Author: Kojima.
On February 25, Wahaha Group released a low release, and Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, was ineffective due to illness.
He passed away on February 25, 2024, at the age of 79.
Wahaha carries the childhood memories of many people and is popular all over the country. To this day, Wahaha is still one of many people's favorite drinks.
What kind of legend is the founder behind this legendary drink, let's take a look at his life.
Zong Qinghou was born on October 12, 1945, and his ancestral home is Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
His family conditions were not very good.
In that turbulent and unstable era, coupled with various factors. Zong Qinghou's family was discriminated against and ostracized by society.
This family background made Zong Qinghou carry a heavy family burden since he was a child. He longs to grow up quickly and share more for the family.
However, family burdens and family factors often interfere with Zong Qinghou in society.
After graduating from junior high school, Zong Qinghou wanted to go to a normal college to continue his studies, but he could not apply for the examination because of family composition.
This was a heavy blow to the young Zong Qinghou.
But Zong Qinghou has a spirit of perseverance and courage in his bones.
Seeing that his path to education was blocked, he chose to drop out of school and go to work to help his family tide over the difficulties.
He worked as an apprentice in cars, sold popcorn, handed out flyers, and even worked on a farm.
These jobs are all manual work without exception, and they are very hard, but Zong Qinghou never complains, and always maintains an optimistic attitude to work and look at the world.
At the same time, while working on the farm, Zong Qinghou often used his spare time to read and study, constantly enriching himself. His thirst and pursuit of knowledge made him perform very well at work, and he was gradually recognized by his superiors and appreciated and admired by the people around him.
He was about to do some work on the farm when bad news came back to him.
The farm where Zong Qinghou worked was closed, and accordingly, Zong Qinghou lost this job, and he once again faced the dilemma of unemployment.
After that, Zong Qinghou worked in a variety of positions, including working in a tea plantation, working as a salesman, production and sales management, and so on.
Life experience will be enriched with the passage of time, and the work done by Zong Qinghou has accumulated rich sales experience and management experience for him, and also exercised his will and perseverance.
This also laid a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for the subsequent establishment of Wahaha.
In 1987, 42-year-old Zong Qinghou contracted the distribution department of the school-run enterprise in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, which was a loss-making enterprise year after year.
But for Zong Qinghou, this is the starting point for him to realize his dream.
Zong Qinghou found that many children had loss of appetite and malnutrition at that time. So, he decided to develop a nutritious drink that was suitable for children.
But the process of realizing the dream is destined to be extremely bumpy.
Difficulties in the start-up stage followed, and the first thing to face was the problem of funding.
Because of financial problems, they are unable to purchase advanced production equipment;
At the same time, technical bottlenecks were also a major problem to overcome, and they tried and tested, but they were never able to find the ideal formula; The fierce competition in the market makes them feel even more pressured.
In the face of these difficulties, Zong Qinghou never gave up. He personally ran the market to understand the needs of consumers; Lead the team to trial and error and continuously improve the product formula; He actively seeks partners to expand sales channels.
In this process, Zong Qinghou showed amazing perseverance and wisdom.
After countless attempts and failures, Wahaha Children's Nutrition Oral Liquid was born. This unique and nutritious drink quickly became popular in the market.
Zong Qinghou and his team also ushered in the spring of their careers.
However, the momentary success did not blind Zong Qinghou's eyes. He is well aware of the cruelty of market competition and constantly seeks innovation and breakthroughs.
So Zong Qinghou expanded the product line and launched more products that are loved by consumers; Strengthen brand building and improve Wahaha's popularity. He also keeps an eye on changes in the policy environment and adjusts his strategy and business model in a timely manner.
Under the leadership of Zong Qinghou, Wahaha has gradually become one of the leading enterprises in China's beverage industry. And Zong Qinghou himself has also grown from an ordinary entrepreneur to a leader among Chinese entrepreneurs.
After that, Zong Qinghou kept walking, and then led the team to develop a variety of drinks.
Until today, it has launched a number of products such as AD calcium milk, purified water, and eight-treasure porridge, which have been widely praised by the public, and Wahaha has become a new generation of beverage giants.
Therefore, between 2010, 2012 and 2013, Zong Qing won the richest list of the richest people in Chinese mainland three times in the next four years.
After more than 30 years of entrepreneurial journey, he has always stuck to his job, putting in 16 hours of hard work every day.
For more than 200 days a year, he is at the forefront of the market. He personally measured every inch of the market with his footsteps as a ruler, and the bookshelves were neatly arranged with detailed maps from various provinces and cities to the highway network, which were all witnesses of his market conquest.
And his office and warehouse are full of empty drink bottles, as if silently telling his hard work day after day.
Zong Qinghou is not only an outstanding entrepreneur, but also a deputy to the people's congress who serves the people.
As a deputy to the National People's Congress, Zong Qinghou conscientiously performed his duties and actively participated in the people's congress and various research activities. Strive to speak for the people.
It is a good representative of the people.
Zong Qinghou is a passionate and hard-working entrepreneur who has devoted his life to the development of the food and beverage industry, constantly innovating and enterprising, and has made great contributions to China's economic development.
His success lies not only in his business acumen and leadership, but also in his love and sense of responsibility for his cause and country.
His life tells us to cherish life, constantly pursue our dreams and goals, and make more contributions to society and people.
We should also learn from his fighting spirit and sense of responsibility, and contribute our own strength to our own cause and the development of the country.
Here, we would like to express our deep condolences and respect to Mr. Zong Qinghou, and hope that his family and friends can find comfort and strength in this sad time.
Elder Zong, go all the way!