On 10 January 2009, Tbridge ironically received honorable mention at the the finals of the Hong Kong Social Enterprise competition. Of course the irony does not lie in the fact that we got mention, rather it was in the fact that the reason we did not clinch a spot in the finals was that we looked too much of a profit making venture than a social enterprise.
In as objective a sense as an involved subjects can have, we thought to ourselves, HELLO!! The profitability of the business is what lends it sustainability. Our sentiments at the judges observations may admittedly be a little skewed as we are interested parties so we are working on making the necessary changes. We, however, were impressed with the ideas that other young entrepreneurs had come to showcase and felt a little more inspired in our own project. Hong Kong is a wonderful place only matched by her beautiful people's resourcefulness and creativeness in business. Tbridge congratulates the winners on a good show!!!!
We look forward to entering many more competitions, exhibitions and expositions so that we can hear what investors think we could change. In truth, we are always looking for ways in which to make our business even more socially edifying while maintaining profitability.

Welcome

As some of our friends and investors know, Tbridge is the culmination of an effort to preserve the cultural heritage of Guizhou, while at the same time raising the economic standards of the ethnic people. While maintaining a profit margin is important for the sustainability of our business, we ultimately aim to preserve the traditional culture, beauty and locality of the ethnic minorities in Guizhou. It is this desire that lies at the root of all that we do and this blog is an open forum where we believe you can share your thoughts and ideas on the project.
Fear not, we are not a new age organization pushing a religious agenda. We are merely interested in bringing together our expertise in the social sciences and business in order to foster economic and social development in the region of Guizhou. On regular occasion we will post our reflections and thoughts about the progress of our enterprise, while at the same recognizing and practicing business savvy as we strive to make this work.
To date, most of the structures to facilitate your visit to this unique and beautiful part of China are still being set in place but we appreciate your interest in our project.

Check out our executive summary below:

1. Executive Summary

T-bridge is a profit-based organization that promotes the tourism business in Guizhou by empowering farmer's in dealing with the international market.

1.1. The problem

Given the fact that China is fast becoming urbanized, its agricultural sector seems to be dwindling. There are 3 main problems that we are trying to solve:

1. The diminishing status of farmers and farming in China. Due to the lack of land management and marketing strategies the farm industry has been replaced by the continuous migration from the rural areas to the cities.
2. Agricultural ethnic minorities are in danger because they cannot promote their cultural methods of farming in the international market.
3. The tourism business in Guizhou lacks environmental and cultural sustainability. The deficiencies are currently damaging the natural resources of the region. In fact, the spectacular growth in visitors to rural villages encourages the private-sector investment, however, economic benefits currently accrue disproportionately with the social.
   

1.2. Vision and Mission

We believe that agriculture in China has a long-term benefit and, therefore, it should take a more important role in the openness of China to the outside world. The goal of T-Bridge is to adopt a humanitarian approach to increase the level of mutual knowledge and understanding among farmers and visitors between China and the West. By doing this, we aim to show the potential of the Chinese agriculture and the ethnic traditions within the Guizhou’s local context and with a global extent. Our mission is to raise the economic levels of farmers by promoting cultural exchange in the farm stays. We would like to use the existing local culture tied to tea planting as a niche for promoting tourism.

1.3. Objectives

The company's objectives are:

1. To penetrate the international market within Hong Kong during the first three years. In this first period, T-bridge will contact international associations to reach the market target: Westerners living in Hong Kong. Other business relations are planned to be established with global teahouses and farm studies schools during the second period. Thus, T-bridge will gradually reach the main target: to bridge western cultures into the Chinese traditional life-style.
2. To assure the sustainability of our business we aim to cover a four season’s eco-tourism by dealing with tea plantation and elaboration activities that take place throughout the year.
3. To increase the community impact. Once Fenggang farmers show a grasp of the marketing and infrastructure after 3 years we let them monitor the project by themselves with the condition that 25% of the surplus will go to the next farm stay we will set up in Guizhou.

1.4. Theory of Change

If we succeed in implementing our business model, the farmers living standards will not only increase, but they will have gained valuable business experience. A new market will be created for their products through volumes of people visiting and experiencing not only quality tea but unique cultural features that set Guizhou apart.

Our solution to the fast diminishing practice of cultural organic farming in China is to set up a home-stay program where foreigners can experience true Chinese culture, while at the same time enjoying healthy food and a fun vacation. We believe that if we can provide a place for foreigners to stay while they receive such an experience, the profits can be used to be an augment the incomes of the local farmers and create a sense of dignity in their work.

1.5. Social Impact

1. Increased living standards of farmers, through bringing their homes to a point where they can receive guests.

2. The Home-stay component of our project will lead the qualitative effect of cultural awareness and exchange, while the fees that we will charge will provide the necessary quantitative income to continue the project. We will set quarterly income targets in order to measure of quantitative success and the enrollment of new farmers and visitors into our program will be the evidence of our qualitative success.

3. International awareness of Chinese ethnic minorities. Our target market will mainly western foreigners interested in Chinese culture. While they vary in age we believe that they represent the eagerness to learn and will be good vehicles to spread awareness of Chinese traditional farming to future generations. The fact that they can form groups makes their stay a little more cost efficient.