Air Corporate data reveals 9 in 10 founders incorporated in Hong Kong do so remotely, driven by a 20% surge in Middle Eastern entrepreneurs seeking cost-effective operational alternatives to Dubai.
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 15 May 2026 - Air Corporate registered a 40.5% increase in Hong Kong incorporations in 2025, with the first quarter of 2026 already up 48% year-over-year. This data indicates that Hong Kong is reasserting itself as the leading Asian jurisdiction for company formation, fueled by a new wave of remote founders from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.
The prevailing narrative over the past five years suggested that Singapore was eclipsing Hong Kong; however, recent incorporation volumes challenge this. According to city-wide official figures cited by Vivian, Founder of Air Corporate, approximately 195,000 companies were registered in Hong Kong in 2025, compared to around 77,000 in Singapore.
"There was a lot of fuss about Singapore taking over Hong Kong as preferred jurisdiction over the last few years, but for 2025 alone, around 195,000 companies were formed in HK, vs around 77,000 for Singapore," said Vivian. While city-wide registrations rose roughly 35% in 2025, incorporations at Air Corporate specifically grew by 40.5%. Vivian added, "With a 35% increase in the number of companies registered in 2025, Hong Kong is definitely back in the game as the top jurisdiction to start a company."
The reality of Hong Kong company formation is increasingly global, lean, and founder-led. Nine in ten founders incorporated in Hong Kong with Air Corporate do not live there.
Key demographic and operational insights from Air Corporate's client base include:
- Approximately 90% of founders operate remotely from abroad, while 10% or less are based in Hong Kong.
- Entrepreneurs aged 35 to 44 represent the largest age cohort at 38%, demonstrating that Hong Kong attracts founders in their prime career years rather than just younger digital nomads.
- Serial entrepreneurs make up 60% of Air Corporate's client mix, utilizing Hong Kong as an operational base for multiple companies, while first-time founders account for the remaining 40%.
- A total of 89% of new companies are launched by solo founders (58%) or small teams of two to five individuals (31%).
- Mainland China, Hong Kong, Turkey, India, the UAE, Australia, France, and Morocco rank among the top source markets for these founders.
Furthermore, 73% of new Hong Kong incorporations are directly tied to physical goods trade with China. This consists of e-commerce and dropshipping businesses (38%) and the trading of goods (35%). The recovery of in-person trade flows, including events, such as the Canton Fair and various industrial fairs, is pulling foreign founders back into the Greater China orbit and establishing Hong Kong as the natural entry point and financial layer over the world's largest manufacturing base.
Air Corporate's data recorded a 20% year-over-year growth in founders originating from the Middle East. This shift highlights a reverse migration where founders previously incorporated in Dubai are now choosing Hong Kong. Based on Vivian's observations, founders often arrive in Dubai expecting fast incorporation and low costs, but discover that incorporation and maintenance are significantly more expensive than in Hong Kong, and banking remains difficult. Consequently, many founders move to Hong Kong after 12 to 24 months in the UAE, a trend accelerated by the Hong Kong government's strategic outreach to the region.
For lean, remote-first businesses, speed-to-market is a critical factor. A founder located anywhere in the world can incorporate in Hong Kong and open a working bank account in approximately 7 days using digital banking partners. Currently, 90% of Air Corporate's clients utilize these digital banking partners.
"Hong Kong and Singapore are the only places in Asia where you can set up your company, get a corporate account, and be in business in less than a week," concluded Vivian.
Air Corporate is a service provider facilitating company formation and incorporation in Hong Kong for serial entrepreneurs, first-time founders, and remote-first business owners operating globally.
Media Inquiries
To learn more about Hong Kong company formation, visit Air Corporate’s website or contact their team directly.
Hashtag: #AirCorporate
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Code4Mzansi highlights the growing strength of South Africa’s developer ecosystem and the role of youth-led innovation in shaping the country’s digital future
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 May 2026 - South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy.
The winners at the Huawei Developer Competition, Code4Mzansi The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. "The Code4Mzansi competition is not just a celebration of achievement, it is a launchpad for the future," said Minister Stella Ndabeni, whose department co-hosted the event and delivered the closing address.
The finals revealed a clear shift from building abstract digital products to practical tools that help small businesses trade better, communities access services more easily, and local industries solve problems faster.
Four finalist teams focused directly on the township economy, with solutions covering food safety verification for spaza shops, offline point-of-sale systems built for load-shedding, WhatsApp-native marketplaces for informal retailers, and community credit systems for SASSA grant recipients.
Others addressed AI-driven healthcare access, electricity theft detection, smart agriculture, financial infrastructure for the creator economy, and AI-generated African music.
Held at Huawei Office Park in Woodmead, the finals brought together more than 100 attendees, including government representatives, academic partners, industry leaders and media.
"The quality of the finalist solutions demonstrated the potential of local innovation to respond to real market needs," said Steven Chen, Cloud CEO of Huawei Technologies South Africa.
Academic partners included the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and technology is their greatest accelerator. The participants here today are future entrepreneurs who will drive South Africa's digital economy forward," said Professor Thokozani Shongwe, Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Industry partner rain also attended. Leon Nortje, Principal and Senior Architect at rain, said the competition offered a strong view of the country’s emerging technology pipeline.
"It is always good to see new projects and new teams working on solutions that are valuable and industry-related. We will be looking out for potential new employees," said Nortje.
The winners
The finalists competed for a prize pool of R800,000. MAAT by SIMVAK was named the overall grand winner and received the Business Value Award, taking home R300,000. The platform addresses food safety and regulatory compliance in South Africa’s informal retail sector through AI agents, real-time product recall alerts, and counterfeit detection for the spaza shop ecosystem.
"The spaza network is the supply chain for most South African households," said SIMVAK founder Shingirayi Mandebvu.
HealthHive by FTCK received second prize in the Business Value Award category, taking home R200,000, for its AI telemedicine platform that matches patients with the right medical practitioners based on their symptoms.
Auraa received the Grand Innovation Award for its AI music engine built to generate authentic African sound. The platform has been associated with an album that has crossed one million streams.
The Future Star Award went to e-Khadi, a community credit and stokvel platform giving SASSA grant recipients access to essentials at their local spaza shops, supported by AI-assisted credit scoring and fraud detection.
The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public on Huawei’s social media channels, went to DevRift, a semi-finalist in the competition, who took home R100,000.
Minister Ndabeni delivered the closing address, positioning Code4Mzansi within the government’s agenda for youth entrepreneurship, small business development and digital inclusion.
"Our task is to ensure that innovation does not remain a moment of applause, but becomes a pathway to enterprise creation, digital inclusion, and sustainable growth," she said.
"Thank you to Huawei for being a perfect partner on the journey that we are travelling, and of course, those that matter most, the developers who dared to compete," she said.
Code4Mzansi forms part of the global Huawei Cloud Developer Competition. In its inaugural edition, South Africa attracted more participants than any other country: 1,041 across 353 teams, including 176 enterprise teams, resulting in the highest enterprise participation rate among all competing markets. Twenty semi-finalists were selected before the top nine advanced to the final.
For the finalists, the work is just beginning. As Minister Ndabeni said, "Go home today proud. But tomorrow, wake up, build again."
Hashtag: #Huawei #Code4Mzansi #SouthAfrica
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Huawei
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With 213,000 employees operating in over 170 countries, we serve more than three billion people worldwide.
Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei generated CNY880.9 billion in revenue, reinvesting 21.8% (CNY192.3 billion) into R&D, with about 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company fully owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create lasting value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:
http://www.huawei.com/za/
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Media OutReach Newswire - 26 May 2026 - South Africa’s emerging developers are building close to the ground, with many of the strongest solutions at the inaugural Huawei Code4Mzansi finals focused on systems people use every day: township retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, payments and the creative economy.
The winners at the Huawei Developer Competition, Code4Mzansi
The competition was held in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. "The Code4Mzansi competition is not just a celebration of achievement, it is a launchpad for the future," said Minister Stella Ndabeni, whose department co-hosted the event and delivered the closing address.
The finals revealed a clear shift from building abstract digital products to practical tools that help small businesses trade better, communities access services more easily, and local industries solve problems faster.
Four finalist teams focused directly on the township economy, with solutions covering food safety verification for spaza shops, offline point-of-sale systems built for load-shedding, WhatsApp-native marketplaces for informal retailers, and community credit systems for SASSA grant recipients.
Others addressed AI-driven healthcare access, electricity theft detection, smart agriculture, financial infrastructure for the creator economy, and AI-generated African music.
Held at Huawei Office Park in Woodmead, the finals brought together more than 100 attendees, including government representatives, academic partners, industry leaders and media.
"The quality of the finalist solutions demonstrated the potential of local innovation to respond to real market needs," said Steven Chen, Cloud CEO of Huawei Technologies South Africa.
Academic partners included the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and technology is their greatest accelerator. The participants here today are future entrepreneurs who will drive South Africa's digital economy forward," said Professor Thokozani Shongwe, Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Industry partner rain also attended. Leon Nortje, Principal and Senior Architect at rain, said the competition offered a strong view of the country’s emerging technology pipeline.
"It is always good to see new projects and new teams working on solutions that are valuable and industry-related. We will be looking out for potential new employees," said Nortje.
The winners
The finalists competed for a prize pool of R800,000. MAAT by SIMVAK was named the overall grand winner and received the Business Value Award, taking home R300,000. The platform addresses food safety and regulatory compliance in South Africa’s informal retail sector through AI agents, real-time product recall alerts, and counterfeit detection for the spaza shop ecosystem.
"The spaza network is the supply chain for most South African households," said SIMVAK founder Shingirayi Mandebvu.
HealthHive by FTCK received second prize in the Business Value Award category, taking home R200,000, for its AI telemedicine platform that matches patients with the right medical practitioners based on their symptoms.
Auraa received the Grand Innovation Award for its AI music engine built to generate authentic African sound. The platform has been associated with an album that has crossed one million streams.
The Future Star Award went to e-Khadi, a community credit and stokvel platform giving SASSA grant recipients access to essentials at their local spaza shops, supported by AI-assisted credit scoring and fraud detection.
The People’s Choice Award, voted by the public on Huawei’s social media channels, went to DevRift, a semi-finalist in the competition, who took home R100,000.
Minister Ndabeni delivered the closing address, positioning Code4Mzansi within the government’s agenda for youth entrepreneurship, small business development and digital inclusion.
"Our task is to ensure that innovation does not remain a moment of applause, but becomes a pathway to enterprise creation, digital inclusion, and sustainable growth," she said.
"Thank you to Huawei for being a perfect partner on the journey that we are travelling, and of course, those that matter most, the developers who dared to compete," she said.
Code4Mzansi forms part of the global Huawei Cloud Developer Competition. In its inaugural edition, South Africa attracted more participants than any other country: 1,041 across 353 teams, including 176 enterprise teams, resulting in the highest enterprise participation rate among all competing markets. Twenty semi-finalists were selected before the top nine advanced to the final.
For the finalists, the work is just beginning. As Minister Ndabeni said, "Go home today proud. But tomorrow, wake up, build again."
Hashtag: #Huawei #Code4Mzansi #SouthAfrica
https://www.huawei.com/za/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Huawei
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With 213,000 employees operating in over 170 countries, we serve more than three billion people worldwide.
Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home, and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei generated CNY880.9 billion in revenue, reinvesting 21.8% (CNY192.3 billion) into R&D, with about 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company fully owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create lasting value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.
For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:
http://www.huawei.com/za/
https://twitter.com/HuaweiSAR
https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiSAR
http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei
http://www.google.com/+Huawei
http://www.youtube.com/Huawei
** This press release is distributed by Media OutReach Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
