Founded by a group of seasoned entrepreneurs and investors, Feimalv is one of the leading companies in China helping young people bring their innovative ideas to life

Feimalv founder Yuan Yue believes that the spirit of innovation needs to be inculcated in the young people of China today as this will benefit the progress of future generations. provided to china daily

He may be better known as the president of Horizon Research Consultancy Group, but Yuan Yue actually spends most of his time these days managing Feimalv, an organization he founded in 2011 that specializes in providing guidance to budding entrepreneurs and their startups.

Yuan views his role at Feimalv, known as Pegasus in English, as an extension of his previous role at Horizon Research, saying that he is merely using the research-based methods at the consultancy to help in his investments in young enterprises.

Throughout the past four years, Feimalv, which is considered a startup accelerator, has provided support to more than 150 entrepreneurs from dozens of startups all over the country, dispensing professional advice and helping them with funding.

The main difference between an accelerator and an incubator is that the former provides support for a shorter period, offers a specific amount of funding and usually owns a stake in the startups. In this case, Feimalv owns between 2 to 4 percent of the shares in the startups under it.

Startups are invited to present their products during what the company has referred to as "horse racing", in reference to the term Pegasus, which takes place twice a year. Those that make the cut are labeled as "star foals" and they will then be able to tap onto the resources of Yuan's organization.

Companies like Feimalv are becoming increasingly important these days as the number of young people starting their own businesses upon graduation has been on the rise in recent years. Statistics provided by consultancy MyCos Data show that 2.3 percent of new university graduates in 2013 chose to set up their own businesses, as compared to 2 percent in 2012 and 1.6 percent in 2011.

To support the ambitions of these young businessmen, China's Ministry of Education had in December 2014 encouraged universities in the country to set up flexible educational systems so that students can be allowed to suspend their studies in order to set up their own businesses.

This trend has gained much support from the central government as well. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has constantly encouraged young people to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit ever since he took office in 2012. He had also released an official statement during an executive meeting of the State Council in 2015 to reiterate this point.