"NVC Lighting", a high-profile lighting brand in China, its spotlights in public places are favored for their stable brightness and excellent durability, making them stand out from many competitors and become the first choice of consumers.
Only more than 20 years after its establishment, NVC Lighting has been successfully promoted to become the first lighting industry company in China with a performance of more than 10 billion yuan for many years, laying a leading position in the industry.
However, compared with the company's dazzling achievements, the life of one of its founders, Wu Changjiang, is full of ups and downs. Although he single-handedly created NVC Lighting, he suffered many setbacks, and was even sent to prison because of his gambling habits.
He adhered to the belief that "life lies in gambling, and there is no opportunity without gambling", and resigned from his job in a state-owned enterprise to start a business. However, fate seemed to play a joke on him, and his entrepreneurial path was destined to be full of difficulties and challenges.
Like a losing gamble, his final situation does not seem to be as he hoped. Wu Changjiang, a family from a humble family, was born in June 1965 in a small village in Tongliang County, Chongqing.
The family is poor, and their parents are farmers with a low level of education, and they have only two children, Wu Changjiang and his younger brother. Despite their humble background, their family has a warm atmosphere, and their parents use their hard work to provide the best education for their children.
Wu Changjiang's parents knew the importance of knowledge, and they vowed to give the brothers a good education to change their fate.
From an early age, Wu Changjiang has demonstrated excellent leadership skills and excellent learning ability. His parents have always valued his education and made his learning path the center of their lives.
Looking at his parents' hard work and expectations for him, Wu Changjiang made up his mind to make a difference and let his family live a better life. In school, Wu Changjiang studied hard, got excellent grades, was appreciated and cultivated by teachers, and was finally admitted to a key high school.
His performance is not only reflected in his excellent scores, but also in his excellent leadership skills. He served as a class cadre in primary school, and later was rated as an outstanding student cadre in Sichuan Province.
The college entrance examination volunteer column is filled with Tsinghua dreams, but fate makes people. A few points of difference, regret the loss of Tsinghua University. However, Wu Changjiang was not crushed by the setback, and he quickly adjusted his condition and boarded the green train to Northwestern Polytechnical University.
Although it is not as good as Qingbei, Western University of Technology is also one of the key universities in China, and Wu Changjiang chose to major in aircraft manufacturing, which was also one of the popular majors at that time.
Wu Changjiang's younger brother was also successfully admitted to the secondary school shortly after his brother entered the school, and the gold content of non-key high schools in that era was far less than that of the technical secondary school, so this was undoubtedly a great joy for his parents.
The eldest son went to a key university, and the younger son studied at a technical secondary school, and Wu Changjiang's parents were always smiling during that time. Four years later, in 1988, Wu Changjiang successfully graduated and was assigned to Shaanxi Hanzhong Airlines with his outstanding performance in college.
This company is a state-owned enterprise, at that time to work in a state-owned enterprise means that a lifetime has been guaranteed, the unit will allocate housing, children's schools and a series of living needs, and as long as they do not commit adultery, they will generally not dismiss employees, it is a veritable iron rice bowl.
Wu Changjiang, who once held an iron rice bowl, was envied by everyone, although his life could not be rich and expensive, but he could also have no worries about food and clothing, so that his parents could retire with peace of mind, and share a happy life with his future wife and children.
However, when life was calm, a flame called ambition burned in Wu Changjiang's heart. Not only is he excellent in business, but he also has an innate social talent, no matter what kind of ** lake, he can deal with it calmly, and almost never misses.
His performance is among the best in the company and is highly appreciated by leaders. Wu Changjiang took this opportunity to broaden his contacts and decided to start a business of his own.
In 1978, with the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, the company actively promoted economic development, especially gave strong support to self-employed enterprises. In this context, there has been a "wave of entrepreneurship" within the system, and many middle-level leaders of state-owned enterprises have chosen to leave their companies and embark on the road of entrepreneurship.
Wu Changjiang is one of the representatives of these entrepreneurs. In 1992, Wu Changjiang, who had been working in the company for four years, entered the promotion list of deputy director because of his outstanding performance.
Senior leaders have also come to greet him in advance, hoping that he can stay in the system and develop. However, Wu Changjiang was not satisfied with this stable life, he thought that his personality was not very suitable for the ** agency, he wanted to pursue the sense of adventure of walking a tightrope and create a big career.
Therefore, he decided to leave the system and embark on the path of entrepreneurship.
Wu Changjiang resolutely chose to start his entrepreneurial journey in Shenzhen. As a mechanical engineer in a skilled trade, he has accumulated a lot of savings in his original company, but the funds for starting a business are still tight.
So, he decided to accumulate the original capital in Shenzhen first. When he first arrived in Shenzhen, Wu Changjiang was deeply attracted by the rising high-rise buildings and the figure of people chasing their dreams, which strengthened his entrepreneurial dream.
Wu Changjiang is an expert in the aircraft manufacturing industry, but his professional skills do not meet the needs of the market in Shenzhen. Desperate for money, Wu Changjiang decided to expand his job search and found a job as a reserve cadre in an electronics factory.
Although he was once a candidate for deputy director of a state-owned enterprise, he now works in an electronics factory, which fills his heart with dissatisfaction and determination. Four months later, Wu Changjiang realized that he could not find a long-term career in the factory, so he quit his job and went to a lighting factory in Guangzhou's Panyu district, where he began his career in the lighting industry, which would be his main career area for decades to come.
Wu Changjiang worked in the lighting factory for several years, and with diligence and wisdom, he was promoted to department manager step by step, accumulating 150,000 yuan of wealth. He believes it's time to take a leap and go on his own.
So, he resolutely submitted his resignation to his boss. In 1994, 29-year-old Wu Changjiang founded Huizhou Minghui Electric Appliance Company in Huizhou, Linshi, Shenzhen, and his entrepreneurial road officially set sail.
And fate did not embarrass him again, but gave him many opportunities.
Soon after Wu Changjiang's company was founded, it received a request from a major customer in Hong Kong to supply 20,000 transformer units within two weeks. This purchase volume is huge and the time is urgent, and many companies are afraid to accept this large order.
However, Wu Changjiang was full of confidence in his company's production level with the mentality of "big gamble and big opportunity", and decided to take over this urgent order. Over the next two weeks, Wu Changjiang led the team to work around the clock, and fortunately, things went well, the company completed the task on schedule, and the customer was very satisfied with the results.
This order brought 200,000 yuan of revenue to Wu Changjiang's company, and also improved the company's originally tight financial situation. In addition, the deal also expanded Wu's network in Hong Kong.
In just two years, Wu Changjiang attracted the attention of Hong Kong bosses with his outstanding business talents, and acquired Minghui Electric with 3 million yuan. As the company moved to Dongguan, Wu Changjiang was also promoted to senior executive, with an annual salary of hundreds of thousands of yuan.
While this stage may have fulfilled their business dreams for many, Wu Changjiang is not satisfied with this. In his mind, there is a larger business blueprint that has not yet been made public.
So, in 1998, he made a puzzling decision, chose to resign, and ** his stake in Minghui Electric. After that, he returned to Huizhou and found two of his old classmates, Hu Yonghong and Du Gang.
In high school, Wu Changjiang had a very good relationship with Hu Yonghong and Du Gang, Wu Changjiang was the secretary of the Youth League, Hu Yonghong was the class leader, and they all recognized Du Gang as the eldest brother.
During his studies, Wu Changjiang recognized the outstanding talents of Hu Yonghong and Du Gang. Now that he wants to make a difference in the business world again, he chooses to work with people he knows well.
After Wu Changjiang proposed the idea of entering the lighting industry and setting up a company, Hu Yonghong and Du Gang decided to join it after careful consideration. The three of them jointly raised an original capital of one million yuan and founded Huizhou NVC Lighting
Wu Changjiang holds 45 percent of the shares, and Hu Yonghong and Du Gang share the remaining 55 percent of the shares. Wu Changjiang's business acumen enabled him to lead the way in the mall and become a successful entrepreneur.
During that period, many well-known lighting brands were mainly from foreign companies, such as Philips and Panasonic, and domestic lighting brands did not attract widespread attention. However, with Wu Changjiang's leadership, the company stands out among many overseas enterprises.
Wu Changjiang has unique insights and decision-making in many aspects. He has always believed that integrity is the foundation of business, and this belief is reflected in the company's operations. The company has produced a batch of products with quality problems, and when the quality inspection found that there was an abnormality, this batch of products has been sold, with a value of two million yuan.
In the face of such a serious accident, Wu Changjiang decisively decided to recall these products, instead of erasing the trademark and reselling them, as the lighting industry often does. Although this decision resulted in a loss of two million yuan, it won countless praises from the industry.
Similarly, Wu Changjiang has shown extraordinary talent in strategic planning. When the company was start-up, he decided to open a store. Initially, many employees were skeptical, believing that there was not a wide range of products at the time, and that funds should be invested in more important areas.
However, Wu Changjiang's foresight has been confirmed by the market - the sales of listed stores far exceed those of unlicensed stores, and many merchants have joined. In addition, Wu Changjiang never hires celebrity endorsements, but puts advertisements into conspicuous public places such as highways and subway stations, which greatly enhances the brand's popularity.
With the joint efforts of Wu Changjiang and his capable team, NVC Lighting has become a leading enterprise in the lighting industry in less than ten years, and no one dares to underestimate this cutting-edge force.
Behind the brilliance of NVC Lighting is a business war carried out in secret. The mall is like a battlefield, and the struggle is always there. The first battle of this business war was launched by Wu Changjiang's old classmates.
After a period of operation of the company, the three founders had serious disagreements over the inconsistency of the direction of the company's development. In order to stabilize the company, Wu Changjiang redistributed the shares, so that Hu Yonghong and Du Gang's shares increased from the original 275% rises to 333%, while Wu Changjiang himself holds 334% stake.
However, while Wu Changjiang temporarily quelled the dispute between the three, the differences intensified as time went on. In 2005, Wu Changjiang proposed to change the sales channel, but his proposal was strongly opposed by the other two founders, who even joined forces to drive Wu Changjiang out of NVC Lighting.
Wu Changjiang had a premeditated plan, and before he was kicked out of the company, he had already begun to make friends internally and established close relationships with dealers and businessmen. Subsequently, he led these people to launch a "forced palace" operation, and successfully drove Hu Yonghong and Du Gang out of the company.
Although Wu Changjiang's controlling position in NVC has become absolute, he still has to face paying 1600 million huge sums of money put pressure on Hu Yonghong and Du Gang. However, for Wu Changjiang, this is not a big problem, because venture capital firms have expressed their willingness to help him.
After all, Wu Changjiang's commercial value far exceeds that of those two people. Although one wave has not subsided, and another wave has risen, Wu Changjiang has been fully prepared.
In 2006, Wu Changjiang met Yan Yan, the representative of Softbank SAIF, through the introduction of the middleman Mao Ou Jianli. The two reached a cooperative relationship in a pleasant negotiation.
However, as the cooperation deepened, Yan Yan found that Wu Changjiang not only acted arbitrarily, but also had the problem of gambling. After the success of the business, Wu Changjiang became interested in gambling, at first just a small test, but later the more gambling became, the more addicted he became, and even traveled back and forth to the mainland and Macau many times, losing 500 million yuan in one night in a Macau casino.
Although Yan Yan had doubts about Wu Changjiang's trust, he still saw Wu Changjiang's talent, so he decided to stand still and introduce Schneider's investment to Wu Changjiang and set up an ambush.
Faced with Schneider's huge investment, the cautious Wu Changjiang hesitated. In the end, however, he decided to give it a go. However, he bet on the wrong treasure - Yan Yan's real purpose was to dilute Wu Changjiang's stake in NVC.
After several rounds of financing, by the time Wu Changjiang reacted, he only had 15 shares left34, was kicked out of NVC again. This time, he decided to join forces with his former rival Wang Donglei.
Wang Donglei became the largest shareholder of NVC through his own investment and the absorption of market shares, and "invited" Wu Changjiang back, and Wu Changjiang returned to his NVC company again.
However, Wu Changjiang's move ended up being wrong. Wang Donglei ostensibly complies with the cooperation agreement, but in fact he is investigating his gambling habits.
In 2014, Wang Donglei Fang used special means to provide the economic investigation department with direct evidence that Wu Changjiang misappropriated ** for gambling consumption, and the news immediately caused a huge shock.
This incident not only completely shattered Wu Changjiang's credibility, but he was also criminally detained two months later. Since then, NVC, which has a market value of 30 billion, has completely changed hands, Wang Donglei has become the new chairman, and his son has served as an executive director.
In the first instance of the court in 2016, Wu Changjiang was sentenced to 14 years for embezzlement; And in the first instance of the retrial in 2021, his sentence was commuted to 10 years, but he still needs to pay back 5600 million yuan.
If Wu Changjiang could control his gambling addiction, then his life might be a different story. However, his gambling demons eventually led him to tears behind bars.