The National Day holiday is over. Is anyone back at work today feeling the post-holiday blues?

Most business development professionals probably aren’t feeling it.

For investment promotion professionals, the National Day holiday isn’t a “Golden Week” for rest, but rather a “Crucial Week” for investment promotion.

Investment promotion never stops, and visits to companies never cease.

Promotional meetings continue, and major projects keep moving forward.

We’ve kept up the momentum throughout the seven-day holiday to make a decisive push in the final quarter of the year!

Accelerating project implementation, facilitating project negotiations, and visiting companies…

The National Day schedule for frontline investment promotion staff is packed with energy and drive every single day.

October 1

Project construction continues

On the 1st, some may be on their way home, while others are traveling to their destinations...

But at this very moment, construction work in industrial parks and on projects is in full swing.

In the first half of the year, economic and business development across the country was significantly impacted by the pandemic and shifting domestic and international conditions. For newly attracted projects, both local governments and enterprises hope to accelerate construction and bring them online as soon as possible.

To fulfill the goal of bringing these projects online as soon as possible, investment promotion staff and construction workers are staying on the front lines, each fulfilling their respective duties.

Recently, Ganzhou has established partnerships with industry leaders such as Foxconn and Geely. During the National Day holiday, the Ganzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone worked overtime to meet deadlines, with a bustling atmosphere at every project site.

At the Foxconn smart manufacturing project site, more than 3,000 construction workers are stationed on the front lines; meanwhile, at the Geely power battery project site, over 2,000 workers are on the job, with the project progressing 70 days ahead of the original schedule.

Rapid construction, early completion, and accelerated implementation—each of these efforts reflects the quality of the local business environment.

By thinking what businesses think and addressing their urgent needs, the local area can build a strong reputation for investment promotion and attract more corporate attention and investment.

October 2–October 3

Promotional Meetings Continue Unabated

The National Day holiday is precisely when business investors and investment promotion ambassadors return home to visit relatives and friends, making it the optimal time for investment promotion staff to organize investment promotion events in their hometowns.

At these promotional events, investment promotion staff use various methods to highlight the region’s development achievements, investment environment, and key opportunities.

This allows local businesspeople living elsewhere to stay informed about local developments, thereby encouraging their upstream and downstream enterprises to visit the area for site inspections and to invest and establish businesses.

Many regions have recalled their investment promotion ambassadors stationed in the Greater Bay Area, Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions, who have also returned home during this time to report on their work and promote projects.

Having worked tirelessly for most of the year, these investment ambassadors have lived up to expectations by highlighting a number of new projects for their respective regions.

At the same time, localities are extending investment promotion efforts to various industries, communities, and village groups, with everyone organizing small-scale investment promotion meetings and presentations—sometimes numbering in the dozens.

The National Day holiday has effectively turned into an “investment promotion festival,” with frontline investment promotion staff actively stockpiling projects to fully prepare for the final quarter of 2022.

October 4

Investment Promotion Never Stops

When it comes to resources and policies, county-level cities simply cannot compete with major metropolises, and their investment promotion efforts indeed face numerous challenges.

However, during the National Day holiday, many top officials in county-level cities led by example, personally hosting key project leaders and guiding all investment promotion units across the county or district to deepen negotiations and discussions.

On October 4, a manufacturing company was invited to visit the county seat to explore investment opportunities for a new factory. The county party secretary personally met with the company’s representatives to discuss factory site selection, policy incentives, and development plans in depth, and the two sides reached a preliminary agreement on cooperation.

The successful implementation of this project involves not only the local investment promotion department but also tests the coordination among various local government departments.

During this process, departments including the County Bureau of Natural Resources, the Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the Bureau of Commerce, the Industrial Park Management Committee, the Bureau of Ecology and Environment, and the Urban Investment Company all accompanied the delegation on the site visit.

This ensured that local authorities could promptly understand the company’s needs and resolve any issues. At the same time, it allowed the local government to comprehensively evaluate and assess the company.

Ultimately, investment promotion is about human interaction. Since local infrastructure may not match that of other regions, counties must focus on their “software”—demonstrating sincerity, professionalism, and a proactive attitude to win the favor of enterprises.

October 5

Non-stop Visits to Enterprises

While everyone else was using the long weekend to reunite with their families, investment promotion professionals were still on the road, visiting target enterprises.

Today, the concept of “chain leader-led” investment promotion is gaining momentum. Many regional chain leaders took advantage of the National Day holiday to travel to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to discuss project advancement.

Led by local top officials, visiting over a dozen enterprises in just two or three days is no problem.

Based on local industrial planning, they identify key targets for industrial chain investment promotion in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

They tour the factories and workshops of target companies, hold discussions with company executives, and gain a detailed understanding of the corporate team, core technologies, product advantages, investment intentions, and future prospects.

This lays a solid foundation for future cooperation with these companies.

October 6

Listening to Feedback Around the Clock

As the National Day holiday draws to a close and returning businesspeople gradually leave their hometowns, will investment promotion officers finally get a moment of respite from their busy holiday schedule?

With the returning businesspeople gone, it is now time to listen to the perspectives and concerns of local entrepreneurs.

"Ducks are the first to know when the spring river warms"—only entrepreneurs truly know whether the business environment is favorable. Thus, a symposium for local entrepreneurs was also scheduled during the National Day holiday.

In recent years, to get closer to entrepreneurs and hear more authentic voices, various regions have been coming up with innovative approaches.

From the “Open Breakfast Meetings” for entrepreneurs in Wuhu and Nanyang to regional business forums, roundtable discussions, and Qingdao’s “Entrepreneurs’ Day”…

Although the formats vary, the core objective remains the same: to earnestly listen to the opinions and suggestions of local entrepreneurs, identify issues, improve local service standards, and optimize the business environment.

October 7

The Final Sprint of the Year

The final day of the short holiday marks not only the end of the break but also the start of the fourth-quarter sprint.

Yesterday, various provinces and cities—represented by districts and prefecture-level cities in Wuxi—had already convened meetings to summarize, plan, and launch their fourth-quarter investment promotion efforts.

Efforts are being focused on all aspects of investment promotion, including the upgrading and renovation of industrial parks, increasing sensitivity to policy changes, and improving the "success rate" of project recruitment.

Planning ahead and preparing for the future. Investment promotion is like playing chess: while others are still figuring out their next move, seasoned professionals have already mapped out strategies for the next few—or even a dozen—moves.

Achieving targets is the driving force for investment promotion professionals, and advancing regional economic and industrial development is their mission. We hope every investment promotion professional will accelerate their efforts in the final quarter to achieve their goals ahead of schedule.

In Closing

The fourth quarter has already begun, and whether 2022 ends on a high note will largely depend on the final 80-plus days.

Investment promotion professionals, who have already dedicated most of the year to regional development, must now redouble their efforts to add another boost to the city’s economic growth in the final quarter of 2022.