2021 Letter from Founder
Dear VA family and friends,
The pandemic is still lingering on. When facing uncertainty, people look for beautiful things as they bring hope. Christmas trees in Costco were sold out early in Shanghai, and membership registration in Suzhou hit this international retailer’s global record. Although people can be locked down, never will their desire for better life.
In 2021, Venture Avenue continued seeking to unleash impact by working with our new and long-time partners. Our partnerships with Vanke Foundation, Chinese Red Cross Foundation and Beijing Arbitration Commission have entered into the 4th year, and we continued to support them to scale up impacts at home and abroad. While celebrating 10 years of partnership with the One Foundation, we continued to help them find new “business models”, in order to provide our children with a fair access to better health.
However, VA’s project of the year goes to our new partner, an international foundation in the field of sustainable energy development. For the first time in VA’s history, our goal was not to find strategies, but to find ways to cascade down the organization. A creative tool was developed to trickle down goals, strategies to initiatives, projects, functions, and individuals. Most importantly, multiple work streams became ONE – processes, data will be integrated, therefore “reporting” will be minimal, and “outcomes” will be seen in real time.
“Efficiency” became the key word for VA in 2021. Although the demand for our services continues to grow, we need to redefine our project management process with the goal of faster turnaround and leaner team structure, while ensuring quality with deeper engagement of VA partners. With a few measures taken, we are excited that VA team members are well rewarded with faster personal growth and better work-life balance.
Finally, I want to say thank you to our long-time partner Mercedes Benz. As 2021 marked the 7th year of our partnership, we see our two teams are becoming one – we are bold enough to put ourselves to the driver’s seats, and we are excited to see the impact of our combined efforts.
Dear VA family and friends, pandemic has to come to an end, and our world is still blessed with wonders, which we maybe were just too spoiled to appreciate: joyful as a Christmas tree, cozy as a fire place, free like a running boy…
Let’s reconnect with the world in 2022.
Thank you!
Robin