Recent Business Highlights Initial Results of CPDF S Mid-Term Evaluation Are Positive;

Vol. 20 August 16 - September 15, 2004

Recent Business Highlights Initial results of CPDF’s mid-term evaluation are positive; First International Technical Workshop on Credit Reporting held; A seminar to promote importance of government EHS performance held; China Green Corporate Governance assessment report completed; Seminar on food hygiene and safety for local SMEs; BE China holds latest TTT; EDIS provide TA to 3 SMEs; and First draft of the Credit Analysis Workbook completed.

Visitors To IFC-CPDF Mario Fischel, June Lavelle, Janusz Sytek and Kate Lloyd-Williams. People Among Us Nan Fang, CPDF’s Budget Officer. News From The Region Food safety issue raised; Zhejiang and Sichuan joint hands; Sino-British ICT week staged; and Panda “Huamei” gave birth to twins.

Coming Up Soon Ms. Dorothy Berry and Mr. Laurence Carter will visit CPDF on Sept. 19-22; CPDF’s annual donor meeting scheduled for Sept. 20-21; 2nd phase of TA to LCCB launched; Review meeting for CPDF’s Credit Analysis Workbook in Shanghai; BE Master Trainer to appear on Sichuan Economic Radio on Sept. 15; and BE will hold an open course on Sept.18-19.

Recent Business Highlights

CPDF in the Region CPDF’s mid-term evaluation results positive… As originally planned, IFC commissioned recently an independent evaluation of CPDF’s activities from inception to date. The evaluation team, comprised 4 consultants, and 1 donor representative, who have prior experience with 3 IFC PDFs. The evaluators presented the preliminary reports, which were very positive, to IFC and the donors in Beijing in August. Since then, they have produced their draft report presenting their main findings and recommendations. These will be discussed during CPDF annual donor meeting, which is scheduled on September 20-22. (news contributed by Cynthia Song, Communications Officer)

Business Enabling Environment (BEE) First International Technical Workshop on Credit Reporting System Development held… In collaboration with World Bank/IFC Investment Climate Department, CPDF successfully delivered a two and a half day workshop on credit reporting system to the Credit Information System Bureau of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC-CISB) from August 17th to 19th, 2004. This is part of CPDF’s efforts to help Chinese authorities and industry players to build a comprehensive credit reporting system that serve lenders. On the first half-day, 80 PBOC officials from different Departments participated in the workshop which introduced to them the essential knowledge about and the importance of credit reporting. The remaining two days were devoted to advanced technical training for 60 CISB officials from all over the country. The workshop presented international best practices on credit reporting system development and helped the central bank officials clarify a number of issues such as the ownership of data, sharing of information among stakeholders, structure of credit bureau, etc. The main executives of CISB were present throughout the workshop. They indicated that this is the first time that such an international workshop on credit reporting was held in China. (news contributed by the BEE team)

Capacity Building (CB) Seminar to promote the importance of government EHS performance successfully held... On Aug 25, Miracle, one of the local environmental ISO certification consulting firms trained by CPDF, successfully delivered a half-day marketing promotion seminar to 13 local SMEs. The seminar is expected to help Miracle acquire new clients. CPDF’s representatives spoke at the seminar, addressing the importance of quality, environmental, health and safety performance. 39% of the 23 participants to the seminar expressed interest in contacting CPDF/Miracle for environmental consulting and ISO consulting services. 85% of the participants hope to participate in future workshops and receive other services from CPDF. (news contributed by Cheng Rong, Business Development Officer with the CB team)

China Green corporate governance assessment report completed… CPDF has completed, on a pilot basis, the corporate governance assessment (CGA) report on China Green, an IFC-invested company in Zhejiang Province. China Green develops, owns and operates power projects in China, including combined heat and power generating facilities, with a focus on utilizing municipal solid waste and low quality coal as fuel. This CGA project is fully funded by the client and will help the company to identify the key areas for improvement in CG practices. The report is currently being reviewed by IFC investment team and corporate governance officer and will be presented to the client soon. This experience is of high value to CPDF CG project team as it broadens the team's exposure to various patterns of company governance and offers excellent experience in providing corporate governance services at the company level. (news contributed by Chen Quan, Business Development Officer with the CB team)

Seminar on food hygiene and safety for local SME suppliers... On September 10th, CPDF sponsored a seminar on food hygiene and safety together with the “Chengdu Food Business Association” to improve local food hygiene standards. In Sichuan, an increasing number of SMEs are engaged in the food business; however, many lack a basic understanding of food safety and hygiene issues. In light of the circumstances, CPDF, together with Auchan hypermarket, contracted SGS, a Swiss food hygiene consultancy, to provide basic training on food safety issues. The seminar is an extension of CPDF’s food safety program, which creates awareness among SMEs regarding the importance of food safety and quality. Mr. Jerome from Auchan and Mr. Xu from SGS spoke with participants from over 20 SMEs regarding their perspectives on the importance of food safety. Feedback from the event was positive.(news contributed by Wei Lei, Business Development Officer with the CB team)

BE China holds latest TTT… On August 16-20, the Business Edge program held its latest Train-the-Trainer session, focusing on “Becoming More Effective” and “Leading Change”. 10 local trainers participated in the sessions. In the month of July and August, the BE program has held 23 courses, trained some 1,312 SME managers and staff.. (news contributed by Godfrey Firth, Marketing Coordinator with the CB team)

Enterprise Development and Investment Services (EDIS) EDIS successfully completed TA to a local SME… EDIS successfully concluded its technical assistance to Shiyun Paper at the end of August. The project started this January, four months after CPDF helped the company raise financing for its equipment investment. CPDF contracted SinoWin, a local consultancy trained by CPDF in the BPIP program, to deliver a set of consulting services to Shiyun. The project scope covered HR, production, and financial management improvement. Shiyun expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the results of the project. (news contributed by Liu Hui, Business Development Officer with the EDIS team)

EDIS helps local bamboo paper company… EDIS team has signed an MOU with Sichuan Mingzhu Paper Company on August 23. Mingzhu specializes in producing bamboo pulp-based printing paper. The company has 60,000 tons of paper production capacity annually, and employs some 490 staff. According to the MOU, CPDF is to help the company to identify the main constrains to Mingzhu’s growth and make recommendations to improve its internal management system. (news contributed by Chen Quan, Business Development Officer with the EDIS team)

EDIS new approach to help SMEs… Following on the results of the initial diagnosis, EDIS is to develop local consulting partners to implement a comprehensive profitability improvement plan for Hui Ji Foods, a local snacks company, and to help implement a financial system for Chengdu Pioneer Food Co., Ltd. The companies agree that the resolution of these issues are fundamental to ensuring the respective companies' continued success. (news contributed by Will Beloe, Business Development Officer with the EDIS team)

Financial Sector (FS) The first draft of Credit Analysis Workbook completed … With the assistance of an international banking expert, CPDF has successfully completed the first draft of its Credit Analysis Workbook. The project was initiated by the FS team to standardize training materials on credit analysis, the core skill of any banker. This 430-page volume has 14 modules covering the main aspects of the lending process, from client acquisition to loan monitoring. Chinese cases will also be developed to support the future delivery of training based on the Workbook. A meeting is being organized to review the draft at the IFC invested Shanghai International Banking and Finance Institute (SIBFI), in October 2004. More than 10 people from IFC Headquarters, sister PDFs and SIBFI will attend the meeting. (news contributed by the FS team) Visitors o IFC-TCPDF

. Mario Fischel, SME Program Manager based in Hong Kong, visited CPDF from Aug.31 - Sept.3. Previously, Mario worked in the Mekong Project Development Facility in 1997, and was General Manager of MPDF from 2000 through 2004. . June Lavelle and Janusz Sytek of FIRMA 2000 consultants, Kate Lloyd-Williams of MPDF has visited Chengdu on a field trip from Sep.12 –16 to share and learn the experience of consultancy development program in CPDF, notably BPIP. The consultants will discuss the BPIP model and also visit clients and partner consultancies. The FIRMA consultants has already visited SEED, APDF and MPDF. The findings will be presented in the ABS meeting scheduled in October in Ho Chi Minh city, MPDF office.

People Among Us

Nan Fang, CPDF’s Budget Officer, likes hiking, talking and helping others. She is energetic, informative and knows where to eat and where to go. She has traveled to many different places in China. Nan joined CPDF in March, 2002, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Economics in Sichuan University. Prior to joining CPDF, Nan worked in Agricultural Bank of China Sichuan Branch for seven years. She also had one year training organized by the British Council, during which she worked in Sainsbury’s Plc in London.

News From The Region

Government – Food safety issue raised… Chengdu Quality Supervision Bureau has launched a series of actions to counter food safety violations, in areas such as crops, meat, wine, pickles, milk and fruits. Dealers who sell low quality food or keep it in storage will be subject to criminal prosecution and handed over to police.

Business – Zhejiang and Sichuan joint hands… The world’s largest C-glass fiberglass manufacturing facility recently entered operation in Chengdu. The first production line has a capacity of 30,000 tons. This company is a joint venture formed between a Zhejiang company and 2 local Chengdu firms. In the next five years, a total of USD$100 million will be invested to build another three production lines.

Business – Sino-British ICT week staged… The Sino-British ICT (Information & Communication Technology) week was held in four Chinese cities, including Chengdu, from September 6th –10th. This is the biggest commercial promotion to date between the two countries. Society – Panda “Huamei” gave birth to twins The female panda “Huamei” at the Wolong Natural Reserve delivered twin pandas on September 1. Born in US in 1999, “Huamei” returned to Sichuan this February and this is her first time giving birth to baby pandas.

Coming Up Soon

. CPDF is preparing for its Fourth Annual Donors’ Meeting, scheduled on September 20-21. This year marks the successful completion of the first half of CPDF’s initial five-year funding period. . Ms. Dorothy Berry, VP of IFC and Mr. Laurence Carter, Director of IFC SME Dept., will visit CPDF on Sept. 19-22. . The Financial Sector team will launch the second part of its technical assistance program for Leshan City Commercial Bank from September 16 to 30. Over the next year, this program will concentrate on building a credit scoring system and establishing a Credit Manual to enhance the bank’s risk management system. . A meeting will be held in Shanghai to review CPDF’s draft Credit Analysis Workbook from October 11 to 13. . On Sept. 15, the BE program’s Master Trainer will co-host a 25 minute program on Sichuan Economic Radio Station, discussing management challenges in SMEs and an upcoming two-day BE course for senior executives on Becoming More Effective. . BE is to hold an open course featuring the new Master Trainer, Mr. Shen Maosheng, scheduled on Sept. 18th – 19th. The topic will be the latest course in BE's Personal Productivity series, "Becoming More Effective."

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