Currently, Yiwu is taking several measures to facilitate its global outreach and attract foreign companies. The city is creatively enhancing its talent development system and focusing on precise talent attraction, cultivation, and retention efforts. The goal is to become the desired city for numerous aspiring entrepreneurs. Based on statistics, in the first six months of this year, the city generated 31,116 new jobs, attracted 23,000 university graduates, and added 8,731 skilled professionals. Yiwu is leading in several key indicators within the province and is ranked as the top city in Jinhua.

Last month, Yiwu successfully hosted the China E-Commerce “Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship” Competition. A total of 648 teams representing from over 100 colleges, universities, and companies from nearly 30 provinces across the country took part in the competition. The competition provided a platform for entrepreneurial projects to come together and present their innovative ideas.

Yiwu has prepared a comprehensive policy package for entrepreneurs. Apart from offering subsidies ranging from 248,000 to 966,000 RMB for college graduates up to doctoral candidates, teams that make it to the finals can also receive up to 30,000 RMB in funding for innovation and entrepreneurship. Moreover, employees with undergraduate to doctoral degrees can enjoy monthly rent reduction for supplementary apartments, ranging from 100 to 500 RMB, based on their educational qualifications.

Yiwu has transformed the entire city into an entrepreneurship complex by establishing a comprehensive system for incubating startups, which includes “Taobao villages, co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators, industrial parks.” Up to now, there has been established one Entrepreneurship College, four talent entrepreneurship parks, and 43 entrepreneurial incubation centers. These efforts have led to the successful incubation of 4,826 startups, leading to the employment of approximately 58,200 people.

Government and enterprises collaborate to support implementation. By strengthening coordination before the competition, attracting investments during the event, and facilitating post-competition establishment, relevant venture capital firms and entrepreneurial incubation centers are invited to engage in meaningful investment and financing partnerships with the participating teams. The Zhejiang Province International Maker Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition resulted in 11 projects successfully establishing themselves in Yiwu, creating job opportunities for nearly 1,000 people and generating revenue of over 50 million RMB.

Policy support encourages entrepreneurial talents to stay. The entrepreneurship policies have been strengthened and are now more favorable. Specifically, key groups like university graduates receive significant support, including fully subsidized loans of up to 500,000 RMB and entrepreneurship guarantee loans of up to 3 million RMB for starting small and micro-enterprises.

Yiwu offers a comprehensive talent policy. For those seeking employment or starting businesses in Yiwu, there are support measures throughout the entire process, including free accommodation, transportation subsidies, and living allowances. Additionally, a “talent bank” has been established to facilitate these initiatives.

Talent services are now more considerate. Yiwu has launched the “Yiwu i-Talent” digital application, which integrates 54 services from 15 different departments across the city. Preliminary data shows that Yiwu has successfully attracted 142,000 new university graduates in the past three years. (By Lin Xiaoyan)