha will be a place of opportunities for startups. Since the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was released, many young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao asked me why I thought the Greater Bay Area was promising. I told themthat the Greater Bay Area was like a "9+2" corporation with 11 subsidiaries. These 11 companies have different competitive advantages, core technologies, and business segments, but they form a group with the same visions,missions, and values. More importantly, there is a visionary and resolute CEO. Is this company worth investing in? Thisis a question worth thinking about.

That is all I have to share. The forum's theme of responsibility, accountability, and innovation has benefited me a lot. 

Thank you!