The Beihai Federation of Industry and Commerce in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been focusing on the core theme of promoting the "health of both the enterprise and the entrepreneur" this year. It has targeted the major pain points faced by small, medium, and micro enterprises in their digital transformation journey, such as high costs, lack of technical expertise, shortage of talent, and weak returns on investment. To address these challenges, the federation has pioneered a new service model that integrates industry and education. By establishing a precise platform for connecting enterprises and educational institutions, it aims to create a complete chain that encompasses talent cultivation, technological empowerment, cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and industrial upgrading. This initiative is designed to help private enterprises overcome the hurdles of digital transformation and inject new momentum into the high-quality development of the private economy.
While the digital economy serves as a crucial lever for enhancing the quality and efficiency of the real economy, small and micro enterprises in Beihai commonly face a shortage of dedicated personnel for new media operations. There is a widespread lack of professional capabilities in areas like short-video production and live-stream marketing, leading to minimal online exposure and narrow customer acquisition channels. Some companies are forced to outsource their online promotion at high costs, resulting in significant transformation investments with poor conversion rates. The issues of "fear of transforming, inability to transform, and unaffordability of transformation" are prominent. Concurrently, local vocational colleges possess high-quality faculty, student teams, and comprehensive practical training facilities but lack real-world, market-driven operational scenarios. This disconnect means that talent cultivation often does not align with the actual operational needs of businesses. To tackle the mismatch between the supply from educational institutions and the demand from enterprises, the Beihai Federation of Industry and Commerce has proactively shifted away from traditional service approaches. It is coordinating resources from industry associations, vocational colleges, and private enterprises, actively promoting a shift in school-enterprise cooperation from superficial discussions to substantive, empowering projects. This effort is building a new service framework characterized by "the federation providing the platform, schools and enterprises collaborating, private businesses reducing burdens and increasing income, and the industry enhancing quality and efficiency."
Facilitated and coordinated by the federation, the Beihai Small and Micro Enterprise Investment Development Promotion Association, in mid-May, jointly organized a tripartite discussion involving government, enterprises, and the Beihai Health and Wellness Vocational College. The talks centered on key topics such as self-media operations, brand building, e-commerce traffic monetization, and joint talent cultivation. Both parties introduced integrated digital services covering account setup, content operation and maintenance, short-video production, and live-stream commerce. They innovatively launched three cooperation models: customized talent cultivation, integrated internships and employment, and the "production within the school, school within the production" concept. These models are designed to precisely address enterprises' development challenges of talent and technology shortages and high operational costs. Several concrete cooperation intentions were reached on the spot, achieving efficient matching of talent, technology, and market resources.
Building on the consensus from these discussions, the school and enterprises jointly launched a public welfare practical training course for self-media operations at the end of May. This became the first service vehicle for the federation's digital assistance initiative for enterprises. The training moved away from abstract theory, tightly focusing on the business needs of increasing revenue. It offered practical courses in account positioning, content planning, editing hands-on practice, traffic conversion, and live-stream monetization. Employing an immersive teaching model of "theory + case studies + practical operation," the course was offered free of charge to operators of small, medium, and micro enterprises, ensuring that the skills learned could be immediately applied. This inaugural training session, which lasted over a month, was recently successfully completed.
It is reported that the first training cohort attracted 43 participants, with ages ranging from 24 to 60, covering industries such as home furnishings, building materials, catering, and commerce. Through systematic, practical learning, the trainees mastered hands-on skills including short-video production, account operation and maintenance, traffic and customer acquisition, online client expansion, and live-stream sales. This has helped enterprises save on brand promotion and online operational expenses, with individual companies potentially reducing their annual digital promotion costs by tens of thousands of yuan. Many participating businesses have opened up new online revenue channels, independently built online promotional matrices, and seen continuous increases in brand exposure and customer inquiries, leading to a steady rise in overall operating profit margins. Simultaneously, students have been able to hone their professional skills and address gaps in practical training by engaging with real business scenarios, achieving a win-win outcome where enterprises reduce costs and increase income while students gain practical experience and professional growth.
Moving forward, the Beihai Federation of Industry and Commerce plans to amplify the demonstrative effect of this school-enterprise cooperation. It will integrate the industry-education collaboration and digital assistance initiatives into its regular service system. The federation will routinely conduct specialized services such as digital skills training, talent matching, and enterprise brand cultivation. These efforts will continue to help private enterprises lower the barriers to digital transformation, explore new revenue opportunities within the digital economy, guide businesses to deepen their focus on core operations and innovate in management. The overarching goal is to continuously expand the scale of the private economy, elevate the level of industrial development, and contribute to the high-quality economic and social development of Beihai City.
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