A person in charge of the second Shanhe Program youth social entrepreneurship competition speaks at its launch ceremony in Ningbo College of Health Sciences on March 6. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

The second Shanhe Program youth social entrepreneurship competition was launched at the Ningbo College of Health Sciences (NCHS) in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on March 6. 

Social entrepreneurship is a new concept of starting businesses that pursues not only economic returns but also public benefits.

Representatives from the Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, organizer of the first Shanhe Program, described the previous competition's results, and NCHS representatives introduced this year's competition. 

An alliance for supporting social entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in Ningbo, was also established at the launch ceremony, with many famous local philanthropic foundations as its members, such as the Yinzhou Bank Philanthropic Foundation and the Ningbo Shanyuan Philanthropic Foundation. 

"The program provides a good opportunity for college students to polish their skills and pursue their dreams," said Lin Wanyu, a teacher from NCHS.

"The program is the first social entrepreneurship competition that we have participated in, and we have learnt from it that charity must not remain as an idea, but needs to be put into practice. We hope to do all we can to help as many people as possible," said Jiang Huiqiang, a student from NCHS who competed in the first Shanhe Program in 2017.