Hong Kong’s young talent is a strength that must be strategically nurtured

Even as the city looks overseas, there is enormous value in investing in local people as they provide a solid and reliable talent pool and see Hong Kong as their home
Universities, the government and businesses must deepen their commitment to creating a sustainable ecosystem for developing talent and encouraging entrepreneurship

Peter Wong

Published: 4:30pm, 15 Jun 2023

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It has been wonderful to see the return of Hong Kong’s vibrancy over the past few months. The government has done well to attract investors, businesses and tourists from across the world by launching a range of campaigns around the theme of “Hong Kong is back”. These efforts help retain our city’s status as an international hub for business and a destination for visitors.

At this crucial moment, when there is a pressing need to strengthen our rebound by promoting Hong Kong’s unique advantages globally, we should also remember another of our important assets – the strength of our local talent.

With an ageing population and a low birth rate, it is important for our city to attract talent from different sources. Concurrently, there is enormous value in developing our local people, as they provide a solid and reliable talent pool and see Hong Kong as their home.

Our local universities provide strong evidence of this talent, with five ranked among the world’s top 100 by Times Higher Education. In 2021, there were 28,861 graduates from programmes funded by the University Grants Committee, representing eight of the top universities in Hong Kong. This clearly shows we are producing a significant pool of new local talent each year.

Nurturing local talent and creating the conditions for them to grow and contribute is essential to sustaining Hong Kong’s economic growth. Our city is fast becoming a technology and innovation hub for the region, which is critical to business resilience and the economic recovery from the pandemic. While we remain committed to investing in our local talent, there is an urgent need to do even more during this period of opening up to support these ambitions and help our workforce thrive.

Our talent needs to be ready to support Hong Kong’s future as we strengthen our role as a super-connector between mainland China and the rest of the world, and capitalise on the development of the Greater Bay Area.

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Opportunities are growing for Hong Kong talent to gain valuable personal and professional experience in the region. The Greater Bay Fintech Talent Initiative – by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong United Youth Association and Bloomberg, with support from 20 financial institutions – is a good example of this as it is designed to accelerate local talent development and equip students with the relevant skills and knowledge to support a digitally integrated financial region.

There is also the HSBC Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong) Scholarship, which supports local undergraduate students who aspire to work in the region, as well as other schemes that provide access to technical training, networking opportunities and career benefits.

The business community has an important role to play in providing job opportunities for young talent as well as gaining ideas from them. Not only do our business and financial services sectors need local talent to strengthen the industry sustainably, but there is also a strong demand for well-trained scientists and technologists to support Hong Kong’s research and innovation projects in the context of the Greater Bay Area’s development.

The Greater Bay Area provides many opportunities for our young talent to gain an understanding of how businesses operate and grow in the region. This also benefits Hong Kong in the long run, and to support this, the government’s Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme announced in 2021 and regularised by the chief executive earlier this year, encourages companies to offer jobs and support young people to work in the Greater Bay Area.

The launch ceremony of the Greater Bay Area Internship Programme in Wan Chai on June 11, part of a slew of programmes to develop local talent. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Mentoring programmes by the business community can also have a direct impact. Mentors from a range of industries and professions can help young professionals navigate the early stages of their career and understand the nuances of the business world.

Launching mentorship programmes with the world’s most innovative companies, as well as inviting their executives to Hong Kong to give lectures and share their experience, would accelerate our city’s progress as a regional technology and innovation hub, as well as a hub for talent.

HSBC recently celebrated its 16th year supporting the University of Hong Kong’s annual Business Case Competition, which provides an opportunity for students to strategise about real-world business scenarios. This year’s event included a local competition, drawing contestants from nine Hong Kong universities, as well as a final competition, where the local winner competed against teams from the broader region.

More of this kind of experience is needed if we’re going to keep our students sharp for the future, and help to address Hong Kong’s talent gap and Asia’s acute scarcity of quality workers.

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A competition like this also helps students step out of the academic setting and develop real-world solutions to real-world problems, and keep themselves on top of the latest trends and advances in technology.

At this year’s Asia-Pacific final, for example, contestants had to solve a business case for a leading pharmaceutical distribution firm in Asia that would help the company grow and increase industry adoption for its blockchain product.

As we look ahead, we must recognise that capacity building and talent development are long-term endeavours that require patience and dedication, and support from our community’s stakeholders.

But if we come together, uniting the strength of the local business community, educational institutions and the public sector, we can deepen our commitment to creating a sustainable ecosystem for developing talent and encouraging entrepreneurship. In doing so, we will be able to solidify our city’s status as a regional talent hub and take Hong Kong to new heights.

Peter Wong is chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and The Hongkong Bank Foundation