After a decade in the making, China's own NASDAQ-style stock exchange designed to boost financing for start-up businesses is expected to be up and running within the year, just in time to help firms struggling with the global economic downturn.

Women in Huangxing Shoe Factory of Yunyang County, Chongqing municipality, work in a leather-peeling workshop on Jan 4 last year. Products from the factory have long been selling well in overseas markets.

"The Shenzhen Stock Exchange is fully prepared to launch the second board," assured bourse director Chen Dongzheng, who said the project is now just waiting for the final go-ahead from top policy-makers.

At least eight companies will be the first to be listed, he said on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), while the bourse will also introduce a qualified investor system to help advise on the risks for those injecting funds.

The idea of a second board was first raised during the CPPCC National Committee session in 1998, with work to make it a reality starting soon after.

It will be targeted at fast-growing start-up firms, mostly based at China's 50 high-tech parks, such as Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park, with listing requirements like sales revenue and profits much lower than the main and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) exchanges in Shenzhen.

Industry insiders say more than 1,000 companies have already completed their preparations to offer shares on the second board.

In his work report last year, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government had planned to introduce the board in 2008 but the plan was put back due to unforeseen events such as the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 and the financial crisis.

Over the last 12 months, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell more than 6124.04 points to around 2,000 as the worsening economic climate cooled the overheated stock market. And some analysts fear the introduction of a second board may drain further capital from the main market.