The young entrepreneur from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region attributed his success to the local policies that encourage young people to start businesses.

 

After graduating from the wine college of Yunnan Agricultural University in 2014, Chagxi planned to engage in ice wines in his hometown. However, there was no winery in the region at that time.

 

"Few people knew about ice wines, so there was no market," said Chagxi.

 

It was not easy to start the business at the beginning. Chagxi's business got better after he took part in a youth innovation and entrepreneurship competition in 2017.

 

In a bid to support youth entrepreneurship, the regional government set up a 2-billion-yuan (about 287 million U.S. dollars) fund that year to boost youth employment, hold youth entrepreneurship competitions, and establish innovation and entrepreneurship service centers.

 

In the competition, Chagxi placed first and was awarded a 500,000-yuan venture fund. His ice red wine also became more well-known because of the competition.

 

"Thanks to the fund, my winery is able to function well, and we now produce more wine varieties," Chagxi said, noting that the annual yield of wine has grown from 30 tonnes to over 100 tonnes, and the beverage was sold both in China and abroad.

 

The entrepreneurship competition also changed Qamba Chinlai's life. Qamba, then a kindergarten teacher, was also working part-time in a cultural education company as product designer.

 

In 2017, the company's annual sales were less than 100,000 yuan, making it barely viable. He was then invited to participate in the entrepreneurship competition and came in third, but won an award for the most popular company on the Internet.

 

Qamba's company later received a 400,000-yuan grant from the local government to help him continue the research and product development.

 

Thanks to the support, their products were purchased by local kindergartens, and company sales soared to over 3 million yuan in 2019.

 

"We learned a lot of advanced management ideas from the competition. Meanwhile, our products were widely recognized via the event," said Qamba.

 

He said what made him decide to suspend his teaching job and focus on the work in the company was an entrepreneur-friendly policy, which, issued in 2018, ensures entrepreneurs can go back to their original jobs in case their businesses fail within three years.

 

Tibet has striven to boost employment and entrepreneurship among young people in recent years. For this purpose, a series of policies have been rolled out to attract college and university graduates to start businesses in the region.

 

In September 2019, the region issued a development plan to further support innovation and entrepreneurship among Tibetan young people aged between 14 and 35. Since then, a total of 12 such projects have been launched.