Nearly 45% of youth entrepreneurship programs make profits: Survey

BEIJING - Around 45 percent of youth entrepreneurship programs reported making profit, while 13.4 percent reported losses, a survey showed Tuesday.

A lack of capital was the biggest barrier to running a business, with 64.2 percent of respondents saying it was not easy to secure loans from banks, according to a survey jointly conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and a consultancy CreditEase.

Other challenges facing young entrepreneurs include excessive competition, high labor costs and recruitment difficulties.

The survey also showed that entrepreneurs were generally satisfied with government policies, with only 6.7 percent of respondents said they were unhappy at government entrepreneurship policies.

Young people display great initiative in starting businesses. Over 43 percent of respondents said longing for success was their strongest motive, while nearly 40 percent said they aimed for higher incomes.

Some 20.9 percent of respondents said government policies encouraged them to venture, and 18.8 percent said job crisis forced them to start their own businesses.

Over 4,000 young entrepreneurs in seven provinces including Anhui, Jiangxi, Shandong and Guangdong were questioned for the survey. They were aged between 18 and 35.