Employees measure cloth before cutting at a private textiles and garments company in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [Photo/China Daily]

In recent months there's been a slew of initiatives aimed at easing China's transition from an export-driven, to a consumption-led economy. Topmost among them has been the emphasis on fostering young high-impact and high-growth startup companies.

With government pledges of stronger policy and funding support, and easier regulations ringing in their ears, small, private enterprises are now the ones being championed rather than the unwieldy, often debt-laden State-owned firms, which dominated the landscape for decades.

The goals of this "mass entrepreneurship" are raising national productivity and industrial quality, and achieving less dependence on Western trading partners.

Of course, that is not to say China's modern economic miracle has so far been solely driven by SOEs. The emergence of titans like Pony Ma, Robin Li, Lei Jun, and Jack Ma－the founders of Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi and Alibaba, respectively－are already testament to the increased focus on business self-determination and independence.

In 2004, China had 3.3 million privately held companies and 24 million partnerships－individual or family-run operations. By 2013, it had nearly 12 million private firms and 42 million proprietorships.

During the first seven months of 2014, thanks to reforms that did away with the minimum capital requirements, about 1.5 million new companies were created－double the number during the same period in 2013.

The key driver of those numbers, say economists, are the billions of consumer transactions now being made daily, which the State-run system can no longer keep pace with.

And that's where the government's entrepreneurial drive comes in.

Officials hope the moves will replace the country's cheap factory-based workforce with younger, more innovative, business-savvy individuals willing to take the plunge, and get their own ideas off the ground.

This growing startup population is being looked to for products and services needed to meet domestic consumer demand, while at the same time being asked to create the marketing and distribution networks that can increasingly make an impact globally too.

All this upbeat planning sounds well and good.

But there's one vital ingredient that is lacking for the planned surge in numbers to become a reality－a formal framework to help potentially thousands of small startups get up and running.

What this really means is not just funding, but also advice and professional skills needed to navigate the modern entrepreneurial maze.

When Premier Li Keqiang first announced that new-business creation would become his economic priority in September, it immediately forced around 50 of the country's top universities to put together plans for their own entrepreneurial departments and courses. But those in education generally agree that such steps are still in their infancy and much more needs to be done.

I am reliably informed that a joint United Kingdom-Chinese education program aimed at developing grassroots entrepreneurial skills in schools, and degree courses in universities across China in association with UK institutions will be launched during President Xi Jinping's trip to the UK in October.

But the proposed courses are unlikely to take off for at least one more year.

Even then with a hiatus of four to five years until the first "qualified" young entrepreneurial grads come into the market, a yawning skills gap will persist.

Within all these plans, there is still no word, however, on any formal vocational training or affordable professional advice, for those already in the workplace.

From what I have gathered, about the best available is word-of-mouth advice from friends, family or contacts involved in their own businesses.

In the UK, the complaints of startups are largely the other way around to what they are in China. Many complain there are too many services being offered, making the choice confusing.

City and regional chambers of commerce, government-funded local enterprises and incubators, organizations such as the Prince's Young Business Trust, accounting and law firms and banks, not to mention venture capitalists along with any number of private enterprise-funded startup schemes, jostle fiercely for the best ideas and minds.

No amount of government rhetoric will ever deliver the actual skills needed by the huge number of entrepreneurs China is now looking to create, of all ages.

What is needed is a well-funded, nationwide entrepreneurial advice framework or toolkit, if the country is genuinely serious about creating a startup-friendly society.

Source: China Daily