A Shanghai Student Perseveres in His Quest to Provide Funding for the Poor
Yeop Lee, 16, is a high school senior at Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China. Lee and a few friends decided last year to start a microfinance organization to help alleviate poverty in China. As Lee describes in this KWHS summer essay, the process has not been without its challenges.
When I was 14, I saw an image that will remain with me always. I was walking down the street in Shanghai when I came upon a woman with no legs sitting on the side of the road. She was surrounded by three crying babies. Covered in dust, the woman begged for change. I felt moved to help them all, but not just with the coins in my pocket. Poverty was all around us in Shanghai, from the hungry faces that appeared in our car window at stoplights, to the cluster of beggars standing outside our church gates each week. How could I make a meaningful difference?
I began to consider the idea of starting a microfinance organization. I was reading The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs, a book that discusses microfinance organizations, such as the Grameen Bank, an organization working tirelessly to alleviate poverty in lesser-developed nations like Bangladesh. At first, I didn’t understand the concept of microfinance, so I did some research. Microfinance is essentially a banking system for the poor. A microfinance organization lends small amounts of money to small business owners and poor entrepreneurs in order to give them access to funds that might help them escape poverty. Thus, a microfinance organization helps people who don’t have the necessary credit ratings and collateral to receive a loan through the traditional banking system.
As I continued to research microfinance, I couldn’t find a specific organization solely focused on alleviating poverty in China. People think of China as a world-dominating economy with great industrial strength and advanced technology. However, China is actually classified as a lesser-developed nation. In the past, China’s microfinance industry was led by an organization called Wokai that existed to service individuals living in rural China. However, Wokai shut down in May 2012 due to lack of funding and organizational roadblocks. I continued my research on various different microfinance structures and found myself getting increasingly excited about the prospect of starting my own microfinance institution.
Credibility and Regulations
All startups face challenges, but my life as a microfinance entrepreneur in the past year has been littered with roadblocks. Our team of five high school students has been problem-solving from Day 1. Credibility was our first hurdle. While we didn’t have expert financial knowledge, we did have passion. Still, some of our advisors questioned our capabilities. For example, as we began to make progress with investors, our economics teacher expressed his doubts. He thought it was ridiculous that people would entrust teenagers to handle such important matters. We had originally thought that our teacher would support us, but hearing his reaction set us back. We had to look hard at whether or not we had what it took to complete what we had set out to do.
We decided that our best strategy was to build up our microfinance expertise in different areas. I focused on the legal structure of a microfinance organization and the necessary funding to create the nonprofit. Another team member created an application that loan-seekers would have to complete in order to receive a loan from us. And still another developed ways to get our services out to the most rural areas of China. As we persevered with our research, we gained confidence and credibility.
Perhaps even greater than the credibility issue, however, were the challenges of China’s regulatory environment. My family moved to China from South Korea when I was 4 years old, and the other members of our team are also foreign nationals. China has extremely strict regulations limiting foreigners from starting nonprofit organizations in the country.
There had to be a way. I contacted a lawyer from the Shanghai firm O’Melveny & Myers, who agreed to help us pro bono. This meant that the lawyer wouldn’t charge us anything for his services. He and I began to research various ways to proceed with our organization. We could begin doing our work without a legal structure, which meant that we would move ahead with our microfinance services without legal protection. Was this a risk we were willing to take to achieve our goal of helping Chinese people in poverty? We could also set up shop in another country, which seemed pointless since we lived in China. Finally, we could just give up, forced to be satisfied merely with our research and new microfinance knowledge. I wasn’t ready to go that route – or any of the others.
Soon we discovered the ideal solution to our problem. We could start our organization within Shanghai’s free trade zone, a section of the city that has no quotas or restrictions on trade and organizational activities that happen within its parameters. The zone is a safe haven for us because as international students, we would be able to start our organization without the traditional Chinese government restrictions – and we could still help the impoverished throughout Shanghai.
‘Greedy, Profit-driven Individuals’
We have yet to incorporate our microfinance institution, but we are close. As seniors in high school, our small team is busy with all kinds of responsibilities, from classes to standardized tests to college applications. Even so, we are committed to our microfinance project, and expect to start immediately once we get approval from the Chinese government.
I, of course, am eager to help people in need get financial assistance, especially in my home of Shanghai, which is hailed as the financial center of China and one of the most prosperous cities in the region. And since I also intend to pursue a college degree in finance and economics, I have come to see microfinance as a compassionate component of the financial industry. The financial sector is often seen as made up of greedy, profit-driven individuals. It has been inspiring to see finance used to help the poor, rather than to just build profits. My hope is that our microfinance organization will endure and make a real difference in the lives of Shanghai’s poor.
Related Links
- The End of Poverty
- Grameen Bank
- The Atlantic: Shanghai Then and Now
- The Diplomat: China’s War Against Poverty
- Wokai Shuts Down
- K@W: How Microfinance Breaks the Cycle of Poverty
- O’Melveny & Myers
Conversation Starters
How is Yeop Lee’s startup reflective of his personal experiences and interests? Is it only about helping the poor in Shanghai?
What challenges did Yeop Lee and his team face when starting their microfinance project? If someone challenges your credibility, what does that mean? Has anyone ever questioned your credibility? What qualities must entrepreneurs have to overcome obstacles like these?
Lee says, “The financial sector is often seen as made up of greedy, profit-driven individuals.” Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not? What are some examples from history, either recent or distant, of this greed in action? Other than microfinance, what are some other “compassionate components” of the finance industry.
I find this article very interesting! I’m glad that they had an organization that helps the people that don’t have credit ratings that are necessary to receive a loan through the traditional banking system.
I also find it interesting how the microfinance is a banking system for the poor, and it lends small amounts of money to many of the small business owners.
They had many strategies, which was very helpful. The best one was to build up their microfinance organization and the funding that was used to make and create the nonprofit.
This article has made me rethink about the economy of our country and other countries that have been labeled to be an “economic superpower.” Not every country that claims to be all powerful are actually booming with progress. There is a lot of poor in a lot of countries. Such as the U.S, China and Russia. All have been known for the economic strength but in reality they struggle with their civilians in poverty and their country in debt.
Hi,
I’d like to know whether there is an update of this microfinance organisation. I’m a student in Shanghai as well, and I’m a social entrepreneur. I’d like to know whether this organisation still exists, as I believe the student who posted this article has graduated from Shanghai American School.
However, I am quite sceptical of this as they will not get permission from the Chinese government. As stated in the article, it’s really hard to start non-profits / charities if you are a foreigner. The Chinese government doesn’t want to expose the poor part of China (especially in Shanghai, the metropolis)!
The idea was great though 🙂
Hi Harry. We appreciate your question! We will contact the essay author and see if he will post a comment about his progress on the article. Stay tuned!
Hello,
Today, I’d like to share some of my similar experiences with the author’s.
Quite similarly, both of our nonprofits are located in Shanghai, China. However, Lee’s is a microfinance organisation and mine is a social enterprise. Our vision is slightly different – his is to help loan seekers that are not credible (which is slightly ironic considering his reputation at first), and mine is to help fight against poverty and hunger across rural China. We’ve both come across challenges, and I’ll share many in my comment!
As you may have seen from Lee’s article, it’s hard to receive legal protection, in other words being an official NGO, NPO, or charity in China. The government doesn’t want non-Chinese citizens to do charity work; they want China to be seen as a powerful nation. Hence, only larger international firms like Heifer International have establish in China. Other service projects are lead by Chinese citizens. And, as we are international students, the chance of us receiving certification and proper recognition is barely possible. Most of us operate small as a nonprofit, and do not receive legal protection. Although Lee operates in the free trade zone, he doesn’t receive much more help, but at least it is possible to operate for him. Personally, I don’t think it is really necessary, because small microfinance organisations won’t have much trade anyways. My nonprofit works with another official international charity established in China. It makes my work possible, and with a larger team, more impact can be made. My main challenge was finding the right organisation. Easy as it may sound, I actually spent at least dozens of hours researching, communicating, and finalising the organisation I picked from many. Writing all those emails took a long time, and it was heartrending to see many of them ignored or left not responded. The lack of work ethic from these firms disgusted me (I did not state that I was a student), so my list of firms narrowed down until I found the right organisation. Honestly, I’m not even absolutely sure if this organisation is perfect, but we’ve gone along quite well already, and much progress has been made. They’ve even partnered with Amazon (after I cooperated with them), which is quite amazing :)!
I totally understand Lee’s problem of credibility. I didn’t face that much of an issue because I expanded by using my school’s resources. Partly associating my organisation with school helped a lot, as it made my nonprofit credible. I’m amazed that he received free service from a law firm. I must respect his hard efforts for doing so, but I guess it was necessary due to his organisation dealing with the exchange of money rather than what I do – exchanging goods and services for money. This is similar in some respects to what I did – reach out to 10 firms in Shanghai and spread awareness of my enterprise, including some crowdfunding!
As I’ve stated before, I really like Lee’s idea, and I hope that he will update this post!
Harry
In the article “A Shanghai Student Perseveres in His Quest to Provide Funding for the Poor,” Yeop Lee quoted, “The financial sector is often seen as made up of greedy, profit-driven individuals. It has been inspiring to see finance used to help the poor, rather than to just build profits.” When I first read this quote, I experienced a wave of ambiguity and doubt. It is true that financial industries strive to maximize profit and revenue. However, many startups nowadays are created as Non-Profit Organizations(NPOs) with the aim of maximizing the likelihood that they will succeed in achieving their own objectives.
Last year, I was involved in three community service projects at my school. The first one is an NPO aiming to advocate Migrant Domestic Workers(MDWs)’ rights and the committee strives to reshape public perception of migrant workers in Singapore. We had partnerships with other non-governmental organizations that provide shelters for MDWs and in order to show our support, we offer IT literacy sessions to them. From this service, my fellow members and I have helped many MDWs who are not technologically savvy to gain a better insight into how electronics work, and I remembered when one of the MDWs asked me that “Why did you help us? What drives you to keep doing it?” My mind flashed back to all the sessions we have had and the smile on every MDW’s face. I simply answered, “From HER Journey(the name of the community service), I have derived pleasure that I cannot get from doing anything else.”
My second community service project is called OneSky, a service that aims to help every young child to gain access to education and quality care. From OneSky, my team organized many fundraising events to raise donations for the kids residing mainly in China. I once remarked, “What motivated me was that every hour I devoted to OneSky would help a child in another country to thrive and positively impact society in the future.”
The third one is called Willing Hearts, a NPO that is wholly run by volunteers and sends aid to underprivileged families by delivering and distributing food to households in need. I contributed by managing kitchen errands and did my utmost to support the NPO in order to combat the issues of poverty and hunger in Singapore.
In light of these three experiences, I now have a greater grasp of how NPOs function and I am more aware that not all institutions are motivated solely by profit, as the modern worldview would have us believe. I concur with the idea that NPOs might not be feasible over the long run, but through one’s determination and hard work, just like investment, it is about maximizing the possibility to achieve the goals set by the NPOs. Lee undoubtedly experienced several obstacles when he wanted to launch his NPO, such as doubts about his credibility, inadequate funds, insufficient time, etc. However, he is now on the right track to starting his institution aiming to lift the impoverished out of poverty. I am deeply inspired by Lee’s quote because he pointed out a common misconception that still remains in our modern society. Occasionally, I had to even withdraw money from my own pocket in order to help my institutions without expecting anything in return because when I first joined this organization, I had no intention to make a profit out of this. Instead, I wanted to assist as many individuals as I could in order to increase the likelihood that we would succeed in our mission. I will continue to dedicate my utmost contribution to these community service projects and to me, they are no longer categorized as my “extracurricular activities”. They helped me to discover one of my passions and also shaped who I am individually. By pursuing my interest in these NPOs, I am not only doing it for my personal fulfilment and satisfaction. I know I am also contributing to the empowerment of women, impoverished families, and underprivileged children in my community and beyond.