The Young Marco Polo Programme (YMP)

The Young Marco Polo Accelerator programme (YMP) is an accelerator for the right pioneers, currently bright and engaged university students -- bachelor’s, master's, and postgraduates. This programme is an intricate part of OASA's Mission. It aims to accelerate bright talents to help demonstrate new use cases to businesses, enabling companies to sell their products and services outside Hong Kong. Through this program, OASA is working with universities and businesses that have the vision to win and invest in their young leaders for the future, leveraging on the Space Economy platform. Helping to identify and find new customer segments is the aim of this programme for the companies. While to ignite the entrepreneurial mindset of the young by putting them into a real business doing real work is the aim for the students and universities,

OASA has developed this Astropreneur Young Marco Polo Programme specifically to address current needs to harness the new digital and Space Economy. The programme is a unique and proprietary leadership development programme for students and businesses entering the complex realm of new market acquisition in a VUCA2 ) world. This program provides an action-learning leadership and market development path that ranges from 3 months to 5 months (depending on the length of the academic semesters at the university.)

Why are we doing this? OASA would like to see how it is possible to create the new specifications and connectivity for a few trade highways in the sky as the Space Economy begins to form. The Space Economy has arrived following the establishment and the prevalence of the Digital Economy, the Belt and Road Initiative, and of course, the arrival of the New Space. Hong Kong, being an entrepreneurial centre of the world, can be at the heart of the NewSpace economy.

• One Process, Three Stages, and Seven Elements over One Semester
• The Young Marco Polo Program involves 5 parties linked together by OASA:
• This University,
• The Company (SME, NGO, or MNCs),
• The students, the challenge or problem-to-be-solved proposed by the executive of the Company,
• Theglobalmentors(global executives, scientists, government institutes, and international organisations such as the UN.) Representatives from each party act as judges. Partners such as ASTRI, Cyberport, HKPC, HKTDC, are connected through OASA.
• OASA HQS and OASA Interns
• The Young Marco Polo Program is administered by students, guided by older students interned at OASA, and powered by OASA headquartered in Hong Kong. OASA provides overall coordination, competency workshop, project overview and continuous quality improvements, new business and science know-how, and links to incubators and accelerators.

• All disciplines are welcomed but lazy students please do not apply.
• All bachelor/ Master/Ph.D. students are welcomed
• Ready for challenges, work in demanding teams, and learn to deliver real work.
• Proactive, self-motivated, self-starters only. 
• Responsible, accountable, willing to explore and work long hours on a team, and enjoying every moment of creation.

• YMP will conduct in a hybrid and flexible way (both online and offline meetings are required)
  • Online: Weekly meeting
  • Offline: Training workshop (once a month at OASA)
  • The special arrangements may adopt due to the circumstances, e.g. COVID-19 and bad weather.
• Students may spend around 8 hours/ week remotely.  Weak students may require much longer hours.  Using a professional as a guide, each professional would aim to spend 4 hours while depending on experience and maturity, a student may take five times as long. 
• Project duration: 3 months.  Start-ups may live or perish with your input. 

• Solve a real business problem with guidance and mentorship

• Train yourself to be an entrepreneur or intrapreneur, a troubleshooter of many interconnected problems.

• Set up a living project plan with weekly updates

• Prepare a plan of next steps to include suggestions for entries into which of the appropriate accelerator programs are currently available in the market today

• Prepare a presentation to the Client Company and ideally to the venture board of a university

• Set a set of semi-structured questions for interviews.

• Set a list of potential customers to interview or focus groups

• Create a shortlist of user preferences and triggers leading to a purchase

• Create a slogan or tagline for the new business

• Conduct a Market Sizing Study of the Total Accessible Market (TAM), the Service Addressable Market (SAM), and the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM); and 2% of SOM estimates

• Understand the link of the Business Canvas to one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs and to the Consumer Council Box

• Create a Lean Business Canvas