Introduction: A rough journey of 18.8km through gobi and desert, full of laughter and joys, with a view to raising funds for the project of “One Hundred Million Haloxylon Trees” to protect Alxa from boundless yellow sand and bring clean water and blue sky back – Industrial Bank (IB) and private banking customers contributed green to desert with hiking.
Located in the west end of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Alxa is the largest origin of sand dust in China, characterized by cold winter and hot summer, draught and low precipitation, strong wind and prevailing sand. Known as the “pioneer to conquer desert”, haloxylon trees, boasting the properties of resistance to high temperature and frost, become the natural barrier for protecting the ecological environment in the Alxa region. What scene will be presented before our eyes when “one hundred million haloxylon trees” take root, shoot up, and thrive in the area and the vegetation for the vast desert of 2 million mu is recovered?
With such a beautiful vision, the Private Banking Department of IB, as a member of Alxa Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology (SEE), in collaboration with the society, organized customers of “Elite Growth Club” and their kids to have the parent-kid journey for five days and four nights, “Alxa Public Benefit Travel 2014” during the holiday of the National Day. While having a full experience of the culture of Western Xia and desert landscape of Inner Monglia, the department also led “IB Team” composed of the group of customers and their kids to participate in the “Through-Helan Mountain Fund-raising Movement” jointly organized by Alxa SEE public benefit organization and Mangrove Conservation Foundation (MCF) of Shenzhen on October 6. Starting from Suyukou National Forest Park of Yinchuan, the team trekked 18.8km through Helan Mountain of Ningxia, which is known as “Pearl of the Frontier”, into Alxa of Inner Mongolia. They experienced the hardship of front-line environmental protectors working outdoors by way of hiking through the mountain and called friends and relatives to raise funds for the project “One Hundred Million Haloxylon Trees” of Alxa.
Alxa SEE public benefit organization, the general term for Alxa SEE and SEE Foundation, is the first public benefit organization for environmental protection mainly consisting of entrepreneurs, and it is established on the basis of improving the ecological environment of Alxa region. The “One Hundred Million Haloxylon Trees” project is devoted to planting 100 million haloxylon trees in Alxa region in ten years to recover the vegetation for the vast desert of 2 million mu in the region and check the tendency of desertification, so as to improve the local ecological environment.
In total, the “Through-Helan Mountain Fund-raising Movement” called together 53 teams consisting of entrepreneurs and public benefit partners, and the “IB team” from the “Elite Growth Club” is the only parent-kid team. It is reported that the “Elite Growth Club” is value-added service platform elaborately created by the Private Banking Department of IB in 2014 for customers on the theme of “carrying on spiritual wealth”. Following the tenets of paying attention to ecological environment, advocating low-carbon and environment-friendly life, and calling for social responsibility, the club focuses on the cultivation of kids of private banking customers by organizing unique parent-kid travel and public benefit activities. In the journey of 18.8 km, IB’s private banking customers from the “Elite Growth Club” took 6-8 hours to lead their kids to trek through the mountain regardless hardship, passing the qualities of courage, perseverance, tenacity, teamwork, and optimism onto their kids. “Parcels of haloxylon trees planted this year may grow into a wood in the next year. Similarly, parents witness the growth of kids themselves not merely on the 18.8 km journey. Through the course of life, we are willing to walk side by side with our kids, inspire their potential with journeys on the way, and make their ongoing steps become more steadfast and steady.” A private banking customer of the bank participating in the activity indicated that this fund-raising movement was a special and fine “gift of youth” to kids.
At the destination of journey, Ren Zhiqiang, the incumbent president of Alxa SEE, Liu Xiaoguang, initiative president, Han Jiahuan, the third president, and Feng Lun, the fourth president, welcomed the team together. Ren Zhiqiang express thanks to IB, “Kids in the team are awesome! Many of them finished the half journey! Experience and know the nature and participate in environmental protection from an early age!”
IB has always advocated the way to perform corporate social responsibilities through “obtaining reasonable profits while bringing benefits to the stakeholders” and has been enthusiastic in the public benefit cause. In order to better support the recovery of ecology in Alxa, the Private Banking Department of IB not only organized customers to participate in the “Through-Helan Mountain Fund-raising Movement”, but also made a donation of RMB 500,000 to plant a parcel of “IB Forest” in the “One Hundred Million Haloxylon Trees” project. In the meantime, the bank would, in collaboration with Alxa SEE public benefit organization, release "IB SEE Private Banking Card". The person-in-charge of the Private Banking Department of IB said: “The card is an exclusive one customized for private banking customers of our bank, with the regular functions of savings card and wealth management card. Meanwhile, cardholders can also enjoy wealth management and high-end customer services offered by the bank. It could stand for an identity symbol of HNWIs with social responsibility. It will soon be launched officially.” It is said that the threshold for “IB SEE Private Banking Card” is special. Not only do customers need to reach the standard for private banking customers, but the key principle is that they should recognize the public benefit concepts of IB and SEE and be willing to make public benefit donation to the environmental protection projects of SEE for public benefits. In other words, only these HNWIs with public benefit concept identical to that of IB and SEE can apply for “IB SEE Private Banking Card”. To choose the unique donation function of the card, a cardholder can make public benefit donation to Alxa SEE public benefit organization, and the donation will be used in the “One Hundred Million Haloxylon Trees” project to irrigate the “IB Forest” and make it become increasingly exuberant. Meanwhile, cardholders can also enjoy exclusive wealth management services for private banking customer of IB and special value-added services including Business Jet Club, IB Expert Forum, Overseas Education Manager, overseas immigration, and custom travel.
“Before the ‘Through-Helan Mountain Fund-raising Movement’, the bank also organized the private banking customers of “Elite Growth Club” and their kids to participate in the activity of ‘Dream Travel to North Pole’ to see polar bear and experience the impact of global climate warming on the environment where polar bears live.” The above person-in-charge of IB added, “Family wealth is not merely to be passed on to individuals, but the spiritual wealth and social responsibility should also be carried forward. Our bank is willing to organize similar activities to make kids learn to respect the nature, care for the environment with unique humanity care, so that they can establish the awareness of responsibility and the spiritual wealth of private banking customers can be passed on permanently.”