MasterCard sponsors business training for Sichuan villagers

Five hours' drive out of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, roads wind up into the mountains in the province's southwest. One road leads to a village, which is also the home of pig farmer Wei Chunfu.

The 47-year-old would never ordinarily have considered building a new pig farm. But things changed when the local office of two nongovernment organizations, partnered with MasterCard Inc, one of the world's biggest payments networks, helped farmers in Daying village in the province's Hanyuan county.

Earlier this year, farmer Wei and other villagers got training on how to start a business and make a financial plan. At the end of the training, each of them submitted a business proposal for review to the US headquartered global humanitarian aid agency Mercy Corps and the Development Organization of Rural Sichuan, a British charity.

Wei submitted a proposal to expand his business and received two loans totaling 70,000 yuan ($10,668). One loan of 40,000 yuan will be repaid on a quarterly basis with an annual interest rate of 8 percent and another of 30,000 yuan will be repaid on a monthly basis with an annual interest rate of 6 percent.

In addition to his old pig farm, he built a new 700-square-meter facility boasting 38 pigpens and raised 50 more pigs. Now he has a total of 170 pigs, including 21 breeders.

He expects to sell 300 pigs this year and make a profit of 300,000 yuan, up from 180 pigs and 170,000 yuan profit in 2015.

Living in the same village as Wei Chunfu, Li Xiaolong and his wife Ayiyibu have also benefitted from the entrepreneurship training program.

Apart from learning how to make a budget and keep accounts, they got 40,000 yuan of loans, to open a store selling chemical fertilizer, general merchandise, drinks and cigarettes.

Before helping qualified farmers start a business, program officers at Mercy Corps and DORS taught them the basics on how to analyze their strengths and weaknesses for doing business and on how to manage cash flow smoothly at every step, to avoid bankruptcy.

"We were told how to handle risks by analyzing the market and forecasting price movements during a three-day training. Before that, we didn't have a clear understanding of market risks," Wei said.

Sponsored by MasterCard, with a financial contribution of $85,000, the program aims to provide business and financial training to 150 farmers in poverty-stricken areas in rural Sichuan from January to June.

The farmers are expected to submit 100 business proposals. Some of them will receive credit-based loans from Mercy Corps without providing collateral, according to the evaluation results of their proposals.

"Lack of business knowledge and skills and channels to receive financial services is one of the main challenges for small farmers to increase their incomes," said Chang Qing, division president of China at MasterCard.

"This is particularly noticeable in ethnic minority communities in remote mountain areas.

"We are happy to work with Mercy Corps on helping farmers and entrepreneurs in rural China acquire the knowledge and skills they need to grow a business," he said.

The program covered several villages near the city of Ya'an, with a mixture of Han, Yi and Tibetan ethnic groups that rely on yak breeding or tea, fruit and walnut planting as a major source of income.

jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn