After nearly a decade in gestation, the Chinese second board, or the Growth Enterprises Board, has got regulatory approval.

Although the securities regulator has yet to disclose a timetable for its launch, it issued a road map last week laying down, for the first time, the rules and procedures that will help in the unveiling of the NASDAQ-style board.

The idea of a NASDAQ-like market on the mainland was first mooted in the mid-1990s. After a few false starts, it was put on the back burner and nearly forgotten until 2007, when the stock markets boomed. The buoyancy led to increased demand, by many private sector entrepreneurs, for an appropriate channel to raise funds directly from the investment public.