Wine Venture on Desert Land Brings Rural Prosperity to Ningxia, China

A decade ago, Ms. Yang Hai Lan, a former accountant, established Yinchuan Jinhu Eco-agriculture Tourism Company Ltd (Jinhu Enterprise), an eco-tourism lodge and farm with a vineyard, with little farming knowledge or experience. My love of nature, my dream of helping people, particularly women, and perhaps a bit of stubbornness admits Yang has enabled her to painstakingly convert 520 mu (86 acres) of sprawling desert land into a growing business in Yinchuan, Ningxia.

(Above) Ms. Yang Hai Lan tells her experience of turning sand dunes into agricultural land.
(Left) Women farmers harvest cash crops from Jinhus green farming base on the lodge. Photos: Amanda Chiu

Today, Yang is an example of an entrepreneur who is successfully fighting desertification while creating job opportunities for women and ethnic minorities that make up one-third the local population in one of the poorest provinces in China where advancing deserts, entrenched poverty and geographical remoteness have stifled opportunities for many farmers.

The original desert land (left), now turned agricultural land (right) is possible for planting wine grapes with optimal soil condition. Photo: Amanda Chiu and Simon Lu.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

On-site Learning in Ningxia

Overlooking the majestic Hailan Mountains in the distance, Professor Zhang, General Manager of Hai Lan Wine Ltd, the wine-making venture of Jinhu Enterprise, discusses wine grapes with Sanjay Ratra, Director at Standard Chartered India. A far departure from the office, international executives took part in the seventh Global Young Leaders Programme (YLP) run by the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) based in Hong Kong. In its third year, the YLP, an executive leadership development programme, is continuing to enable social enterprises across Asia, such as Jinhu Enterprise, to benefit from the business expertise of a specially selected group of bright talented executives. By the end the programme, the Young Leaders produced a business plan focusing on expansion of the enterprise in a sustainable manner which would bring economic development to the local community.

Prof. Zhang explains the criteria for selecting quality wine grapes for premium red wine to young leader Sanjay Ratra. Photo: Anita Yang.

Young Leaders (l-r) Heyson Young, Yamin Xu and Bitapi Sinha collect data from the onsite visit on Jinhus vineyard for later discussion on developing a viable business plan for Jinhu Enterprise. Photo: Amanda Chiu.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Eco-Migrants
Mr. Liu (right), pauses in front of the Young Leaders to reflect on the many changes he has witnessed in his lifetime. The green grassland that he remembers from his childhood days has disappeared as a result of decades of unsustainable farming practices. Forced off his land, Mr. Liu now has to work part-time at another farm to supplement his income. In developing the business plan in cooperation with Jinhu Enterprise, the Young Leaders will ensure the strengthening of the enterprises current anti-desertification awareness and sustainable agricultural training initiatives to help provide income generation and rural development opportunities for local farmers like Liu. Ms. Ma Hai Mei (left) is a shy petite woman with dreams of starting her own business one day. A year ago, Ma was struggling to support her three children as well as covering the medical costs of caring for her paralyzed son. Like many ethnic minorities in the region, severe droughts, lack of job opportunities and deep poverty has pushed Ma to leave her home in the remote mountainous villages in Southern Ningxia to seek better opportunities in the growing capital of Yinchuan. Today, Ma has seen her income tripled in the last year. She is one of 40 employees, many of whom are women and ethnic minorities, working at Jinhu Enterprises vineyard and eco-lodge. She has received three training courses to gain basic agricultural skills and has recently been appointed as a group leader for the women association to train new members. By speaking with women such as Ma and Xu (below), the Young Leaders were able to reflect community needs and concerns into their business plan to ensure that the expansion of the winery and eco-lodge will enable potential entrepreneurs like Ma to realize their dream.

(left anti-clockwise) Ms. Ma Hai Mei shares her experience as an ecomigrant to Yinchuan. (l) Mr. Liu explains to Mark Ma, alumnus of YLP, how the irrigation system works on Jinhus vineyard. Young Leaders Jackie Cheung and Oscar Tuet learn about the operation of Jinhus restaurant from Ms. Xu. Photos:

Amanda Chiu

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Business Expansion
With the support of the Young Leaders in using their specialized business skills and experience to develop an expansion strategy, Yang is posed to expand Jinhu Enterprise as a major player in Chinas lucrative wine industry which is growing at 15 percent annually. Comparable to wines produced in Bordeaux, France, Jinhu Enterprises premium red wines has already garnered awards and recognition from Chinese wine connoisseurs. Young Leaders (l-r) Brejesh Chalill and Chetan Talwar study details of the award-winning wine produced from a local winery in Yinchuan. Photo by GIFT.

Wine grapes freshly picked from Jinhus vineyard will be processed into premium red wine in three years. Photo: GIFT.
With government support, the eco-lodge is also serving as a platform for the enterprises expansion and anti-desertification initiative, attracting 15,000 visitors annually. In Ningxia, the tourism industry has expanded by 27 percent since last year and is growing rapidly. The variety of fruits and vegetables soybeans, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins and watermelon - which are grown pesticide-free on the farm as well as fish from the farm pond which are served at the eco-lodges restaurant are increasingly drawing more health-conscious travellers.

Jinhus eco-tourism lodge and recreation facilities are popular for weekend getaways for city dwellers. Photo: Amanda Chiu.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Women Helping Women

Ms. Xiao An Mei, member of Women Association, thanks Ms. Yang Hai Lan, founder, for her dedication in advancing the lives of minority women in Yinchuan. Photo: Anita Yang.
As in many parts of China, the men often migrate to bigger cities for jobs leaving their families behind. Without knowledge and access to markets, the surpluses of vegetables grown by the women in Yinchuan often rotted until local women leaders such as Yang encouraged women from local villages to join the local farmers cooperative. Aligned with Jinhu Enterprises promotion of a healthier lifestyle, Yang is providing training on no-pesticide farming and creating access to markets for women by selling their surplus agricultural products in her higher-end retail cooperative store in downtown Yinchuan. The business plan developed by the Young Leaders envisions the creation of a CSR fund which will allocate specific amounts of revenue from the Jinhu Enterprise to strengthen local economic development initiatives.

Young Leaders (l-r) Neoh Siew Lan from Malaysia and Lidia Orsini from Australia are learning about the different way of life as a woman farmer in Yinchuan, China. Photo:GIFT.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Polly Lee from GIFT is facilitating the interview with Ms. Xie to help Young Leaders understand the operation of a farmer cooperative in Zhen He village. Photo: GIFT.
Seated at the head of the table in front of the Young Leaders, Ms. Xie Yu Mei, is the picture of composure and confidence. A former officer in the governments agricultural department, Xie found her mission in empowering farmers, particularly women, to help themselves. In partnership with Yang, Xie is heading up the farmers cooperative in the Zhen He Village. By encouraging small local farmers to join the cooperative to sell their crops in Yinchuan in order to strengthen their bargaining power and access to markets, she is increasing the income and transforming the livelihoods of poor farmers. So far she has been successful. In a matter of three months, the newly founded cooperative has grown from 30 to 150 members with a target of reaching 500 members by the end of the year. Her biggest challenge remains in encouraging a larger number of women to participate as local customs and gender inequality in Ningxia have traditionally kept women dependent on the income of her husband or family whose annual income may be less than 1500USD.

(Top) Ms. Xie Yu Mei shares her vision of the farmer cooperative and patiently takes questions from the young leaders. Photo: Anita Yang.

(Right) Tomatoes harvested from Zhen He Village are delivered to Jinhus farmers coop retail store for sales. Photo: Bitapi Sinha and Amanda Chiu.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Business Plan and Investor Conference

Representative Michael Keefrider is pitching the business plan to potential investors on behalf of the young leaders. Photo: Amanda Chiu. Aligned with the governments objective of fighting desertification and promoting rural development in Ningxia, the business plan presented at the end of the programme by the Young Leaders was received with support and enthusiasm from both Ningxia government officials and potential investors such as Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, HSBC and Japan Bank For International cooperation (JBIC) present at the investor conference organized by GIFT. The conference was co-hosted with China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) and ClearWorld Energy. To support Jinhu Enterprises expansion goals, the business plan outlined the specific investments needed for upgrading of the eco-lodge, construction of Jinhu Enterprises own winery in addition to capital to convert edible grapes (which make up 80 percent of the businesss current grapes) into wine grapes. The plan also envisions the future expansion of the vineyard and its current capacity through purchase of neighbouring land for grape cultivation. (Top) Huang Haoming from CANGO (First left) (Bottom) Ms. Ma Qi from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) poses questions on sustainability of Jinhu Enterprises business model. Photo: GIFT.

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

By going beyond reasons, in taking action, in making an investment, the destiny of a family changes. A child continues their education, fulfills a dream, is able to give back to their community. The benefits multiply and are paid forward exponentially. This project is more than an investment, it is ensuring that Tomorrow Matters. The Global Institute for Tomorrow

If you are interested in the business plan and the opportunity to invest in this unique project, please contact Chandran Nair on 852 3571 8103 (Email: cnair@global-inst.org)

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008

Global Institute For Tomorrow Global Young Leaders Programme: Beijing and Ningxia China, August 2008