County in Zhejiang provides strong financial support to young entrepreneurs returning to hometowns

Xianju county in east China’s Zhejiang Province has gone all out in meeting the demands of young people who decide to return to their hometowns in the aim of starting businesses, having offered them strong financial support while improving the environment for entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Photo show the scenery of Yongan River in Xianju county, Zhejiang Province. (Photo/Xinhua)

According to Zhang Xin, deputy secretary of the Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) of Xianju, all villages and departments have designated CYLC officials to support young entrepreneurs in rural areas.

In 2021, a total of 21 executives from branches of financial institutions in towns and neighborhoods held concurrent posts as deputy secretaries of the committees of the CYLC in those towns and neighborhoods, offering services related to banking, finance and insurance to young entrepreneurs in rural areas, Zhang introduced. So far, the executives have provided door-to-door services for young entrepreneurs more than 1,300 times.

“We didn’t know how to handle relevant formalities in the past. Now with the support from the CYLC committees, banks will contact us and streamline procedures,” said Wang Xuwei, one of the first people who returned to Xianju to start a waxberry-related e-commerce business.

“It’s so convenient for me to do everything. For example, a bank will remind me of the date to apply for loans, and I just need to apply online,” Wang added.

Xianju has also held regular activities, such as lectures on financial policies and on-site financial advisory and consulting services, in addition to launching financial products that include loans for homestay and e-commerce businesses. The county has also set up a fund of 500,000 yuan (about $79,009) to support entrepreneurship in rural areas, which provides interest-free loans for some projects.

Zhu Xuhui, manager of a waxberry cooperative, has been able to improve his waxberry quality and extend the harvesting season with the county’s financial support.

With the help of the committee of the CYLC and the agriculture and rural affairs bureau of Xianju county, Zhu built 20 mu (about 1.33 hectares) of waxberry greenhouses with a subsidy of 980,000 yuan in 2019. Recently, a local bank offered a 1-million-yuan loan to Zhu for the building of more greenhouses.

Thanks to greenhouse planting, the harvesting season for waxberries is more than 20 days ahead of what was expected, and the yield has been increased by over 50 percent, Zhu said. Besides, his waxberries can sell at a higher price due to the better quality.