Entrepreneurs: Dreamers and Doers Alike

CHINA DAILY November 56, 2016 15 Counterclockwise from top: An assembly line of Xiangxiamei Food in Guiyang that produces chili sauce; workers fit electrical parts at a Fuju Stove Appliances plant in the city. PHOTOS BY YANG JUN / CHINA DAILY; Xiao Shimei runs a successful tea business from Yanhe, a county in Guizhou. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY; Zhao Jianbo’s factories, also in Guiyang, make manhole cover. YANG JUN / CHINA DAILY Entrepreneurs: Dreamers and doers alike FROM PAGE 13 invested nearly 1 million yuan in her the country’s total 40 billion yuan. ine of an advertisement for a burial brand, and is “almost there” in A visit to a factory of Guiyang ground that Luo Yongquan, 47, once Guizhou Fuju Stove Appliances Co terms of profit, she says. The best based Guizhou Xiangxiamei Food came up with. His other memorable Ltd. “But today I think of larger yields fetch her 10,000 yuan per 500 Co Ltd shows how such sauces and campaign was for a weightloss for responsibilities such as family and grams and the lowest are priced at pastes are produced through an mula. They were the early clients for the factories (a new plant goes into 60 yuan. assembly line. First the chilies are an agency he started in 1997. And to operation next year).” At an auction last year, she sold 32 washed; then processed with pean find the right advertisers, he had to Fu, who has two children aged 7 kilograms of tea at an average of uts in oil at temperatures above 100 make many rounds of local media and 17, likes to play golf. His compa 5,500yuanakilogram.Herblackand C; after which salt and other ingre offices in Guiyang. ny’s total annual income is about green teas come from plantations dients are added; and finally the “It was cheaper to start in a crea 100 million yuan. across 2,700 hectares in Yanhe, bottles are sealed, packed and sent. tive industry,”Luo recalls. Giving a tour of his factory, he where she engages hundreds of pick Among the province’s recognized Until then the native of Zunyi, a says, the heaters usually serve a ers during harvest time from late companies in the sector, Xiangxia prefecturelevel city in northern 10year cycle. Some women and spring to early summer,she says. The mei Food’s two factories produce Guizhou that played a key role in men are seen fitting the previously local farmers grow the trees. nearly 20,000 bottles a day,of which the evolution of the Communist tested electrical circuits into table Sitting in an office of one of her 4 percent is exported to the United Party of China, used to work for a parts in a section of the building, franchises in Guiyang, Xiao says, States, France and Spain, targeting government department. He came with the screeching of welding met she’s seeking to create more aware the Chinese population there. The to the provincial capital because al denting the air in an adjacent divi ness of her brand by integrating rest is consumed at home. his wife was here. Chalsea, his sion that makes the asbestosladen online and offline channels. Luo Yongquan, an investor in Guiyang, says he wants to raise the province’s The company uses “medium spi company of two people, has since units. The mother of two grown girls has cultural profile. YANG JUN / CHINA DAILY cy” chilies for its sauces, bottles of become an operation of more than His company employs more than missed out a lot on their childhood which cost 9 yuan on average. 100 — the fancy name adding to its 200 people and sells six main prod because she was building her busi Itbuysupto3,000tonsofchilieach allure. ucts, including “hot tables” with ness, she says. “I was hard pressed composite and desiccant materials year from farms located mostly in Other than advertising, his com remotecontrol panels. The topof for time.” that are lighter in weight than the Hezhang, a county in Guizhou’s pany has held and managed cultur theline items cost nearly 3,000 And while she denies suggestions traditional ones made of concrete or northeast bordering Sichuan and al events such as art exhibitions in yuan. of accomplishment, Xiao says: “I’ll cast iron. They come in three stan Yunnan, the two other spice hubs of the past two decades. In 2012, he Living conditions and public poli never give up the spirit of enter “When I was a dard sizes of up to 950 millimeters. China. The chilies are grown over helped the local government show cy have improved in his city over prise.” The units of 300 employees make hundreds of hectares along with case the arts and crafts of the Miao time, he says. “The traffic’s become In her case that’s not difficult to truck driver, my roadside flowerpot holders as well. tomato,garlicandginger—otherveg and Dong people in the scenic city better.” imagine. China is a nation of tea His Guicheng Group produces 1 etables needed for the condiments. of Kaili, which is home to the ethnic Guiyang’s first subway line is drinkers. dream was just to million covers each year, selling Of course, like many other food groups. expected to open next year. The out them in Guizhou and the neighbor and beverage makers worldwide, the Luo is now looking to invest 300 er walls of some brandnew stations Road ranger survive. ... But ing provinces of Sichuan and Yun popularity of the company’s prod million yuan in a “culture park” in 3 have been decorated with Maoera What Zhao Jianbo, 46, does today I think of nan, and in southern Guangxi. ucts is perhaps related to a compo Guiyang, the total budget for which Communist artwork. for a living isn’t anybody’s guess. He The group’s income from sales is nent, way of mixing or legend. is 500 million. He expects the local makes manhole covers that hide larger responsibil between 200 million and 300 mil “It’s a business secret,” says the government to pay the share. In Tea woman sewers and the general under lion yuan. deputy manager Chen Yanxiong. 2015, his company’s income was 120 2 Her father’s struggle with ground. ities such as family Dressed in blue jeans and a deep Founded in Guiyang in 1994 by million yuan. This has only boosted brain cancer led Xiao Shimei, 49, to In the late 1990s, Zhao, who was pink Tshirt, and standing amid Deng Shengyi, then a 25yearold Luo’s image as an investor. buy a book on tea more than a dec then a migrant from East China’s and the factories.” piles of manhole cover at one of his migrant from Jinsha County in the “I want to raise the province’s cul ade ago. But she soon found her Zhejiang province, used to plant plants with a floor space of 30,000 province’s south, the company now tural profile,”he says. curiosity about the perceived anti saplings near an arterial road in Fu Dan, president, Guizhou Fuju square meters, Zhao poses for the employs 120 people and has an While individual effort is impor carcinogenic properties of tea trans Guiyang. At the time, he says, the Stove Appliances Co Ltd camera before leading the way to his annual income of about 30 million tant to make or mar a business, he lating into something else: What if manhole covers in use either made office inside the compound. For yuan, with profit in several millions. says friendly policies help. she started a business? After all, much noise when cars went over him, research in materials that are The owner’s journey began with As the city’s infrastructure Yanhe, her county in eastern Guiz them or the metallic ones were fre safer with regard to accidents is vital four relatives and friends, and an improves, a rise in ventures is hou, had a large number of trees. quently stolen. Such thefts happen in his line of work. investment of 2,500 yuan. expected. Companies that make less In 2007, she launched the Yanhe in many countries. “I plan to get on the Belt and Road The only major loss Deng suffered than 30,000 yuan a month aren’t Qian Nian Gu Cha Ltd, by selling tea The son of farmers from the port Initiative,”he says of the central gov in all these years was in 2008 due to required to pay valueadded tax, from trees she says are even 800 city of Ningbo, Zhao spent five years ernment’s transnational economic the global recession that hit many plus banks give startups loans at low years old. Her business seemed to as a planter in Guiyang, where he vision. sectors, says Chen, whose boss interests, says Xiong Lijuan, presi have quickly picked up in a prov collected 1,000 yuan, which was a couldn’t do the interview as he was dent, Guiyang Yunyan Entrepre ince, where in her words, many peo large sum back then but not enough Taste maker traveling. neurs Association. 4 ple were drinking ugly looking tea. for his dreams. And while he often While many of China’s “When they bought this land (site Her lobby group of 268 members, Other than the mainland, her com thought about the manhole covers, northern cuisines are relatively of the factory), it was in the out trains businesspeople and helps pany’s tea is now found in Hong there wasn’t much he could do until bland in taste, the southwest and skirts.

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