INTHEBLACK November 2026 - Magazine - Page 38
FEATURE
“Traditional business growth equates scaling with
hiring more employees, expanding physical premises
and raising external capital to drive larger headcount.
For OPCs, growth decouples revenue expansion from
workforce enlargement.”
COLLIN JIN FCPA, DELOITTE CHINA
In a business environment where the acronym
OPC, meaning “one-person company”, is
broadly recognised, governments are beginning
to appreciate the future potential of such
a model.
OPC SUPPORT IN CHINA
China is proving to be a fertile environment
for the OPC model. This is perhaps not
surprising, considering CPA Australia’s
2025–26 Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey
reports 48 per cent of Chinese mainland
businesses ranked AI as their heaviest
investment in 2025, the highest among
11 APAC markets.
In China, numerous local governments
have established dedicated OPC communities
and support programs. A recent report
from the State Administration for Market
Regulation says the country’s OPC ecosystem
expanded rapidly during 2026, with specialised
communities appearing across numerous
cities. As of March 2026, the report states,
“23 Chinese Mainland cities had launched
OPC policies, with over 100 policy
measures unveiled”.
Manufacturing hub Suzhou is building
30 AI solopreneur communities to develop
a target of 1000 AI one-person enterprises
by 2028. Pudong in Shanghai is offering
300,000 yuan (A$62,000) to cover computing
costs. Wuhan is introducing special loans
for OPCs and offering to help cover losses.
“Regulatory and policy shifts in China also
lower barriers,” says Collin Jin FCPA, partner at
Deloitte China and president of CPA Australia’s
East and Central China Committee. “Revised
company law simplifies business registration,
while local governments offer computing
subsidies, shared workspaces and OPC-oriented
incubation support for solo entrepreneurs.”
The OPC model is also attracting attention
elsewhere in Asia, Jin says, including in India
and Singapore. Many entrepreneurs are deciding
to go it alone despite the challenges and risks.
38 INTHEBLACK November 2026
THE EVOLVING WORKFORCE
A major driving factor behind the
growth of the AI-powered one-person
company is the changing job market, says
Professor Sun Sun Lim, vice-president
of partnerships and engagement at
Singapore Management University.
Graduates are hearing that there is no
longer as much need for them as there once
was. Their roles — the sort of tasks that
lawyers, accountants, engineers and so on
once used to cut their teeth on — are slowly
being absorbed by technology.
“There is a drying up of entry-level work,”
Lim says. “That is where AI use can be
quite high in terms of highly automated
or automatable tasks, and companies are
hiring humans more for experience.”
Technology need not spell the end of
a young person’s career dream, though.
In fact, it can enable it.
“When you think about the future of
work, we have to contemplate whether people
will still be joining large companies or might
there actually be situations where people
can create multiple versions of themselves?”
Lim says.
“Professionals can augment themselves
with AI capabilities to offer services they
previously would have provided as an employee.
Instead of being a marketing person, they
can set up an entire company as a marketing
services provider by using AI agents.
There is an agent to do the finance, the
relationship development, the product
development, the marketing and customer
fulfilment, and so on.”
In China, Lim says, some provincial
governments see OPC development “as
an alternative employment pathway”.
While Singapore’s approach is less
direct, it is still supportive.
“I do not necessarily see a concerted,
focused drive to promote the growth
of one-person companies in Singapore,”
