Reporter Chen Chen and Yue Zhicheng.
The legendary life of Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, came to an end on February 25.
Zong Qinghou's life has many labels: self-made middle-aged entrepreneur, cloth shoe boss, richest man in the mainland, legendary Zhejiang businessman ......But his most important label is inseparable from - Wahaha.
In his autobiography, Zong Qinghou once wrote: "There will be a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and there will be a thousand Wahaha in the eyes of a thousand people." But for me, there is only one Wahaha. He is my whole life, all my dreams, all the meanings, values, labels, symbols. It is a testament to my existence in this world. (Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point Breaking News**: 0531-85193656; E-mail: 405617016@qqcom）
Zong Qinghou Photo source "Wahaha".
The tricycle pedaled the first pot of gold.
Zong Qinghou was born in Suqian, Jiangsu Province in 1945 and moved to Hangzhou with his family when he was a child. After graduating from junior high school, Zong Qinghou began to work everywhere. It was not until he was 33 years old that Zong Qinghou, who had been in the countryside for 15 years, returned to Hangzhou and took over his mother's job as a salesman in the school's factory.
This year is the time when reform and opening up kicked off. Zong Qinghou once said that it was the reform and opening up that gave him, a worker in a school-run factory, the opportunity to start a business.
The predecessor of Wahaha Group was the distribution department of school-run enterprises in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou. In 1987, 42-year-old Zong Qinghou relied on a borrowed 140,000 yuan to lead two retired teachers from school-run enterprises to start his legendary journey with Wahaha.
Relying on the consignment sales of soda, popsicles, stationery and paper, Zong Qinghou began to start. In those days, as long as he received the school's **, whether it was windy or rainy or scorching sun, Zong Qinghou would immediately pedal on a tricycle and send the products to the school.
In July of the same year, Zong Qinghou used the pollen sales proceeds and a bank loan of 50,000 yuan as the original capital to build Hangzhou Baoling Children's Nutrition Food Factory, processing pollen for Hangzhou Baoling Company, and starting Wahaha's entrepreneurial process.
In 1998, Wahaha successfully developed its first product, Wahaha Children's Nutrition Solution, which became an instant hit and went nationwide, and Wahaha Children's Nutrition Solution became the company's fist product. Within two years, Wahaha's sales revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, and the company completed the original accumulation of "starting from scratch".
In 1989, Hangzhou Baoling Children's Nutrition Food Factory was officially renamed Hangzhou Wahaha Nutrition Food Factory.
How did the name Wahaha come about? In 1988, after the first children's nutrition solution was made, Zong Qinghou published an advertisement in "Hangzhou**" to solicit product names for prizes. From the words "Su", "Jing" and "Bao", Zong Qinghou picked the three words "Wahaha". Since then, the advertising slogan "Drinking Wahaha, eating is fragrant" has become popular all over the streets.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, Zong Qinghou pedaled a tricycle to send the school book to the source of "Wahaha".
Small fish eat big fish".
In order to expand the scale of production and meet the market demand, in 1991, Hangzhou Wahaha Nutrition Food Factory, which had only more than 100 people, merged Hangzhou Canned Food Factory, an old state-owned factory with a plant area of 60,000 square meters and more than 2,000 employees, with 80 million yuan.
At that time, the ** all thought that Zong Qinghou was not self-sufficient. But he quickly proved himself with his achievements.
Three months later, Wahaha used its product, capital and market advantages to quickly revitalize the assets of the cannery's stock, turning the cannery, which had a loss of more than 40 million yuan, into a profit. In that year, Wahaha's sales revenue, profits and taxes more than doubled, and the sales revenue reached 400 million yuan in the second year. This "100-day merger" has achieved a historic breakthrough in the company's revenue "from small to large". It not only laid the foundation for the development of the enterprise, but also left an important mark in the history of China's reform and opening up.
Since then, Zong Qinghou has led Wahaha to respond to the call of the counterpart to support the resettlement work in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, merge three flooded enterprises in the Fuling area, and establish Wahaha Fuling Co., Ltd. This move has also accumulated valuable experience for Wahaha to go nationwide. So far, Wahaha has established more than 180 branches in 29 regions across the country.
In 1996, Zong Qinghou boldly transformed and switched to bottled purified water, occupying most of the Chinese market. Not only that, this year, the Wahaha AD calcium milk that countless people drank when they were children also came out.
For more than 30 years, under the leadership of Zong Qinghou, Wahaha has gradually grown into a leading food and beverage enterprise integrating pure water, beverages, medicine and health food. According to the information on Wahaha's official website, in the past 35 years, Wahaha's sales have reached 860.1 billion yuan, profits and taxes of 174 billion yuan, and taxes of 74.2 billion yuan.
In 2010, 2012 and 2013, Zong Qinghou topped the list of the richest people in the mainland three times. Despite this, Zong Qinghou never stopped innovating.
In recent years, he has not only opened a shopping mall and sold milk powder, but also began to plan a "second venture" when he was over seventy, established a mechanical and electrical research institute, and explored the field of intelligent equipment. He has visited the United States, Israel, Germany and other places one after another, and has also built a science and technology town in Hangzhou, intending to cooperate with foreign advanced technical teams to enter the high-tech industry from a high starting point.
In 2018, Zong Qinghou's daughter Zong Fuli joined Wahaha Group to work. The outside world believes that this is a sign that Zong Fuli has officially entered the "** person" mode.
Zong Qinghou and her daughter Zong Fuli Photo source "Wahaha".
The 600 million bonus of the boss of cloth shoes.
After the death of Zong Qinghou, he received high-level condolences from people from all walks of life.
In addition to the previous employees and the masses spontaneously went to the headquarters of Wahaha Group to offer flowers, many entrepreneurs also posted condolences, and many ** in Zhejiang even posted articles on important pages to commemorate this legendary Zhejiang businessman.
In addition to his commercial achievements, more people mentioned his simplicity.
Previously, after a netizen met Zong Qing at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, he was not accompanied by an assistant, stepping on a pair of cloth shoes, carrying a canvas bag, and taking the plane alone. In 2016, he was also encountered by netizens in the second-class carriage of the high-speed rail.
This entrepreneur, who always wears a pair of cloth shoes and dresses plainly, is known as the "boss of cloth shoes". At the helm of such a large-scale enterprise, he once said that his annual living expenses generally do not exceed 50,000 yuan.
In stark contrast to this, he is generous to his employees and society.
In January 2022, Zong Qinghou said at an award ceremony that he had prepared a bonus of more than 600 million yuan for employees.
Not only that, Wahaha has also built dormitories, affordable housing and low-rent housing for employees in the first location.
At Wahaha Group, it is an unwritten rule not to fire employees over the age of 45. Zong Qinghou once talked about "996" (referring to the 996 work system, going to work at 9 a.m. and leaving work at 9 p.m., working 6 days a week) in an interview with CCTV. He said that it doesn't matter if the boss of the business is busier than "996", but he can't ask ordinary employees to do so, "everyone has their own joy of life".
Zong Qinghou's Wahaha Group has also been committed to philanthropy.
From the beginning of giving eight-treasure porridge to the suffering people to holding charity sales for the disabled, Zong Qinghou has been paying attention to charity since the beginning of his business. He also donated and established scholarships in his personal capacity.
Zong Qinghou once said, "My goal in life is very simple, that is, to run the enterprise well, let employees work with peace of mind, live comfortably, create more profits and taxes for the country, make a modest contribution to the prosperity of the nation, and fulfill a responsibility for the realization of the Chinese dream." ”
The Si people have passed away, but the meditation lives on.