Closer integration and brighter outlook: A mainlander's entrepreneurial story in Macao
- By Wang Yiming
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 20, 2019
In Macao, if you want to order a pork chop bun for delivery, search for discount coupons of a hair salon or find rooms for rent, many locals would recommend AOMI, a mobile app similar to a combination of the services offered by Groupon, Grubhub and Yelp and others.
This local all-in-one app, which has captured nearly 95% of the local market share with the annual transaction volume topping 437 million yuan, was launched by an internet start-up founded by a mainland entrepreneur in 2016.
The founder and CEO of AOMI, is Jiang Haitao. Born in a rural village of Jiangsu province, Jiang won a full scholarship from the Macau University of Science and Technology in 2003. Full of curiosity and expectations, he went to Macao to receive his higher education.
He says: "The universities in Macao have a welcoming and open atmosphere and the social environment is very inclusive. I perceive this valuable academic experience as opportunities for my personal growth."
After earning his MBA from the University of Macau, he chose to stay in the city. At the age of 26, the adventurous young man made the choice to leave his well-paid bank job and dived headfirst into entrepreneurship.
At that time, internet companies were growing by leaps and bounds and the startup industry was booming across the mainland. Meituan, China's Groupon and the Yelp-like Dianping merged in 2015, becoming the dominant player in online-to-offline (O2O) services such as delivering food, finding deals and buying coupons.
The successful experience of Meituan Dianping in the mainland business sector inspired Jiang Haitao. There was no such one-stop "everything-you-need app" in Macao at the time. "At first, we were the only partner of Meituan Dianping in Macao. Then, I came up with the idea of making a more localized Macao super app, settling all the daily-life needs from food and drinks to entertainment and providing more discounts for local people," Jiang recalled in describing how he started AOMI.
"The core team members once lived both in the mainland and Macao, so we have tested experience to follow and at the same time we know the local conditions as well," said Jiang, while explaining the competitive advantage of AOMI.
One year after its launch in June 2016, it became the top ranked app on the Apple store. This year, it is said to have 240, 000 monthly active users with annual revenue reaching 85.5 million yuan.
Speaking of the fast-growing business, Jiang expressed his appreciation for the support and preferential policies provided by the Macao SAR government and government of the neighboring Zhuhai city in Guangdong province.
"Macao Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre offered office space for us and we receive professional consulting, training and guidance there," Jiang said.
"Macao has a relatively small population, and suffered from a lack of professional internet talents. With Zhuhai, especially the Hengqin district government, offering solid support for entrepreneurs, we decided to put our R&D center and customer service department in Hengqin."
At the Macao-Zhuhai Entrepreneur Summit held in October 2019, AOMI, as a Zhuhai-Macao cooperation project, gained five million yuan of investment from Hengqin Financial Investment Group Co., Ltd.
AOMI is not the only case. In recent years, the cooperation and ties between Macao and the mainland are closer than ever, with a growing flow of people and capital.
Taking Macao and Zhuhai for example, according to the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province, as of Dec. 16, the number of Macao companies registered in Hengqin grew from five a decade ago to 2,157 in 2019; total investment of Macao companies in Hengqin reached US$18.83 billion.
"Generally speaking, I think the business and entrepreneurial environment in Macao is favorable. The Macao SAR government issued many preferential policies for entrepreneurs and startups, following the central government's guidance," Jiang said, "We are confident of the prospects of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and we hope that it will facilitate the efficient flow of people, goods, capital and information among Macao and the other cities in GBA."
This year marked the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. Over the past two decades, the cooperation and integration of the special administrative region and the mainland has been strengthened. Under the "one country, two systems" principle, the Macao SAR has achieved robust economic growth and maintained stability.
"On the 20th anniversary, we are looking back on a phase of much achievement and looking forward to the future. I believe a new and more promising stage of Macao still lies ahead," Jiang Haitao said with confidence.
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