Turning rubble into green gold
When he was 17, his family became the first 10,000-yuan household in the village. Chen had during the holidays in the past five years collected surplus grain from villagers and sold it to urban people. From 5 to 6 yuan profit per day to over 300 yuan, from riding a bicycle commuting to driving a tractor, the boy expanded his business until he was enrolled by the Nanjing Traditional Chinese Medicine College for higher education in 1985.
After his graduation in 1990 he decided to take advantage of his medical knowledge to earn money. He renovated diagnostic equipment that could detect diseases via ear acupoints, and promoted it in the market with an initial investment of 3,000 yuan. The business soon expanded into a company with annual profits in excess of 200,000 yuan in 1998.
In 1998, he scented another business opportunity in processing Lucid Ganoderma, a traditional Chinese tonic. He made the raw lucid ganoderma into a capsule, to cash in on the growing demand for convenience, and soon saw prices of the popular health nourishing medicine jump from 200 yuan per kg to nearly 2,000 yuan. The new business saw Chen’s profit zoom to 600,000 yuan the next year.
But the savvy entrepreneur was not content with temporary success and decided to find and operate a long-term and sustainable business.
It was in 2000 that the Nanjing municipal government decided to dismantle its old exhibition hall. Chen was lucky to bag the building waste treatment project. Classifying the rubbish, Chen sold it to different buyers for 4 million yuan and after deducting labor costs, made a net profit of 1.8 million yuan.
Discovering the treasure hidden in garbage, Chen decided to shift focus to the recycling sector. He imported advanced machines from Germany in 2003 for waste classification and recycling after a careful market study and analysis. “We decided to start from a high level so that no one could compete with us in China,” he said. That strategy really worked and helped him get an upper hand in the industry.
The building material the company recycled between 2003 and 2008 can pave a 274 km expressway between Nanjing and Shanghai, while the metals it has collected from waste amounts to hundreds and thousands of tons.
Jiangsu Huangpu, however, is not immune to the global economic slowdown, as purchase prices of various metals have nosedived. “I lost 2 billion yuan at the end of last year,” said Chen.
Ploughing back part of his profits into charity, the green nature of the recycling business and his philanthropy has helped him stand tall. So much so that many companies came to him with projects, while purchasers were willing to reduce their margins to buy Chen’s goods.
Chen said he is optimistic, not only due to the people’s support, but also because of the favored policies of the government. The 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package is expected to cover infrastructure construction, residential community renovation and public venue upgrading projects, all of which offer immense opportunities for Jiangsu Huangpu.
The private entrepreneur also indicated that he has no plans to list Jiangsu Huangpu, as it would threaten his complete control and hinder the generous donations to people and society.
“I want my company in a sustainable cycle of healthy development and socially beneficial charity,” he said.
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