Corporate Partners

Working with corporate partners is essential for PlaNet Finance China to successfully fulfill its vision for the Chinese microfinance sector, and to help boost up the prospects for the small and micro-entrepreneur.  It is exactly the spirit of business that informs the entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs who take out loans, borrowers who need, just like business people, to examine the workability of their ideas against the resources and the nature of the market at hand.  A lot of what we do that is impactful is to connect things that were not originally connected, whether it be a matter of connecting producers with market prices, or connecting together different departments of the local government for a better result, or introducing technologies to farmers that they can adapt for best effect.

A lot of the projects we can do with either corporate or public funds are often best characterized as pilots, which teach us lessons, like what are and what are not successful strategies for strengthening the microfinance sector. However, pilot projects such as these usually require commercial support or local government support in order to be more sustainable and reach the truly underserved populations.

International and Chinese private corporations as well as public-spirited public funds with specific social goals greatly contribute to our mission by granting us financial support, pro bono services in their area of expertise, and essential equipment for the microfinance institutions we serve, and the clients they ultimately serve.

Past & Existing Corporate Partners

Baker Botts LLP 

Baker Botts LLP is an international law firm with 13 offices worldwide and a noted leader in the field for energy, technology and life sciences-related legal proceedings. Recognized for their strong focus on pro bono work, Baker Botts donates on average 50,000 billable hours to individuals and non-profit organizations. The China office of Baker Botts LLP has been providing PlaNet Finance China with excellent and timely advisory services on a pro-bono basis beginning in 2007, in its effort to boost the development of microfinance as a poverty-eradication tool.  Together with our partners in the Tongwei Rnewable Energy Project, we have overcome obstacles related to foreign exchanges and debt registration. Baker Botts has represented many of the world's leading energy companies on major projects in Asia for more than three decades. China continues to dominate Asia's meteoric rise and the firm's Hong Kong and Beijing offices have built a strong and diverse practice that delivers sophisticated and time sensitive expertise on resource intensive transactions in China.
http://www.bakerbotts.com

Citi Foundation 

Citigroup is a US-based international finance conglomerate that provides operations in consumer, corporate, investment banking and insurance. Citi Foundation, the corporate governance arm of Citigroup, supports the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low- to moderate-income people in communities where Citigroup operates. Their goals focus on long-term positive benefits from their investments through strategies such as skills-based volunteering, board membership and financial capability for participants in its programs; 44% of which are outside of the US. Citi Foundation places emphasis on empowerment through microfinance, enterprise development, financial capability and asset building, embedding of “green” components in businesses, neighborhood revitalization (US only), and college success for low-moderate income first generation college students (US only).
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation/index.htm

Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse is one of the world's leading financial services providers. As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse offers clients its combined expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking and asset management. Credit Suisse provides advisory services, comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high-net-worth private clients globally, as well as to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately 50,000 people. PlaNet Finance China is partnering with the Credit Suisse Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative to implement the “Microfinance Robustness Program”. This one-year program aims to strengthen risk management in the Chinese microfinance sector by delivering key solutions that will become references for best practices. Through the Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative, Credit Suisse is working with partner organizations such as PlaNet Finance to foster microfinance research, innovation and constructive dialogue, to spread best practices, and to develop new solutions for financial inclusion.
http://www.credit-suisse.com
http://www.credit-suisse.com/responsibility/en/initiatives/initiatives_m...

Ernst & Young - Advisory Services 

Ernst and Young is a financial company focused on assurance, tax, transactions and advisory roles. The organization has some 141,000 employees working globally with the aim of improving businesses, markets and society as a whole. The Ernst and Young Advisory Service business line is dedicated to bringing together governments, business and NGOs to develop a stronger market place through initiatives in entrepreneurship, education and environmental sustainability. Region-dependent and tailored skill-based volunteering is a key component of the approach Ernst and Young Advisory Services takes. In the past, PFC has partnered with Ernst & Young Advisory Services in bidding for development projects for strengthening information and communication technology (ICTs) in rural areas of China.
http://www.ey.com 

GDF Suez Group 

GDF Suez is a French-based international company with the mission of providing solutions to energy and environmental challenges. GDF Suez focuses on meeting energy demands, ensuring the security of supply, developing the most efficient means of utilizing resources and combating climate change and other global eco-issues. GDF Suez currently has 8,200 employees in the Asia-Pacific region and is responsible for revenues of some EUR 3.2 billion. This is an area of focus for the group that is, as their catchphrase says “rediscovering energy” and it is set to increase its presence in this region of ever-growing importance. The Suez Group has wide interests in water, energy resources and the environment. In 2007, Suez provided the funding underlying PlaNet Finance’s biogas loan program in Gansu, in conjunction with Areva and the European Commission.
http://www.gdfsuez.com/en/institutional

International Finance Corporation 

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest multilateral source of loan and equity financing for private sector investments in the developing world. IFC’s main activities include: 1) promoting open and competitive markets in developing countries, 2) supporting companies and other private sector partners, 3) helping generate productive jobs, 4) delivering essential services to the underserved and 5) catalyzing and mobilizing other sources of finance for private enterprise development. IFC has projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa. PlaNet Finance China currently provides technical assistance services to a local village and township bank in Zhejiang Province which IFC holds a stake in.
http://www.ifc.org

MicroEnergy International

Rhodia 

Rhodia is a French-based international chemicals producer, focusing on a wide range of products with 65 production sites worldwide. They are leaders in the field of developing eco-friendly and sustainable chemical products and 32% of their sales are derived from this sector. Rhodia’s strategy is comprised of three parts: sustainable development, targeted acquisitions in high-growth markets and value creation through innovation tailored to client needs for performance and sustainability. Rhodia has a global workforce of some 14,000 and achieves EUR 5.226 billion in annual sales. The company has recently celebrated 30 years of its presence in China, which now accounts for 28% of its sales and 21% of its workforce. Rhodia’s major projects in China involve the automotive industry, the cosmetics and detergents industry and the electronics industry. However, one can look to the future for the further diversification of services they offer, and an increasingly large role in developing eco-consciousness in the minds of Chinese manufacturers.
http://www.rhodia.com