Geuther Vietnam
BIO has granted a USD 2,9 M loan to Geuther Vietnam Co., Ltd., a Vietnamese company specialised in the production of wooden safety gates and other solid wood baby furniture.
Amount
€ 2,581,446.60
Type of investment
Debt
Development impacts
- Local economic growth
- Private sector consolidation/innovation
- Fight against climate change
- Promotion of ESG best practices
Beneficiary locations
Investment field
Enterprises
Activity
Geuther Vietnam Co, Ltd is part of the Groupe BMB, a Belgian family group aiming at becoming an international group specialized in the wooden baby furniture industry. Since 2016, the Group operated a production plant of 3,000 m² nearby Ho Chi Minh city in a rented space.
Given the growing demand from clients for high-standards quality products, Geuther Vietnam decided to purchase two industrial buildings (15,000 m² in total) in order to increase its production capacity. Geuther Vietnam produces safety gates as well as solid wood baby furniture for customers based in more than 35 countries in the world.
The new production plant will allow the creation of 170 direct jobs,, a know-how transfer and the promotion of good E&S practices.
Development impacts
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Local economic growth
Employment effect: Geuther Vietnam currently employs 185 people and expects to hire approx. 170 people over the next 5 years. The employees and workers of Geuther VN are 100% local workforce, except for the Belgian CEO.
Supply chain effects, further supporting local economic growth: indirect job creation by strengthening upstream several local supply chains through its 80 suppliers, that are required to comply with BSCI Code of Conduct. Furthermore, Geuther Vietnam is committed to strengthen the local rubberwood value chain by promoting the first PEFC certification for smallholder farmers of rubber plantations in Vietnam..
Net export effects: the company’s expansion will increase export of finished products for the country, hence improving trade balance and bring hard currencies to Vietnam.
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Private sector consolidation/innovation
Upgrading value chain: Upgrading the local wood value chain through value-added processing/transformation raw wood into high quality standards final wooden furniture
Know-how and technology transfer thanks to enlarged product portfolio and technical trainings and capacity building activities offered by Geuther to its employees.
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Fight against climate change
Geuther VN is PEFC Chain of Custody certified for beechwood products, therefore contributing to the development of a sustainable forest industry and more broadly to the fight against climate change, illegal logging and forest degradation and to the protection of natural forests and biodiversity.
Active involvement with DEG to support first PEFC certification for Vietnamese rubberwood smallholders suppliers, in order to be able to source locally PEFC certified wood and to further reduce the dependence on certified beechwood to be imported from France;
Rubberwood products are by-products of the rubber industry as it is obtained from over 25-30-years-old rubber trees which have low latex productivity and would be otherwise wasted.
Production of high standard wood furniture involves (i) CO2 emission avoidance as the manufacture of wood products consumes less fossil fuel than non-wood alternative building materials such as concrete, metal or plastics (ii) long-term carbon sequestration as carbon is stored in wood-based products, further contributing to mitigate climate change.
Recycling of wood dust in panels or pellets to maximize wood yields.
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Promotion of ESG best practices
The company is committed to good E&S practices
Social practices: Geuther Vietnam is BSCI certified with a good rating, providing good social practices and H&S conditions for the staff.
Environmental practices: the company uses wood coming from sustainable forests and supports a more sustainable rubberwood supply chain.
Gender: Geuther Vietnam qualifies for the 2X Challenge (women as leaders).
View more of our investments in this region
Financial Institutions
TerraPay Payment Services
10,000,000.00
Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Philippines, Vietnam
25/03/2024
Debt