“It helps a lot that we do not have a exaggerated profit pressure – this gives us the trust of the people we work with” – how Germany contributes to a sustain-able China.

Markus tho Pesch, Director Beijing Office, DEG & Claudia Wink, Investment Manager Special Programs, Beijing, P. R. China

The German Investment and Development Company (DEG) is the private sector arm of the German development finance agency with the goal of promoting the private sec-tor in developing countries. The organization has to cover its cost, and reach a reasonable profit but is not pushing companies to follow unreasonable and unhealthy growth paths.
Sitting in the 11th floor of Sunflower Tower in Beijing, Markus tho Pesch empha-sised that DEG is not only helping to finance the growth of German compa-nies in China, but is also providing funds to Chinese small and medium sized companies trying to grow in a ecologically and so-cially sustainable way. Another increasingly impor-tant part of DEG’s work in China, as Claudia Wink, respon-sible for special programs in China, told us, is to support Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to push sustainable growth. An interesting example of DEG’s work in this area is e.g. the cooperation of the WWF and IKEA to promote re-sponsible forestry in China. By identifying High Conserva-tion Value Forest in Northeast China, promoting legal com-pliance on forest management and timber trade, as well as forest certification training and communication, this PPP helps IKEA to show responsibility for their most important sourcing material, it helps WWF and China to protect the environment and it gives DEG an important chance to con-tribute to the sustainable development in China.

Markus tho Pesch and Claudia Wink shared a few more of their satisfying projects and experiences in China with us, of which you can get a first idea in the following lines and may be able to read more in our book “MyImpact”.

Markus tho Pesch’s selected quotations:
“Most projects I have supported were in the range of EUR 1-20 million and mainly in the field of general manufacturing and agriculture. Environmental sensibility is the prerequisite of our engagement in every project.”

“At DEG a big part of our daily satisfaction comes from the people we work with in the projects. It’s great to hear the feedback that our engagement made a difference.”

“It helps a lot that we do not have an exaggerated profit pressure – this makes it easier to gain the trust of the people we work with.”

“I would like to leave China with the feeling that I did not harm anybody, maybe even helped some people. This is an important feeling.”

Claudia Wink’s selected quotations:
“At Siemens I was just a small bit in the chain, focusing purely on profit. Somehow, that was not enough for me.”

“I was looking for the drive of private enterprises combined with the meaningfulness of development cooperation. That’s exactly what I found at DEG.”

“German small and medium sized businesses have great technology to offer in the area of environmental protec-tion, e.g. waste management technology, gas treatment etc. There are great opportunities for Public Private Part-nerships (PPPs).”

“I would like to see the projects continue successfully af-ter I leave China. Through my physical presence in China the chances are bigger that they survive, but they are only sustainable if they continue without me.”

Some background on Markus tho Pesch:
Markus tho Pesch was born and grew up in northern Ger-many. He spent a couple of years working for Siemens, then deci-ded to do something untypical and studied Chinese.
In 1995 he joined DEG, spending four years working for them in Germany and the last five years in Beijing. In his current work Mr. tho Pesch focuses on financing companies, German ones that want to expand in the Chinese market as well as Chinese ones that want to grow with or with-out German assistance, but in a sustainable way. He has already provided capital to more than 40 projects in China.

Some background on Claudia Wink:
Claudia Wink was born and grew up in southern Germany. She graduated in economics in Munich. After working some years for Siemens, she focused on the development side of economics again and was looking for a job with the right combination of development support and econo-mic professionalism. This combi-nation is what she found at DEG in the year 2000, where she is now responsible for Public Private Partnership projects and DEGs special activities in China.

Some background on DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH:
DEG – German Investment and Development Company is a member of KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) banking group, one of the largest European development finance institutions. Founded in 1962 in Cologne (Germany), DEG has been financing and structuring investment projects of private companies in developing and transition countries through loans and equity with its 323 employees within the last 40 years. DEG invests only in profitable, ecologically sound and socially sustainable projects in various sectors of the economy and thereby contributes to sustainable development. In China DEG commitments reached € 260 million and the current portfolio is around € 150 million.
DEG also participates in the Public-Private Partnership Program (PPP) of the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ). The PPP funds are used for preparatory and supportive measures for investments, such as environmental protection, education and further training, infrastructure, quality assurance and healthcare.
Until 2005 DEG was engaged in almost 100 investment deals and PPP’s in China and is hoping to increase this number in the following years.

If you would like to engage with the work of Markus tho Pesch and Claudia Wink or get to know more about DEG please visit www.deginvest.de,
Read more about forest certification on www.fsc.org or www.certifiedwood.org

or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.