Start-up Trial Fund (STF)

About the “Start-up Trial Fund" (STF) 

Trial-and-error is a continuous process of doing a start-up. It is crucial to learn quick from failures and make a pivot. Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI) is offering a subsidy to encourage and support students to make a prototype and test their business ideas before they advance their steps in the entrepreneurial journey. The subsidy could be used to cover direct expenses incurred in an early stage project which aims to test ideas or business strategies before students applying for other start-up funding or participating in start-up competitions. 

 

How Is It Different From Other Funding Opportunities? 

The STF aims to provide a small scale of funding for students to do a quick idea testing and gather customers feedback for polishing their business models. The plan for prototype making and testing should be concrete within a specific timeframe, usually not longer than 3 months. Examples for the usage of the fund include organizing a trial workshop or launching trial products for market testing and user feedback.  

 

Amount of Subsidy 

The maximum amount of subsidy is HKD5,000. Student team who has successfully applied for Innovation and Impact Fund (IIF) or Students Entrepreneurial Exploration Development (SEED) Fund will not be considered for this subsidy. 

 

Application Procedure 

• Students shall submit the "Application for the Start-up Trial Fund” Form via email to lei@ln.edu.hk with an email title as “(your name) _Application for Start-up Trial Fund”. 
• Applications are open all year round.  
• An interview may be arranged for the selection. 

 

Eligibility 

• Current Lingnan undergraduate students of all years and disciplines are welcome. 
• The project must be led by at least one full-time LU undergraduate student as Project Leader (PL). 
• The PL may invite alumni and external experts to join the project team. 

 

Payment Process 

• The amount of subsidy will be provided on a reimbursement basis. 
• Students should provide the original copy of receipts and relevant supporting document(s) for reimbursement. 

 

Commitment of Students 

• Students who receive the subsidy should commit to start the business trial as planned. 
• Students should submit a report regarding the feedbacks/ results of the trial scheme within one month after the end of the funding period.     

 

Other Support 

LEI is committed to provide extensive entrepreneurial support to students for starting their business. The I&E toolkit has listed out the various types of training offered to students at the pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration stage. Students could contact LEI staff for specific training, assistance and consultation regarding their business development.  

For Inquiries, please drop us the email at lei@ln.edu.hk.