Ji Chen jumped out of his chair when he heard the good news — the State Council announced in November that market access will be eased to encourage start-up businesses. The 20-year-old accounting major at Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology can finally achieve his dream of starting a company without going through the difficult registration procedure, like his peer Huo Baiyi had to. Professionals believe that this reform is going to benefit more students who want to start up a business.

Complicated procedure

Huo Baiyi, 21, is a social work major at Nanjing Institute of Technology. He set up a media company in early 2012 and started the registration process in March.

“Back then, the minimum capital for limited liability companies was 30,000 yuan. My partner and I had to combine all of our money to meet this requirement,” he says. But money wasn’t the only problem. In order to prepare all the necessary paperwork, they had to go back and forth between the local bureau for industry & commerce, the public security bureau and the taxation bureau more than 10 times. “Both my cell phones were ringing all the time,” he says, “it nearly drove me crazy.”

Relaxed registration requirements

Now that the situation is changing, Ji is preparing for the registration procedure. The minimum capital requirements for limited liability companies, one-person limited liability companies, and joint-stock companies with limited liability, have all been scrapped. Besides, requirements for the site of business operation have also been relaxed.

This preferable policy is extremely useful for students like Ji, who normally don’t have much money or a business site. “What we have is a laptop and creative minds,” says Ji.

After the reform, it didn’t take him long to prepare all the necessary documents. “I’m going to submit them to the local bureau for industry & commerce next week and I expect the registration process to be completed in less than one week,” he says.

Positive effect

“The reform is definitely exciting news for students,” says Yu Pengtian, director of the National Science Park at Harbin University of Science and Technology. “No minimum capital requirement means a lower cost for starting a business. From a macro perspective, it’s an incentive for students to launch a start-up.”

Chen Gaosheng, associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, praised the relaxed requirements on the business site. “Many students in our university run their business from a studio because they don’t have a business site. Before the reform, this undermined their accountability when doing business,” he says. Now, however, students can run a stable and promising business.