"Finance accompanies us to forge ahead, only then do we dare to charge forward."

In the morning light on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, a 1,168 cubic meter ultra-high-pressure wet metallurgy reactor is performing a “magic” of turning stones into gold—nickel laterite ore is transformed under high temperature and pressure into high-purity nickel-cobalt hydroxide (MHP) products, which will ultimately be sent to global new energy battery material factories. The Greenmei Indonesia project leader gazes at the real-time monitoring screen and sighs, “The $30 million working capital loan from Bank of China has made our overseas roots more stable.”

This industrial miracle far in the South Seas originates from a laboratory in Bao’an, Shenzhen. In 2001, former professor Xu Kaihua of Central South University started his entrepreneurial journey here with the ideals of “green—ecology—manufacturing.” Today, Greenmei, founded by him, has grown into a leading global new energy supply chain enterprise with total assets exceeding 70 billion yuan. Supporting this more than 20-year growth journey are not only the company’s own technological perseverance but also the ecological nurturing of Shenzhen as the “First City of Private Economy” and the continuous support of its financial system.

From “little giants” like Mindray and UBTech to industry giants like Huawei and BYD, from individual entrepreneurs rooted in communities to leading private enterprises with cross-border layouts, Shenzhen’s innovative hot land fosters a vibrant landscape of “government-bank-enterprise” collaboration, nurturing “large enterprises standing tall, and small and medium-sized enterprises spreading everywhere.” The more than twenty-year partnership between Bank of China and Greenmei is a vivid microcosm of this financial empowerment of the private economy.

Financial Breakthrough Behind a Laboratory

In 2001, at Shenzhen Taohuayuan Science and Technology Innovation Park, Xu Kaihua’s laboratory was more like a “scrap yard”—recycled old batteries and electronic waste, with researchers busy “turning waste into treasure.”

“At that time, no one believed in the business of dismantling old and selling waste, even financing was seen as an ‘outsider’.” Recall early employees of Greenmei, as the circular economy was still a niche in China, the company lacked mature financial models and collateral required by traditional credit, “most financial institutions thought we were ‘burning money for concepts,’ and no one was willing to lend us a hand.”

Greenmei’s persistence and innovation fueled its business development. As the scale expanded, Greenmei needed more working capital for key metal resource recycling and new energy battery material production. After in-depth research, Bank of China’s team found that Greenmei’s “urban mine” concept aligned with Shenzhen’s strategy to encourage technological innovation and green development. However, traditional credit approval standards could not fit its high input characteristics—“you can’t measure the value of the circular economy with the same yardstick used for traditional manufacturing.”

Policy guidance from financial regulators like the central bank gave financial institutions the confidence and direction for innovation. At that time, Greenmei was still in its early stages, with many systems not yet mature. Bank of China Shenzhen Branch proactively provided customized advice—from building a financial accounting system suitable for the circular industry to optimizing funding turnover plans for recycling networks—accompanying the company through the critical initial stage from laboratory technology to industrialization, witnessing Greenmei’s initial transformation from single waste battery recycling to comprehensive resource recycling.

Daring to be a pioneer, stories of such joint breakthroughs between finance and enterprises in Shenzhen are common. In 1988, China Construction Bank Shenzhen Branch issued Huawei its first credit loan of 300k yuan; in 1994, China Merchants Bank pioneered the “Buyer’s Credit” business nationwide, easing Huawei’s early R&D funding pressure. Financial support for technological innovation gradually expanded to include buyer’s credit, loan guarantees, venture capital, and other new modes; in 2008, Huawei began expanding overseas, with ICBC Shenzhen Branch providing short-term export factoring and overseas syndicate loans, with accounts receivable financing exceeding $1 billion; by 2025, Bank of China launched its first RMB financing project for an energy storage station in Uzbekistan, supporting Huawei’s energy storage equipment “going global” and promoting cross-border use of RMB.

By the end of February 2026, the balance of loans to private enterprises in Shenzhen reached 4.44 trillion yuan, accounting for 44% of all loans, with a year-on-year growth rate 3.48 percentage points higher than the overall loan growth. Behind this impressive data are countless private enterprises like Greenmei, achieving breakthroughs from zero to one and from one to a hundred with financial support.

Supporting Growth: Financial Endurance Behind 5,000 Patents

“People often think recycling is just about collecting waste, but in new energy materials recycling and manufacturing, there’s real technical expertise involved,” says Lou Huiyou, Senior Vice President of Greenmei. The company invests over a billion yuan annually in R&D, focusing on advancing new energy materials manufacturing and resource recycling technologies.

According to Financial Times, for scrapped vehicles and electric vehicle batteries, efficient extraction of key metals like nickel, cobalt, and lithium is crucial, and even tiny differences in extraction rates directly impact costs and benefits.

“If competitors can achieve a 90% extraction rate, we aim to break through to even higher levels. Currently, Greenmei can extract over 96.5% of lithium from power battery packs, and over 99% of nickel, cobalt, and manganese,” Lou said. Behind this figure is the effort to “squeeze out” every bit of value from waste residues, significantly improving resource utilization and building an unbeatable competitive edge.

The technical challenge isn’t limited to recycling; it extends to materials manufacturing. Due to the high reactivity of nickel, manufacturing faces difficulties and safety requirements. How to meet market demands for longer range while enhancing stability and safety remains a common industry challenge.

“Balancing range and safety leaves no shortcuts—only through technological refinement and substantial R&D investment,” Lou emphasized. Throughout this ongoing technological pursuit, financial support has never been absent.

The core competitiveness of circular economy lies in technology, but the long cycle of industrialization often traps companies in “high R&D, low returns” funding dilemmas. Greenmei has broken free through breakthrough technological innovations. Since listing, it has invested over 8.3 billion yuan in R&D, applied for more than 6,000 patents, led or participated in over 600 international, national, and industry standards, and achieved breakthroughs in key “choke points” such as superfine cobalt-nickel powder regeneration and power battery recycling. Every breakthrough is inseparable from continuous financial empowerment.

In 2004, Greenmei planned to build a large-scale production base in Jingmen, Hubei, but funding gaps became a “barrier.” With local government support, Bank of China provided an 8 million yuan loan. “This money helped us build our first production line and showed us the inclusiveness and support of finance for innovation,” Lou said.

Subsequently, at key milestones, financial support has been constant. In 2009, Greenmei prepared for an IPO on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, requiring large funds for its industrial base layout across the country. Facing insufficient collateral, Bank of China again broke traditional approval logic, offering special credit support, helping establish the first circular industry bases in Hubei and Jiangxi. In January 2010, Greenmei successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming China’s “First City Mine Exploitation Stock.” “From 8 million yuan to billions in credit lines, Bank of China’s support has always kept pace with our growth,” Lou said. This “accompanying finance” allows the company to focus on innovation.

When the company’s overseas raw material procurement mode changed, Bank of China Shenzhen Branch quickly adjusted its strategy, converting the previous 350 million yuan import letter of credit quota into working capital loans to better match the company’s needs. Additionally, under guidance from financial regulators like the central bank, some banks launched innovative products such as R&D loans and technology innovation loans, injecting stable funds into technological exploration.

During the critical phase of establishing production bases in Indonesia, Bank of China Shenzhen Branch leveraged cross-border financial services, precisely matching demands in ODI registration, foreign exchange, and cross-border fund transfers, efficiently completing multiple ODI transactions, and ensuring rapid and steady overseas investment. Through professional and efficient financial services, they safeguarded the high-quality development of Chinese enterprises going global.

Bond Market “Science and Technology Board” Empowers: “Patient Capital” in the Hard Tech Arena

For private enterprises, technological R&D requires not only credit support but also large-scale, long-term “patient capital.” The launch of the “Science and Technology Board” in the bond market enables more “patient capital” to better support enterprises.

At the exhibition hall of Zhujiji Dynamics in Nanshan, Shenzhen, a humanoid robot with a silver-white body is the focus of attention: it raises its mechanical arm to wave, performs smooth dance moves to the rhythm, then turns to stand up on flat ground and climb stairs—an array of agile actions sketches the frontier of China’s embodied intelligent robot track.

As one of the earliest tech startups to integrate spatial and motion intelligence into humanoid robots, Zhujiji’s development always targets core breakthroughs in hard technology. Founder Zhang Wei has a clear timeline: 2027 is a critical milestone for mass production of embodied intelligent robots, and now is the golden period for R&D and scenario deployment. But this frontier requires cross-disciplinary research and long-term investment, making stable and long-term “patient capital” a core need.

The pain points in Zhujiji’s development reflect the common demands of many Shenzhen enterprises. The innovative launch of the “Science and Technology Board” in the bond market provides precise financial solutions for this need. In May 2025, the People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly launched the bond market’s “Science and Technology Board,” opening new financing channels for tech enterprises and quality equity investment institutions, enabling long-term capital to precisely support hard tech sectors. This also opened new pathways for Shenzhen’s Dongfang Fuhai Investment Management to empower tech startups.

Recognizing the broad prospects of embodied intelligence and the technological strength of Zhujiji, Dongfang Fuhai led a Pre-B round investment. “Seeing Zhujiji, perhaps we can glimpse an important technological direction for China’s humanoid robots,” said Chairman Chen Wei. This equity investment not only provides direct funding for core technological breakthroughs but also leverages Dongfang Fuhai’s industrial resources to promote the application of embodied intelligence in research, manufacturing, and commercial scenarios. The “Science and Technology Board” further enhances Dongfang Fuhai’s empowerment capabilities.

In June 2025, riding the wave of the “Science and Technology Board,” Dongfang Fuhai successfully issued its first batch of science and technology innovation bonds in the interbank market, also establishing a multi-party risk-sharing guarantee mechanism with “China Bond Credit Enhancement Full Guarantee + Shenzhen High-tech Investment Guarantee,” strengthening the risk barrier for sci-tech financing.

“Long-term funds raised through science and technology innovation bonds can further leverage social capital and expand equity investment funds,” Chen Wei said. This model forms a clear “bond-equity linkage” support chain for tech enterprise financing: long-term funds from bonds feed back into equity investments, which then precisely inject capital into hard tech companies like Zhujiji, allowing financial “fresh water” to seep through the innovation chain layer by layer.

In Shenzhen, this financial innovation extends beyond bond-equity linkage to deep integration of direct and indirect financing. Dongfang Fuhai also cooperates with China Construction Bank Shenzhen Branch to launch “Fuhai Loan”: for tech projects invested by Dongfang Fuhai, if the enterprise needs subsequent financing, Dongfang Fuhai assists with connection, and the Shenzhen Branch provides unsecured, unguaranteed loans, with a cycle of two to three years, precisely addressing the financing pain points of light-assets, difficult financing, and long R&D cycles in hard tech enterprises.

The effect of financial innovation continues to unfold in Shenzhen’s tech innovation fertile ground. A relevant person from the Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China revealed that since the launch of the “Science and Technology Board,” by February 2026, enterprises and institutions in Shenzhen had issued over 46.35 billion yuan of science and technology innovation bonds in the interbank market. Among them, Bank of China Shenzhen Branch participated in underwriting the first batch of sci-tech bonds for Shenzhen Investment Holdings, China Merchants Capital, Lixun Precision, Everbright Environmental, and Dongfang Fuhai.

This massive long-term capital, flowing through the financing channels built by the “Science and Technology Board,” continuously injects confidence into Shenzhen’s hard tech sector, making finance an important pillar of Shenzhen’s sci-tech ecosystem, and helping more Chinese hard tech companies move from laboratories to industrialization, from technological exploration to market realization.

The reactors in Indonesia still roar, Shenzhen’s laboratories continue to innovate, and cross-border funds flow smoothly through the global network—years of partnership between Greenmei, Zhujiji, and financial institutions vividly illustrate Shenzhen’s private economy development. Here, finance is no longer just about capital supply but a partner in enterprise growth, a catalyst for innovation, and a bridge for going global; here, the vitality of private economy is fully unleashed, and new productive forces are accelerating.

As one private entrepreneur said, “Shenzhen gave us the soil for innovation, finance accompanies us through the storm, and that’s why we dare to forge ahead.”

From the pioneering private enterprise loans in Shekou Industrial Zone, to the first foreign exchange adjustment center nationwide, and to the construction of cross-border financial “one-stop” systems, over the past 40 years, the Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China has always resonated with Shenzhen’s private economy, continuously breaking barriers and paving roads through financial reform and innovation.

On this new journey, the prospects for private economy are broad and promising, and finance, as the lifeblood of the real economy, remains a strong backing for its growth. Shenzhen’s financial system will uphold its original mission of serving the real economy, leverage its advantages in science and technology finance and cross-border finance, create more distinctive and exemplary reform achievements, comprehensively optimize policies, services, and supervision systems, and support the high-quality development of Shenzhen’s private economy.

Source: Financial Times Client

Reporter: Ma Meiruò

Image source: provided by interviewees

Editor: Yang Jingyi