Wen Sansheng.
At the age of 42, he started three rounds of entrepreneurship, became the richest man in China three times, left one national brand, and represented the ...... of the first generation of entrepreneursAt the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, the flowers have not bloomed, but the farewell has come unexpectedly.
Everyone should know who I'm talking about, he is Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha.
On February 25, Wahaha Group released an obituary: Comrade Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at 10:30 on February 25, 2024 at the age of 79 due to ineffective medical treatment.
A few days ago, there was news on the Internet that Zong Qinghou was being treated in the ICU ward of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine. On the evening of February 22, Wahaha Group issued a statement saying: Mr. Zong Qinghou is indeed receiving ** in the hospital due to physical reasons.
At this time, the outside world learned that Zong Qinghou had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. WhileShortly before his death, he continued to work, taking oxygen while discussing things in the company with his colleagues.
He said that the company is like his own child, and he can't rest assured.
01 National brand
I am an ordinary person, a mortal who has risen from the bottom. Luckily, I was born in a big time; Fortunately, I got an opportunity to create a company, and because of it, I became the 'richest man in China', and my value was realized and recognized. In the preface to his biography, Zong Qinghou wrote.
Zong Qinghou was born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province in 1945 (Suqian), and moved to his ancestral hometown of Hangzhou with his family when he was a child, with 5 brothers and sisters.
In order to reduce the burden on his family, Zong Qinghou began to work around after finishing junior high school. In the following 15 years, from planting tea, cutting rice, to cultivating fields, to digging salt and drying salt, Zong Qinghou spent his best youth in the mountains and countryside.
In 1987, in the spring breeze of reform and opening up, 42-year-old Zong Qinghou borrowed 140,000 yuan to contract the school-run enterprise distribution department in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, and started his entrepreneurial legend.
At that time, Zong Qinghou pedaled a tricycle, walked the streets and alleys, and saved money by wholesale stationery, paper, mops, brooms and drinks to primary schools. Two years later, Zong Qinghou established Hangzhou Wahaha Nutritional Food Factory and successfully launched its first product, children's nutrition solution.
As soon as this product was listed, it was popular, and "drinking Wahaha, eating is fragrant" swept the country and quickly opened the market.
In 1990, the company's sales revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, and the profit exceeded 20 million yuan.
In 1991, three years after starting his business, Zong Qinghou led Hangzhou Wahaha Nutritional Food Factory to successfully merge Hangzhou Canning Factory. At that time, this old state-owned enterprise had more than 2,200 employees, but it owed more than 60 million yuan in debts and was insolvent. After Zong Qinghou took over, he quickly pulled up a new production line in 28 days and produced new fruit milk, which caused a sensation throughout the country.
Since then, Zong Qinghou has led Wahaha to develop rapidly, and quickly launched high-quality products such as Wahaha mineral water, AD calcium milk, and nutrition express that are welcomed by the market.
The success of the enterprise has brought Zong Qinghou great wealth.
In 2013, Zong Qinghou topped the Forbes 2013 Chinese Rich List with a net worth of $11.6 billion. In the same year, Wahaha set a record revenue of 78.3 billion yuan.
Since then, Wahaha's performance growth has entered a bottleneck period. From 2015 to 2020, Wahaha's performance hovered around 46 billion yuan. It started to get better after 2021. In 2022, its sales performance reached 5120.2 billion yuan.
In Zong Qinghou's eyes, Wahaha is everything to him.
"For me, there is only one Wahaha. It is all the dreams of my whole life, all the meanings, values, labels and symbols. It is a testament to my existence in this world. Zong Qinghou once said.
02 Industrial Beliefs
As one of the representatives of the first generation of entrepreneurs, Zong Qinghou has his own unique views on entrepreneurship and business.
On December 25, 2016, CCTV invited a number of entrepreneurs to China's manufacturing industry. During the meeting, the host talked about a variety of trendy topics such as new retail, new manufacturing, new technology, new finance, and new resources. In this regard, Zong Qinghou said bluntly:"Only new technologies are most worthy of reference from the real economy" "I think everything else is nonsense except for new technologies."
Zong Qinghou's straightforward speech once pushed him to the forefront of the storm at that time. Many netizens and self-esteem think that this is Zong Qinghou's dissatisfaction with "Internet +", and even label him as "lack of innovation", "old-fashioned thinking" and "unable to keep up with the times".
Zong Qinghou did not flinch from his own views. Years later, at a press conference, he spoke again:"The Internet has an impact on us, but the biggest impact is the rumors on the Internet. "The real economy and virtual e-commerce are not completely opposites, and if the two sides want to achieve sustainable development, they must establish an interdependent ecological relationship. ”
In Zong Qinghou's eyes, industry and the real economy are the foundation of business. His insistence is the heart of China's manufacturing and real economy.
At that time, when Internet finance was popular all over the Internet, Zong Qinghou repeatedly shouted: to vigorously develop industry and manufacturing, don't overdo the virtual economy. The real economy, especially the manufacturing industry, is the foundation of the country, the foundation of the country, and the foundation of enriching the people.
After the change of events, after looking at Zong Qing, we can see the vision and belief of an excellent entrepreneur.
In the course of Wahaha's development, Zong Qinghou has put his simple and direct business and entrepreneurship concept into practice.
For example, in sales, Zong Qinghou has the most simple theory: everything is to solve the problem of buying and selling. "Mr. Zong believes that if you want others to help you sell products, in addition to signing a contract with him, you must also have interests, so how to tie the interests between manufacturers and first-class merchants is particularly important. Wahaha employees said.
From riding a tricycle to sell stationery in the streets and alleys, to leading a huge commercial giant, Zong Qinghou insisted on a very simple truth:
"To invest efficiently, you can't just rush up to see what you make money, and then scatter when the heat goes down. ”
In my opinion, the top 500 companies are mainly compared to scale, and the current enterprises should focus more on efficiency and innovation. ”
Let the development results of the enterprise be shared with employees, which is the upgrading of entrepreneurial spirit. ”
From industry to hard work, Zong Qinghou proceeded from reality and still adhered to his business philosophy after decades. In the turbulent tide of the times, countless dazzling figures withdrew gloomily, and only then did they feel that Zong Qinghou was even more valuable.
03 Feelings of family and country
The most valuable thing is Zong Qinghou's feelings for his family and country.
In 1994, Wahaha went out of Zhejiang and established the first Wahaha foreign company in Fuling, Chongqing.
The reason why Chongqing was chosen was that Zong Qinghou should actively respond to the call of his counterpart to support the resettlement work in the Three Gorges reservoir area and devote himself to the development of the western region. At that time,Wahaha merged three flooded enterprises in the Fuling area, and resettled more than 1,300 migrants.
Zong Qinghou led Wahaha to select the most popular products, the most first-class technology, the most advanced production line, the most perfect concept, and the most mature market, and introduced them into the central and western regions, so as to reduce the business risk of the local branch as much as possible and achieve independent "hematopoiesis" as soon as possible.
From Fuling in Chongqing to Guangyuan in Sichuan, from Aksu in Xinjiang to Lhasa, from Xining in Qinghai to Dali in Yunnan, Wahaha has invested a total of 8.6 billion yuan and established 72 branches in the west and poor areas of the old and young, solving the problem of local super 130,000 people are employed.
In the eyes of outsiders, Zong Qinghou is an extremely energetic person.
The norm in his life was to arrive at the company at 7 a.m. and leave work at 11 p.m., and he did so all year round until he died.
In July 2021, Zong Qinghou, who is already 77 years old, got the ** qualification certificate. Such a learning and fighting spirit attracted praise from netizens and pushed him to the hot search.
Someone once asked him: You are always so energetic, what is your motivation?
"As an entrepreneur, I have a social responsibility. This responsibility, both for employees, for consumers, and for people in all links of the product chain, makes me unable to stop. ”Zong Qinghou replied.
Zong Qinghou not only said this, but also reflected it in the actual operation of Wahaha.
Every Spring Festival, after Zong Qing, he will invite left-behind employees to have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner together, and insist on raising wages for employees every year. Moreover, Wahaha implements full shareholding, and the company's employees can enjoy dividends every year. In Wahaha, employees take a one-day holiday on Children's Day to accompany their children; Build 100,000 square meters of low-rent housing for employees, and equip employees with bathhouses, gyms and other living supporting ......
I think that entrepreneurs have the ability to take the initiative to increase the income of employees, and when employees increase their income, domestic demand will be pulled up, the economy will be lively, and the life of the enterprise will be better. To do a good job in the enterprise depends on the efforts of all employees, if the interests of employees and the enterprise are shared, then the enterprise will do better. ”
Since starting his business, Zong Qinghou has become the richest man in China three times, but his life is very low-key, and he is most proud of his contributions to the country and society.
In 2018, he said:"I paid more than 50 billion yuan in taxes, and we have a lot of distributors and wholesalers, providing a lot of jobs for the society. ”Today, according to the official website of Wahaha Group, Wahaha has paid a total of 143.9 billion yuan in profits and taxes and 61.1 billion yuan in taxes over the past 32 years.
Moreover, Zong Qinghou has also been on the hot search many times because of Wahaha's generous year-end bonuses and calls for improving the income and treatment of workers.
As one of the representatives of the first generation of entrepreneurs, Zong Qinghou's pattern and contribution are admirable.
In December 2021, Wahaha Group officially announced that Zong Fuli (Zong Qinghou's daughter) was appointed as the vice chairman and general manager of the group. Zong Qinghou talked about Zong Fuli and scored 90 points for her performance in Wahaha Group.
If there is no accident, Zong Fuli will take over Wahaha.
The people are gone, the cause is still there, and the entrepreneurial spirit is still there.
"I believe that as long as you have the ambition to move mountains, the perseverance to pierce stones, be down-to-earth, and work hard, you will be able to turn your goals into a beautiful reality and create a beautiful picture of a happy life!" ”
This passage comes from the last open letter released by Zong Qinghou, to encourage him.