Tasly Pharmaceutical : Global Youth Entrepreneurship & Innovation Campaign Malaysia Officially Launched (2014-04-11)

The Global Youth Entrepreneurship & Innovation Campaign Malaysia, which was hosted by Pertubuhan Gerakan Belia Bersatu Malaysia and Malaysian Association of China Students Alumni and sponsored by Tasly Pharmaceutical International, was officially launched at a news conference in the Westin Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on the morning of 20 March in the presence of Journalists from dozens of local media, including Chinese media like China News Servive, Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau (Nanyang Business Daily) and China Press, as well as English and Malay media such as Star and Utusan Malaysia (Malaysian Courier).

The news conference was started with a blessing to the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, which showed Tasly's close attention to the local society and public welfare. Afterwards Mr. Liu Yongda, chairman of Pertubuhan Gerakan Belia Bersatu Malaysia, and Mr. Huang Bin, chairman of the Malaysian.

Association of China Students Alumni, respectively on behalf of the hosting parties, made an introduction to the details of the campaign, which was followed by a speech of Dato' Sri Michael Chong, a director of Tasly Malaysia. The director highly praised the campaign and suggested that media and government agencies pay attention to the desires of young people and support this campaign. Finally, Mr. Alex Zhang, sales director of Tasly International, delivered a brief speech on behalf of the sponsor. Giving a brief introduction to Tasly Holding Group, the sales director said that Tasly, which had been engaging in public welfare for years to reward the local society, would involve itself in activities related to youth entrepreneurship as it had done, build the campaign into a brand and replicate it fully in other countries of Tasly's presence. During the last segment of the news conference, the hosting parties and planners gave detailed answers to the questions raised by reporters, like the means of participation and enrolment and any limitations on business planning.

In the talks after the news conference which lasted more than one hour, reporters commented that Tasly's great attention to public welfare and to the aspirations of young Malaysians and its initiative to undertake international social responsibility left them the image of a responsible MNC. Many reps of young teams present, greatly interested in the campaign, proposed immediate enrolment, saying that the campaign was so fit for their need that they would spread the news of the campaign to attract more young people to get involved in starting a business.

Youth is the most energetic group crucial to the future of any nationality or nation. Youth is indispensable to the independence, growth and prosperity of a nation. The world is undergoing an age featuring thriving new economies and drastically growing information technology, which provide unprecedented opportunities and conditions for young people to put their creativity into practice and start a business of their own as demonstrated by the quick success of companies like Facebook. Nevertheless, many innovative ideas are restrained from turning into successful businesses and considerable creative endeavors are stifled in the cradle due to lack of funds, absence of management experience or shortness of the understanding of business operations. Caring about youth, giving attention to young people's needs, helping young people in starting a business and fulfilling international corporate social responsibility to increase the brand impact among youth is the common awareness of all transnational corporations. It was in consideration of this that Tasly launched the campaign in 2014.

For Tasly, 2014 is a special year, which marks the 20th anniversary of Tasly Holding Group, the 10th birthday of Tasly Malaysia and the 40th year as of the establishment of Sino-Malaysian diplomatic relations. Considering the above, Tasly decided to hold the first Global Youth Entrepreneurship & Innovation Campaign in Malaysia. To stress the public welfare orientation while weakening the commerciality, Tasly, as the sponsor, worked with the hosts, the largest youth associations in Malaysia Pertubuhan Gerakan Belia Bersatu Malaysia and Malaysian Association of China Students Alumni, to advertise and carry out the campaign.

The campaign would be carried out to select several novel and quite feasible business plans proposed by devoted teams composed of young people below 35, provide them with part of the startup funds, and give winning teams business support afterwards. The campaign covers not only Chinese, but other major ethnic groups in Malaysia like Malay and Indian. Furthermore, winning teams would be offered job opportunities at Tasly Malaysia and Tasly headquarters as per their qualities.

The campaign, which is expected to last 4-5 months, consists of three stages. In the first stage preparations will be completed. Publicity and enrollment events will be held at 15 public and private colleges by the two hosts to solicit business plans. In the second stage initial screening will be performed. The top 10 teams which pass the initial screening and preliminary will have access to the final. In the third stage the final will be held. The 10 teams present their business plans and answer questions raised by a panel of five experts in different fields. The top 3 teams are to be selected and be granted funds by Tasly for business startup. Meanwhile, individuals who deliver the best performance will be awarded job opportunities to work at Tasly.

The campaign, once launched, aroused enthusiastic responses among the media. The news about the press conference was released by the official social networking platform of both hosts as soon as two hours after the press conference. China News Service published a report, which was reproduced by more than 10 domestic and foreign media, including Xinhua news agency, people.cn, Ifeng.com, Sina, Sohu and NetEase. Formally opened with the press conference as a public welfare-oriented program, the campaign was intended to polish the positive brand image of Tasly, increase the brand value of Tasly, and foster the structural reform of Tasly's international marketing team.

The two youth organizations will step in local campuses and communities next week to publicize the campaign and solicit business plans. Tasly's official media will follow and report the entire process.