Three undergraduate students from City University of Hong Kong, all from the College of Business, won the HSBC Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong) Scholarship, receiving HK$80,000 each for pursuing studies, internships, or activities that can help them fulfil their career aspirations in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The scholarship results were announced at the annual HSBC Scholars Day on 20 July 2021.

The scholarship is the first of its kind to help the younger generation gain real-life experience and prepare for careers in the fast-growing GBA. This year, 35 students from 10 universities and tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have been awarded the Scholarship. In addition to the funding, awardees will be offered mentorship opportunities with HSBC executives and networking events with leaders in financial services in the GBA to broaden their social and professional circles.

Awardee Tommy Tang Man-chung, a year 4 student studying BBA Finance thinks that the GBA is the main economic growth engine in Mainland China. He plans to establish his asset management firm in the GBA in the future, with focuses on green energy and innovation technology. “I will take the CFA and FRM examinations and contribute back to the HSBC scholars community where I can equip myself with the soft and technical skill, expand my professional network, and get inspired by innovative ideas,” he added.  

Another awardee Austin Lo Wing-hei, year 3 student of BBA Global Business Systems Management, said, “This scholarship is the best encouragement and recognition of my dedication to develop my Fintech start-up in the GBA. I plan to use the scholarship to pursue professional development particularly in the green finance field, I will also pursue qualifications such as FRM and CFA. Part of the money will be spent on initialising my start-up in Shenzhen.”

Lai Ho-ching, also a year 3 students of BBA Global Business Systems Management, shared that she gained deeper understanding of Chinese cultural and technology development through study tour, internship and exchange experience in China. She said, “The GBA has an enormous potential as cities in the region can support and complement one other. I plan to pursue a master's degree in geoinformation science or cultural management in the future, and to acquire professional knowledge in smart city and cultural development.”

Aiming at arousing interests in blockchain development and nurturing local young talents for the FinTech employment market, supported by HSBC, City University of Hong Kong and its strategic partner Hong Kong Blockchain Society organised the Hong Kong Blockchain Olympiad (HKBCOL) 2021.

Before the competition, trainings were given to 4,571 post-secondary students from colleges and universities across Hong Kong, to learn about blockchain from technological and cryptographic fundamentals to architecture and solution design.

Over 100 of participants from various tertiary institutions formed 39 teams and submitted project proposals, 13 teams were selected for a grand final on 19 June 2021.

Speaking at the final competition, Professor Stephen Shum, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programmes) of College of Business said, “Blockchain is an important factor in driving business processes. For the new normal of business education, CityU has incorporated data-driven business modeling, business programming, case analysis and business management into our leading-edge BBA curriculum to fit the business needs. As a goal of CityU and this competition, we wish to build students’ passion in business and technology.”

In his remarks, Dr Lawrence Ma, President of Hong Kong Blockchain Society, said the biggest challenge in blockchain development is lack of good talents in the field, not only talents from technology, but also from business and legal. “Technology is probably half of the blockchain infrastructure, the other half would need to build the governance and business use case which requires talents who know technology, compliance and business. I am really glad to see that some of the student project ideas have actually included all three of these core components,” he added.

The Gold and the Best Prototype awards went to team members of Infi.io, Adam Tung and Joey Wong, both of them are studying BBA Global Business System Management at CityU. The team proposed a blockchain-based, end-to-end issuance and trading platform for mini project bonds from developing countries. By making project bonds more accessible, the platform would help infrastructure developers to receive more liquidity in project finance, narrowing the wide infrastructure gap in major emerging economies. 

"While we are delighted with our achievement in this great competition, what made us felt thrilled was the learning opportunity itself — which allowed us to gain a deeper understanding on blockchain, to present our solution to a group of knowledgeable judges, and to learn some exciting ideas from other teams," said Adam from the winning team.

HKBCOL was supported by HSBC and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.

William Chiu, Global Head of Future Skills, Group Corporate Sustainability of HSBC, remarked in his speech, “This is the second year for HSBC supporting the HKBCOL. By this, HSBC wants to promote the innovative application of future skills into problem solving, in solving real life problems, and in bringing positive impacts to the economy and society.” He also encouraged participating students to realise their ambition, “Keep improving your idea, talk to others, to find more support and guidance, perhaps these ideas may become reality in the near future. By supporting this competition, HSBC is committed to providing a platform where you can shine and to connect with peers and professionals who can help you move your project forward.”

To learn more about HKBCOL, please visit website.

Winning teams of HKBCOL 2021

SIU Long In Kelvin, a 2019 GBSM graduate, is obviously an advocate in continuous learning. Despite his extremely heavy workload in one of the Big 4 accounting firms, he has been studying for professional exams in different areas to enrich his professional knowledge and skills. In a year’s time, he has successfully passed a stunning 14 professional exams – CISA, CRISC, OSCP, Google Cloud, AWS Cloud..… just to name a few.