Charles Li’s small-business lender Micro Connect asks staff to invest in the start-ups it backs out of their own pockets

Name: Former HKEX chief unveils new foreign investment platform to finance Chinese small businesses
Uploaded: 2024-05-14T12:30:22.000Z
Duration: 8 min 22 s
Description: Former HKEX chief unveils new foreign investment platform to finance Chinese small businesses

Micro lender says having employees invest their own money is a key step in transitioning from an investment platform to an exchange

Article on WeChat had claimed Micro Connect was asking employees to invest one million yuan each

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In an internal email attributed to Li and his fellow founder Gary Zhang, the company said it will ‘employ the money and power of the market’ to support small businesses. Xiaomei Chen

Yuke Xiein Beijing

Published: 8:30pm, 14 May 2024

Micro Connect, a small-business financing platform co-founded by the former head of the Hong Kong stock exchange, Charles Li Xiaojia, said it is asking staff to invest in the start-ups it backs, confirming an online article that sparked widespread discussion on social media.

In an internal email attributed to Li and his fellow founder and vice-chairman Gary Zhang, the company said it is gearing up to enter the next phase of its development, where it will “employ the money and power of the market” to support small businesses, rather than relying on its own resources.

The Hong Kong-headquartered firm said that having employees invest their own money is a key step in allowing Micro Connect to transition from an investment platform to an exchange. Over time, it hopes to draw more capital from the market to participate in the new revenue-sharing scheme that it is developing.

“And who is the most familiar with our revenue-sharing scheme? The several dozen frontline workers on the investment team that Micro Connect has nurtured and cultivated over the past few years,” wrote the co-founders.

The email was first reported by 36Kr, a Chinese online news outlet. Micro Connect confirmed the accuracy of the internal email but has not yet responded to the Post’s request for additional comment.

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Former HKEX chief unveils new foreign investment platform to finance Chinese small businesses

Employees referred to by Li and Zhang as “leading sheep”, or trend setters, will be helming specialised investment teams and funding projects out of their own pockets with partial subsidy from the company, according to the email.