Helping needy help themselves

南華早報 2007-06-23

The Commission on Poverty may have been disbanded but its mission to help the poor to help themselves is being carried on by academics and university students.

Steven Chen Kwun-man, a first-year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is a member of a group of students that beat 68 teams to win the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge last week. They tied with a team from the University of Hong Kong.

Mr Chen's group proposed a business plan for a laundry service in Aberdeen that offered hand-washing alongside machine-washing.

"We will hire people from disadvantaged groups, such as non-skilled housewives and the disabled, for them to get a chance to work in a real-world environment," he said.

The competition, which originated from a contest at CUHK but was held for the first time among all universities in Hong Kong, encourages young people to develop an entrepreneurial spirit through achieving both business and social goals. Social enterprises refer to businesses operated both to raise revenue and to further a social mission.

Timothy Tam Yu-chuen, a member of an HKU team that proposed a catering service for the elderly, said: "When you set up a social enterprise, you have to consider the needs of different people. It's very meaningful."

Junnie Wong, a housewife living in Tung Chung who runs a beauty salon that was set up based on a proposal by CUHK students in previous years, said regular work boosted the self-image of housewives. The salon is not making a profit yet and now occupies a room in a local NGO.