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Recently, founder, chairman, as well as president of ZEHO ECO Mrs. Zhang Yijun was interviewed by Shanghai Securities News. The passage Mrs. Zhang Yijun: In the past 24 years, ZEHO ECO has neither resorted to shortcuts nor taken detours was published on August 17. In the passage, Mrs. Zhang thoroughly introduces the growth of ZEHO ECO from its start-up, steady development and the eventual IPO from the perspective of its founder. Also, she expresses her expectation of the company and presents readers with a promising future that ZEHO ECO is going to embrace.

Exclusive interview of the chairman, August 17, ©️Shanghai Securities News

Attached article: the original text of the exclusive interview

Mrs. Zhang Yijun: In the past 24 years, ZEHO ECO has neither resorted to shortcuts nor taken detours

Source: Shanghai Securities News

Journalist: Wang Zilin; Editor: Qiu Jiang

On August 16th, as an eco-environmental technology operator, ZEHO ECO was listed on the main board of Shanghai Stock Exchange and closed the day up 44.02%. Within the ecological and environmental protection industries, ZEHO ECO adopted a distinctive strategy – in the face of hot money, the company remained sensible; when PPP projects went viral, they were prudent; when the whole industries underwent a slump, ZEHO ECO made leaps forward to become a giant in China and forge ahead to enter the capital market. Recently, founder, chairman and president of ZEHO ECO Mrs. Zhang Yijun said during the interview by Shanghai Securities News that in the past 24 years, ZEHO ECO has neither resorted to shortcuts nor taken detours.

From journalist to business owner

Because of its high potential in strategic positioning and capability in demonstration, the afforestation project at Lot No. 9 of Xiong’an New Area has been called “the foremost bid for the millennium afforestation project in Xiong’an New Area” ever since its advent. The lot has been deemed as “a must to bid for” by various SOEs such as China State Construction Engineering Corporation and China Communications Construction. In November 2017, a dark horse stood out in the bid evaluation result besides the consortium led by a batch of SOEs. The dark horse became the only independent private company to win the bid, and it was ZEHO ECO.

At that time, ZEHO ECO was not comparable to other candidates, no matter on company scale or market share. Why did it eventually stand out among nearly 100 bidders?

“Our initial philosophy was to return to the essence of design, to respect every piece of land, and to make each construction the final one.” Mrs. Zhang said that ZEHO ECO has been implementing the integrated design + construction model since the first project. With the continuous advancement of the company, a “design, build, intelligence, finance and operations” industrial chain service was established. ZEHO ECO has subsequently completed the Tangshan International Horticultural Expo, Dali Erhai Lake buffer zone ecological restoration, Xiong’an Baiyang Lake ecological conservation and other projects.

Only few people know Zhang worked as a journalist for 10 years before founding ZEHO ECO. Her former colleagues highly appreciate her sheer pursuit of the essence of journalism, her continuous exploration of innovation, and her firm determination in the workplace. These qualities have become a part of her and support her transition from journalist to the head of a listed company.

After devoting herself to business in 1997, Zhang first chose home décor. In the first year, her team successfully signed a contract of nearly one million yuan. However, why did she switch to the eco-industry? Zhang recalled and said: “Once we paid a visit to Europe to learn about the chasm between China and the west of urban ecology. Also, I realized the potential for China’s urban reforestation. During the preliminary stage of our start-up, there were only three companies related to urban ecology registered in Qinhuangdao and the market was vast. While home décor had gradually turned into a red sea industry.”

“Just as journalism is all about finding the truth, ZEHO ECO set up its principle to pursue the true essence of design since it was founded. We will weave science-based design, integrated solutions and virtual-nature ecological construction methods into every project.” Zhang said.

Saying no to shortcuts and detours

Since its founding in 1997, ZEHO ECO has flourished and developed. It has gone through some key events such as the change of major businesses, business upgrading and transformation, company relocation and business name change, listing on the New Third Board, bringing in investors, IPO declaration on the Main Board, etc. According to Zhang, ZEHO ECO has never resorted to shortcuts over the years, nor did they make detours. Even in 2018, when the ecological industry faced liquidity crisis, ZEHO ECO could still tackle difficulties smoothly.

Years ago, as a green hand, ZEHO ECO was favored by various investors in the industry. In 2014, several well-known fund companies were optimistic about the prospects of ZEHO ECO and showed the willingness to cooperate. ZEHO ECO remained sensible and turned down venture capital politely and continued to stay low-profile and get well prepared. Since then, as the technical foundation solidified and the endogenous power of business expansion enlarged, ZEHO ECO decided to get listed on the New Third Board and introduced five investors by the end of 2017, which laid a foundation for the national strategic development thereafter.

In 2018, many private environmental companies who previously launched PPP projects encountered liquidity crisis, but thanks to a sensible style, the capital chain and financial situation of ZEHO ECO remained stable and presented an upward trend. In July 2018, the company entered and broadened the market in the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

In 2019, when those private eco-environmental conservation companies resorted to transfer of control and other means in order to survive, ZEHO ECO made another step forward with a reasonable and steady style to sprint to the Main Board. In June, ZEHO ECO submitted the prospectus to China Securities and Regulatory Commission. Why was ZEHO ECO able to rise when the whole industry was slack?

“For 24 years, we have always operated based on our talents and our financial and technical capacity, adopted a prudent attitude towards development, screened high-quality clients and projects, and avoided risks in front-end decision making. Once the contract was signed, we adhered to the philosophy of good faith and achieved timely and successful project delivery and effectively promoted the subsequent settlement of returns.” Zhang said. According to the introduction, during the exponential growth of PPP projects within the environmental protection industries, ZEHO ECO did not follow the crowd of pursuiting scale, but paid more attention to the quality of earnings, which reduced potential side effects to the company caused by the PPP project model greatly.

According to Zhang, the key to survival and development for private companies is to prioritize professionalism, detailed management, differentiated competition, technological innovation, and effective risks control. That’s why ZEHO ECO insists on international design and localized on-site services and sticks to “less for better” in construction, which not only wins the approval of new and return customers, but also brings new market opportunities to the company.

Provide exemplar for ecological restoration

Standing at a new starting point, ZEHO ECO has released its new five-year strategic plan. For business sectors, ZEHO ECO will adjust its business structure based on customers’ needs. For ecological environment and planning and design, more smart technology and industrial operation businesses will be added. ZEHO ECO will continue to pay closer attention to control and management within the company, reduce risks, improve efficiency and bring the costs under control.

“In the future, ZEHO ECO will help achieve the goals of emission peak and carbon neutrality”through low-carbon designs, ecological engineering, carbon neutrality monitoring and management, and industrial operation”, Zhang said. As a practitioner of Nature-based Solutions, it is reported that ZEHO ECO applies its unique “7+1” approach with the philosophy of seeing function, architecture, landscape, transportation, water resources, waste and energy of the city. It will adopt technological wisdom to achieve sustainable development of the environment, economy and society.

In fact, ZEHO ECO has already integrated the idea of carbon emissions reduction into its project designs. According to Zhang, ZEHO ECO advocates public transportation-oriented development to achieve green and low-carbon transportation, promotes green architecture and renewable energies, improves the efficiency of water use, converts waste into resources, and realizes energy-saving and low-carbon urban development. From an engineering point of view, the company adopts virtual-nature ecological construction methods to restore the natural environment to the greatest extent, build an ecosystem, and protect biodiversity.

Let’s look at Dali Erhai Lake Ecological Restoration Project, the Xiong'an Baiyang Lake Wetland Ecological Conservation Project, and the Huanchao Lake Wetland Conservation Project. ZEHO ECO has restored natural environment along the lake and purified the water through ecological reconstruction, auxiliary regeneration, natural restoration, and protection and conservation measures. These projects provide a technical model for ecological restoration.

To realize the goals of “carbon neutrality” and “emission peak”, concrete and clear data is necessary as a fundamental support. Through years of practice, ZEHO ECO has found that unified evaluation methods and precise monitoring tools were still deficient in the calculation of carbon sequestration. In addition, science-based calculation and monitoring methods are necessary for the calculation of carbon sequestration and ecological benefits concerning afforestation and other ecosystem constructions. To solve that, ZEHO ECO is developing the carbon neutrality monitoring and management data platform.

“In the era of ecological civilization and facing the tidal trend for the booming ecological industry, ZEHO ECO will never forget its founding mission, but will adhere to sustainable development between man and nature. The company will always stick to the integrated solution of ‘design, build, intelligence, finance and operations’.” Just like Zhang proposed in her listing speech, with their determination, ZEHO ECO can continuously transform their founding mission into action, and always forge ahead to contribute to achieving the goals of emission peak and carbon neutrality and strive for the long-term development of ecological civilization.