Biting back with a spirit of enterprise

After spending five months looking for employment this year, Anna Wong Kuk-lan was on the brink of despair. The herbalist was reluctant to find work at another Chinese pharmacy - two she had worked for in the past year had closed - and she had few other job skills.

But then inspiration struck. Realising there were few beauticians with her knowledge of Chinese medicine, she decided to pick up new skills to give her that niche. Like many others who have found themselves without a job during the recession, the mother-of-two then started her own business.

Never having been self-employed before, she joined Christian Action's 'Spirit of Hong Kong' training programme, which offered professional advice for self-starters. Aiming to help the unemployed to help themselves, the non-profit organisation ran five courses to train participants wanting work in beauty care, neighbourhood child-care, tailoring and contract cleaning.

Of 800 applicants, 54 were selected for the programme and trained by professionals, who shared their business and organisational know-how and are to follow their students' progress over six months.

In August, two months after completing the programme, Ms Wong opened her own beauty parlour in Kwun Tong, using a 400-square-foot room in a medical clinic owned by a friend.

'I was quite sceptical when I heard that the course was offered free of charge, but it turned out to be much better than I expected,' she says.