The majority of young Taiwanese remain interested in running their own business as a career option, according to an annual survey by 1111 Job Bank, with the results similar to last year’s findings.
The poll found that more than 76 percent of young Taiwanese have either already started their own business or would like to do so, a slight increase from 75 percent last year.
The food industry was the most popular choice, with nearly 91 percent of respondents who indicated they wanted to run their own business saying that they are interested in selling street food or local dishes, while 20 percent said they want to open a restaurant or dessert shop, and nearly 18 percent showed interest in a brunch cafe.
However, while most young Taiwanese find entrepreneurship an attractive option, only a small percentage are actually in business (4.46 percent), have tried it before (3.18 percent), or are about to do so (7 percent), the poll showed.
The survey found that 61.46 percent of those interested in starting their own business have not yet put their ideas into action, while 60 percent who have tried failed to turn a profit.
In terms of start-up investment, young Taiwanese have put an average of NT$633,500 into their own business, with 78 percent raising their own funds, while 24 percent were funded by family and friends, and 27 percent took out loans from the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, the poll found.
Most young people are interested in entrepreneurship because they think it will bring self-satisfaction and a higher-than-average income, it showed.
The survey found that 55.6 percent of young Taiwanese who run a successful business earn an average of just more than NT$50,000 per month.
Entrepreneurship is a popular idea among new graduates in Taiwan, because they are unlikely to earn more than NT$31,103 per month in a regular job, 1111 Job Bank vice president Ho Chi-sheng (何啟聖) said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai