Chinese electronics retailer Suning has signed an agreement with three universities in Beijing to be their designated entrepreneurial base to aid university students seeking to create micro-enterprises.
The three universities involved are Beijing Forestry University, China University of Political Science and Law, and Beijing Normal University. Under the agreement, Suning will provide 600 internship positions and 30 entrepreneurial micro-enterprise opportunities to students of these three universities in the next two years.
According to Fan Zhijun, management and executive president for Suning North China, Suning will set up 30 areas with space of 10 square meters for each in its retail stores in Beijing, allowing these students to open their own businesses such as water bars or flower shops. These areas will be exempt from leasing fees in the first six months.
Fan said it has been seven years since Suning entered the Beijing market and the company decided to support the employment of university graduates to celebrate this moment.
Previous statistics provided by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences show that about 1.5 million university graduates had difficulties in finding jobs in 2008 and new graduates this year would join the job seeking group, making the employment demands reach 6.1 million positions.