We invest, like you; but, maybe our returns are even greater than yours -actually, in times like these, I am sure they are!

Let me give you an example of one of our investments:

In an Early Childhood Care and Development program we are running in rural China,  we make a $17 return out of our every dollar we invest: this one dollar is to help improve the pre-school education quality for 3 to 6 year-old children in the rural community; and after the children grow up,  there is a 17 dollar return: 0.2 dollar less cost for social Welfare, 0.5 dollar less cost for Education, 4.2 dollars greater income, 0.9 dollar more Taxes paid to the government and 11.3 dollars less cost due to  reduction in Crime.

Let’s come to my name card; I’m no big person though, but what I want to show to you is the logo. A lovely child within the blue circle, being protected as she/he realize his/her potential. That’s us, where children are our centre and whom we invest in. After analyzing those factors that will impact children’s life, within the specific context in Western China, we choose the right project to invest and the right partner to invest with. Take a trip to the western part of China if you have a chance in the future, the country is not all about what you have seen here in Beijing or Shanghai. Over there, Education resources are poor so we build hardware such as school buildings and computers,; we provide training of various kinds (the so called software that often makes a greater difference than the hardware); water is scarce and polluted affecting children’s health so we do our best to build a deep pump well accessing cleaner water for them; families do not have enough financial income to meet their children’s needs so we help improve parents’ business skills and provide microfinance.

It’s about investment in family and community, the origin of all types of organizations including companies. And the return is a lot more than just money, 1 dollar not just for 17 dollars but also for the dignity and potential of a human being, the happiness and hope of a family, the union and development of a rural community. In modern society, calculating currency is an explicit but incomplete way of calculating real life value and improvements; if we revise the standard to be closer to true human nature, social organizations like Plan could probably go to the stock exchange market (well, not this year anyway). We buy and sell in pursuit of the maximization of life ’ssense: love, happiness, sharing and appreciation in life. Although buying and selling in those intangibles might resemble many of the intabgible products that have been traded causing recent problems -but surely these intanibles are worth much more!

Last but not least, I wish all of you enjoy your China trip; there are always more to see and more opportunities to invest in this huge and complex territory and I wish your business here a great success.