Placement Scheme Proves A Win-win

The Home & Youth Affairs Bureau partnered with the Cyberport Management Company and the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation in offering the Youth Start-up Internship Programme 2023, enabling 200 eligible students aged between 18 and 30 to intern at local startups for between three and six months. The interns have also been able to participate in sharing sessions by industry leaders, entrepreneurship-themed activities, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area visits, and more.

Hands-on experience

Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Kam participated in the programme while pursuing a master’s degree in nutrition, food science and technology.

She was hired as a research and development assistant at a food technology startup based at Science Park. She helps to formulate the ingredients of the company’s plant-based foods for optimal texture and flavour.

In her role, Miss Kam tests the products in a methodical manner. For example, she slices up samples of vegan meat to test them for texture and to carefully check the ingredients.  

“Basically, we check whether it is soft or hard,” she said. “What we are looking for is flexibility. Then we see if there are any air bubbles trapped and if our ingredients are spread evenly.”

Her knowledge of the production and composition of vegan meat had been limited prior to her internship.

“Because vegan meat is such a new concept or new topic, they did not have a lot of information about this at school,” she said. “In here I have learnt that there are different types of textured vegetable protein and food components.”

She added that she has gained crucial hands-on experience during her six-month placement.

“When you get the chance to do some testing, some trial and error, or make some food products in the laboratory, it is very rewarding.”

Immersive approach

Miss Kam’s employer, the startup’s founder Markus Cheung, explained that it is important to expose the interns to his company’s business model, risks, marketing, and research and development.

“We hold a weekly review meeting so that we know the progress of the interns and what difficulties they are facing,” he said. “We also want the interns to understand our company goals.”

Mr Cheung has decided to hire Miss Kam as a full-time employee as he found she was proactive in solving product problems and helped the company to adopt new thinking in its approach to promoting itself on social media.

Win-win programme

Under Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Clarence Leung believes the programme is invaluable to students.

“Staff inside startup companies have to deal with a vast array of different tasks, stemming from day-to-day administrative chores to planning, marketing and business development,” he said. “When an intern gets into this startup environment, he or she will be able to learn something very quickly, which is going to be different if you get an internship from a big corporation.”  

He added that the initiative is a win-win for all parties.

“For the entrepreneurs, a lot of the young minds are joining the startups to contribute,” he explained. “For the Government, we want to inspire young people to learn that Hong Kong’s economy is getting more diversified, while the city is developing into eight centres established by the National 14th Five-Year Plan.”

Originally rolled out in 2021 on a pilot basis, the programme has proven to be a great success.With the Government regularising it and expanding its scale, the programme now provides 200 internship placements ranging across specialisms from data analysis to software engineering to marketing. The Government provides salary subsidies of up to $10,500 per month for each placement.

This year, the programme received over 4,500 applications from students, with artificial intelligence, fintech and digital entertainment positions being the most popular.

The Government will work with the Cyberport Management Company and the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation to consider enhancing the programme by adding various training, visits and entrepreneurship activities.