These are not necessarily sweet dreams, though,finding the right business partners and maintaining a decent grade point average while tending shop have surfaced as important issues for some student entrepreneurs.
Computer firm
Mr. Lee Chiu, a Year 4 physics student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, is co-owner of a computer company. Out of profound interest in computers, he first became a freelance programmer and later decided to establish his own firm. His initial capital investment was some $5,000 he earned by helping another company to write a computer program.
Mr. Lee's partner is an engineering student. They are the only staff, and they do all the work. "I have to buy hardware from wholesaling companies and design computer programs for our customers," said Mr. Lee.
He said the company's earnings fluctuate wildly."Our profit is not as stable as one might think. It ranges from $2,000 to $30,000 per month."Luckily, there is no such thing as overhead cost in our company, for we use my home address to register our company. In other words, we need not establish a `real' company, and the only investment is the money to buy hardware.
"Hence, the risk of running a company of this kind is actually very low," said Mr. Lee.
Besides money, Mr. Lee also receives invaluable experience that he cannot get at the University. This has helped him to build interpersonal communication skills and an understanding of the use of capital, he says.
He also has experienced some losses, however the most apparent being a drop in his grades at the University."I skipped 90 percent of my classes last year," said Mr. Lee.He suggested that he might not do this again if he were in a position to start over.
"If you are is not really in desperate need of money, do not follow my example," he said glumly.
The Yes Station
Of an entirely different nature from Mr. Lee's computer company, the Yes Station is a relatively new Hong Kong-based franchise selling photographs, posters and magazines of movie stars and pop singers. The franchise was founded by Mr. Ngai Tsan, who also founded Yes magazine.
Mr. Leo Li, a business student at The Chinese University, runs a Yes Station franchise with five partners. Of the six owners, five are business students, and only one has worked for any length of time.Setting up the franchise cost the six investors more than $100,000, and on Mr. Li's part, this meant his savings and borrowed money.
Though the partners are green at retailing, Mr. Li is confidently optimistic:"I really believe that we can make good progress in the coming years."Nowadays, children are quite fascinated by our main product -- sim kaat ('shiny cards', or cards depicting pop stars and comic heros that young people trade with one another).
We experienced our greatest profit on a day when a new category of shiny cards was for sale," he said.
Mr. Li's confidence is not groundless. He and his partners did a comprehensive market study before they started the business."When we went to other Yes Stations in different districts, there were always crowds of youngsters crammed into the shops.
"In fact, on the day of our grand opening, there were long queues of youngsters waiting to choose their favourite shiny cards. I can't believe how rich the kids are nowadays."Hence, I do not think there is any chance for our shop to experience a loss," said Mr. Li.
Nevertheless, the partners ran into a few problems in starting the shop.
"The main problem for us was to find the best location," said Mr. Li. "The site could not be too far from city centre, but we could not afford the rents in those prosperous areas. In addition, we didn't want the arcade that the shop was in to be an old one."It took the partners four months to find a site in Mong Kok. The bosses themselves worked out the design of the shop, and they started the business two months ago.
"We do not expect a net profit yet, as we need four months to recover our costs," he said.
Unlike Mr. Lee Chiu, the studies of Mr. Li have not been affected so far. On the contrary, running his own business is an excellent chance for him to apply knowledge learnt in school."I especially felt that my knowledge is useful and applicable to daily life when I had to bargain the rent with the landlord. You should never let a landlord know that you love his shop. By using this technique, we managed to bargain for a really nice rent," he said.
Running retail shops will probably become Mr. Li's career."We are now planning to open one more shop at Kwun Tong."I will definitely continue to run the shop because it is indeed a good chance to earn money. But I may as ll find a job, for the profits now cannot support me," he said.
Fashion boutique
For Miss Amy Leung, a fashion design student at Hong Kong Polytechnic, the prospect of setting up her own boutique filled her with excitement. When it failed, she was deeply disappointed.
Miss Leung's boutique was in the Beverly Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui. The Beverly Centre is well-known for its chic fashions and accessories.The setup costs were about $70,000.
"Due to the limited capital, the design and decoration of our boutique were very simple. We had only a display shelf for clothes, a fitting room and a little space for the cashier," said Miss Leung.The shop was run by Miss Leung and two Hong Kong Poly schoolmates."We used to design, make and sell dresses, and we bought clothes overseas and sold them in our shop. Sometimes, we also provided tailoring services.
Aside from a sense of satisfaction from running her own boutique, Miss Leung developed her creative abilities."By locating at the Beverly Centre, we could keep close contact with the trends in fashions, and this stimulated our creativity."
Though Miss Leung and her partners usually spent their spare time after school -- from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. -- managing the boutique, she admitted that "they would skip classes if there were too many job orders".Success, however, does not always come when one is ready for it: The boutique lasted only one year.
"Due to the lack of resources, we could not accept more than seven orders per month, and this meant that we could not cover our costs."In addition, there were differences in opinion among the partners that also contributed to the shop's demise.
"The main reason was that there were some internal problems in our boutique: Once your partner does not want to continue the business, the whole business will collapse."Miss Leung has learned this lesson:"When you want to start your own business, finding a suitable partner is of paramount importance."