OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2013. As the renovation sector ushered in its peak season in May, Enhemende, an ethnic Mongolian young man and his team also began to get busy in communicating with customers to design plans and schedule work time. Enhemende also has more expectations for his business this year thanks to the "new materials" he has acquired for renovation work.

As a student at Baotou Medical College, he has always dreamed of having his own business ever since he got into the college. In 2011, before his graduation, he already partnered with his girlfriend to start a renovation company specializing in environmental protection and designing with ethnic elements. For another college graduate named Feng Hongxia, to become a lawyer with her own law firm has been a dream ever since her high school days. Upon completing five years' legal practice, she determinedly quit her job and established her own law firm in April this year.

Nevertheless, to fulfill their entrepreneurial dream was not as easy as they had imagined. To quote Enhemende's own words, "I had little capital, and it was hard to hire people." Feng Hongxia also found herself in a difficult situation when she had to pay 100,000 yuan to register her own law firm. Feng, who is from an ordinary family, "not only spent all of my savings but also had to borrow from relatives and friends".

More importantly, in the initial stage of their entrepreneurship, follow-on funding became a problem for both people. Enhemende told the reporter, "At the end of last year, as it was a low season for renovation business, in addition to costs, we had to set aside a part of our start-up capital for buying new materials. At that time we were in such shortage of funds that we were nearly unable to pay wages to our employees." Feng set up her law firm in a college student entrepreneurial park in Baotou's Rare Earth High-tech Zone, where monthly rent was only 2,400 yuan. But still she "could hardly finish buying office supplies" due to shortage of funds.

For these college graduates with entrepreneurial dreams, how to sail farther after starting their businesses is not only a problem that bewilders them but has also become a social issue.

China Development Bank (CDB) has always been one of the major banks in granting student loans in Inner Mongolia. While supporting college students' study, how to help them in their post-study development and especially to help them fulfill their entrepreneurial dream has become a topic under in-depth study for the bank.

"As early as in 2010 we were already considering establishing a financial service institution to help college graduates with employment and entrepreneurship, but we found in the process of making student loans that some college graduates were unable to repay their student loans because they could not find a job or a suitable job after graduation." An officer in charge of relevant business at CDB Inner Mongolia Branch told the reporter that, as the number of college graduates is increasing by 15,000 per year in Baotou and still increasing continually, the job situation is becoming increasingly serious.

It was under those circumstances that CDB Inner Mongolia Branch decided to earmark part of the earnings made from lending in Baotou as "seed money" and took the initiative, in partnership with the Baotou City Government, to establish a non-profit public service social organization called "Baotou Financial Service Association for Promoting College Graduates' Entrepreneurship" (hereinafter referred to as "the Association"), which received approval for registration on 2 November 2012.

Interest-free loans granted by the Association assist qualified entrepreneurial college graduates with a lending limit ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 yuan and a tenor of up to two years. The loans do not constitute shareholding or receive dividends.

An official in charge of the Baotou City Government Finance Office told the reporter that many of the entrepreneurial college graduates have no collateral or pledges, and all that the Association's interest-free loans require is a guarantor.

"These loans are meant to meet their most urgent needs," the official said.

Enhemende is one of the first college graduates receiving the interest-free entrepreneurship loans. In December 2012 he applied for an interest-free loan of 30,000 yuan from the Association to better develop his business. "There are too many players in the renovation line and it is hard to develop business without distinction. Businesses started by us college graduates can hardly buy advertising or hire outstanding workers, so we can only try to build up our own advantages by using new materials and attracting more customers with more environment friendly materials," Enhemende told the reporter.

"I applied for my loan last December and received the funds in just about 10 days. Although 30,000 yuan seemed to be a small sum, it was very timely for us, since without this money we would have delayed our plan to buy new materials this year for several months, and missing the peak season would have greatly affected our business. This year we are already using the new materials with quite good results." Enhemende sounded very happy.

After registering her own law firm, Feng also applied for a loan of 30,000 yuan from the Association. In her opinion, although 30,000 yuan was not a large sum, it was "truly timely help like sending charcoal in snowy weather". She said her law firm "is now on the right track and has hired seven employees including some students, postgraduate students from other provinces as well as some like-minded lawyers," Feng excitedly told the reporter.

Data show that, since it was approved for registration last year, the Association has granted 10 interest-free loans totaling 300,000 yuan to support 10 entrepreneurial college graduates at the College Graduate Entrepreneurial Guiding Center of the Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone, involving early childhood education, IT, sports equipment and other sectors.

"However, at present the Association's funding capacity is still relatively small and cannot cover a wider base of borrowers. We are only able to provide funding support and professional financial consulting services to college graduates' entrepreneurial projects of a certain scale and with potential," the CDB Inner Mongolia Branch officer said candidly. "Next, we plan to continue to partner with the relevant department of the Baotou City Government in providing outstanding financial services and consulting for college graduate entrepreneurship and will gradually widen the base of loan recipients. With the joint efforts of the government and other financial institutions and enterprises, we will try to become a major institution serving college graduates' entrepreneurship and employment in the whole region within the next two to three years."

More importantly, CDB also has more plans for the development of the Association. "Funds from just one bank are limited, so we hope more financial institutions and enterprises will pitch in to form a powerful force." The CDB officer said, "Although we cannot yet solve the job issue for college graduates in the whole region, we hope to play a leading and exemplary role in advocating joint attention and joint efforts from all walks of life to combine our efforts, gather positive energy, and make joint contributions to the work of entrepreneurship and employment for college graduates."

In fact, not only in Inner Mongolia, CDB is doing matchmaking nationwide to help college graduates with their employment and entrepreneurship. For instance, in Jilin, Qinghai, and Henan, CDB has partnered with the provincial departments of education and provincial departments of human resources and social security to hold dedicated job fairs for college graduates attended by 43,000 college students, providing 17,300 jobs and reaching 4,911 letters of intent. In Hubei, CDB has made available 50 million yuan in entrepreneurial loans for college graduates in the province.

Today, looking back at his own entrepreneurial path and witnessing his own company continually maturing, Enhemende is full of hope for the future. As her own law firm goes on the right track and she is progressively realizing her dream, Feng is "especially happy from the bottom of the heart". "As long as we persevere along with help from so many other people, we believe we will definitely succeed in the end," Enhemende told the reporter.