Liangjiang micro-companies cooperate in cultural industry

The Chongqing Jiuge Art Design Company is working for a bigger share of the creativity market in Chongqing, Liangjiang.gov.cn reported on Sept 1.

Wen Yu, the founder of Jiuge Art Design, a start-up company focusing on the brand design. [Photo from Liangjiang.gov.cn]

Founded on Dec 17, 2013, Chongqing Jiuge Art Design works in brand design and artistic space. "Two years ago, I reached a bottleneck in my career, but a chat with two friends solved my problem completely, " said founding partner Wen Yu.

Chongqing Jiuge Art Design is composed of three micro companies. Before starting the cluster, Wen Yu ran an artware company; Hu Yin owned a dress design studio; and Chen Jie was working on Dragon Embroidery.

They met each other at an event held by a microcompanies' association and decided to cooperate on a new startup. Chen Jie is in charge of sales for his sensitivity of markets.Hu Yin and Wen Yu are responsible for designing and researching the products to fully realize their potential.

According to experts , there are three requirements for successful micro-companies . First, their products must be unique and hard to duplicatd. Second, entrepreneurs must choose a market segment where high technology is needed. Third, the start-ups must have staff with high creative and management potential.

After forming the new company, they decided to step into the tourism market. They designed numerous tourism products including 3D paper cuttings, , a travel map for the Black Mountain Valley and Postcards Of Anju Ancient Town. These designs were popular among tourists and turnover increased as a result.

Starting end of 2014, the company expanded its business to include brand design, artistic space design and Interior Design. This move gave Jiuge new opportunities and won big orders from the government. Turnover for the entire year is expected to reach 1.5 million yuan ($236,100).

As early as June, 2010, Chongqing Municipal Government launched several fiscal, revenue and financial policies to support micro-companies' development. In November, 2011, the Municipal Industrial and Business Bureau launched 22 new policies to support cultural start-ups, including flexible registration and governmental guidance.

Like many companies, Jiuge Art Design Company has benefited from the park's favorable policies, including a one year exemption of rental fees and subsidies on exhibition, trademark and government purchases.

"Our business is much better thanks the favorable government policies . We are considering entering the Chongqing Creativity Park in Liangjiang New Area, " said Wen Yu about his plan for the company.

Liangjiang New Area is expected to to continue launching favorable policies such as lowering the admission threshold for the creativity market, encourage innovation, help companies with financing and funding, , and improve public services.

Edited by Andrew Ancheta