Li Na, from a migrant worker to a rural entrepreneur

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Li Na was born in the 1980’s. in Hubei province. She left her hometown to work for many years and did several jobs before, including selling electronic appliances and purified water. She was pretty good at what she did. However, at the bottom of her heart, she always had this dream to be an entrepreneur. She wanted to go back to her hometown and start her own business. Finally she started a business of grain procurement and sales as she knew Hubei has always been an important area of grain, cotton and oil production.

Her business expanded gradually because of her previous sales experience, local agriculture knowledge, and continuous effort. In 2015, she became a client of Hubei Tianmen HSBC Rural Bank, who soon lended her RMB 100,000 for procuring wheat.

HSBC is one of the first foreign banks in China to be engaged in rural financial reform and rural banking businesses. As early as in 2007, HSBC has begun to deepen its inclusive finance services to provide financial credit, information, knowledge popularisation and other finance services to farmers and agricultural enterprises. The employees walked into the fields to understand the needs of farmers, implemented flexible credit loan policies for individual agriculture, actively paving the way for the “last kilometre” in financial services.

Various natural factors have made agricultural production uncertain.

In July 2016, Hubei was suffering from heavy rain and flooding. “The flood almost ruined my business dream. Again, it was HSBC that provided me with a loan of RMB 300,000 to help my cash flow.” With the loan she managed to rebuild the warehouse, resume and grow her business.

Looking back, HSBC has continued to root in county-level areas and service the rural financial market. By 2019, the cumulative loans of HSBC Rural Bank in China amounted to nearly RMB 25.8 billion.

HSBC is committed to producing talent for rural areas, promoting entrepreneurship and employment. As early as in 2004, HSBC has focused on the countryside and make charitable donations for targeted poverty-alleviation, with a total donation of over RMB 91 million. More than 10,000 farmers from more than 6,000 farming households have benefited from increased income. More than 1,000 rural teachers were trained to improve rural education quality. Over 100,000 rural migrant workers were helped to upgrade their vocational skills.

HSBC hopes that more people who are passionate about this cause can join us to unlock the future potential of rural areas, and to pursue a well-off life.

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