A Chinese start-up tries to grow in harsh climate

BEIJING — Hundreds of miles north of here on the edge of the Mongolian steppes, Li Enhui is producing a "magic bag" to help China fight the fierce sandstorms that plague this city every spring.

Li's water-saving pouch, which he says enables trees to thrive in desert conditions, was selected as a special technology project by the organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Hoping to host sandstorm-free games, the government is planting a "green wall" of trees around the capital to keep the desert at bay.

But the frustrated 41-year-old scientist said he couldn't raise the $4 million he needed to turn his start-up operation into a full-fledged business.

"Though our project is very good and we have lots of support from the government, we only have technology," said Li, president and chairman of Beijing Yusen Environmental Protection Technology Co. "In China, banks don't think technology is worth anything. They want something else, like land."

Li's plight is common in China's go-go economy, in which many entrepreneurs are rich in ideas and enthusiasm but sorely lacking in venture capital, business experts said.

Small businesses struggle everywhere, but the hurdles are particularly high in China. Though this Asian giant boasts one of the world's fastest-growing economies and $1 trillion in foreign reserves, debt-laden banks are reluctant to put money into start-ups.

China also lacks strong intellectual property protections and is burdened by arcane regulations, according to American and Chinese business experts.

Li is relying on an unusual program launched by the Washington-based World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, to nurture "green" entrepreneurialism in the developing world.

The goal of the New Ventures program is to identify the most promising environmental technology start-ups in the world's poorest countries and put them through business boot camp, in the hope that they will be able to capture the attention of early-stage investors.

Since 2000, the program has helped raise $19 million for 140 companies in five countries, including a medicinal plant company in India and a waterless carwash firm in Brazil.

China, where the government has made cleaning up the air and water a national mantra, seemed like a perfect place to plant an eco-friendly flag in 2003. Sidewalk capitalism was thriving and the universities were churning out ambitious young people dreaming of taking their own companies public.