Bao Haiming: A Pioneer in Environmental Protection

By GONG HAN

ALTHOUGH Bao Haiming holds three postgraduate degrees from China and Canada, it was his entrepreneurial credentials rather than his academic performance that won him sponsorship from the Recruitment Program of Global Experts.

Bao Haiming returned from Canada to work for a garment company in 2004, only to leave it a year and a half later to set up his own business. Over the years, his company, Ningbo Talent Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., has built up expertise in environmental protection covering such areas as sewage and industrial wastewater treatment, river water cleaning, and eco-toilets. It has patented a number of environmental technologies and products, of which the liquid fermentation recycling technology won the 2006 award from the Innovation Fund for Technology Based Firms.

In the five years since he established the company, Bao said he had achieved more than he expected. Until 2010 he had not been particularly ambitious, but that year he was enlisted in the Recruitment Program and given a grant of RMB one million, which brought him into the view of venture capitalists and changed his vision for his company.

From School to Work, Always on Environment

Born in Zhejiang in 1969, Bao Haiming graduated from Zhejiang University with a degree in chemical engineering and then studied environmental engineering at Tsinghua University. After receiving his MA he landed a job with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and spent eight years there, at the same time gaining an MBA from Tsinghua University. “During those eight years, I learnt a lot about society, but I found that I didn’t enjoy working in government organizations, writing reports and proposing policies.”

In 2001 Bao Haiming immigrated to Canada as a skilled worker, and was enrolled to York University to study environmental administration. While still a student there, he established a business providing consulting on environmental issues and technology exchanges between China and Canada on environmental protection. This experience gave him extensive exposure to the environmental industry in Canada and firsthand knowledge of the technical gap in the aspect between his host country and motherland.

Saving His Business by Building Rural Toilets

When Bao founded Ningbo Talent Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., all he had in mind was garbage incineration projects, which he had specialized in during his studies at Tsinghua University. But competition in this area was fierce, and after several months no customer showed up.