Yu Yuexiu's motto is: "Never stop studying, never stop pursuing."
With this ambitious belief, Yu, 50, has developed over the last 10
years from a radio broadcaster in a small village to the general
manager of Wuxi Xinyi Industrial Co., Ltd., with an asset of 10
million yuan (US$1.2 million).
Born in a farmer's family in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu
Province, Yu suffered much from the "cultural revolution"
(1966-76) like many others of her age. She had to stop study and
work in the fields.
Unwilling to accept her fate, Yu continued to study by herself.
After the "cultural revolution," she was admitted to a college to
learn business administration.
However, upon graduation, she worked as an anchor woman in a radio
station in Nanzhan Village in the outskirts of Wuxi.
In
early 1990, the local government planned to develop the tertiary
industry. Yu was asked to take over a small collective hardware
company, which was near bankruptcy.
"The officials settled on me partly because they thought I was
open-minded and had good public relations," Yu said. "Yet it was
really a big challenge for me, since I had no experience in
business. What's more, at that time, there were very few women
managers in the city.
"However, my ambition finally overtook my worries.
"I
asked myself, 'why not have a go?'"
When Yu took office, she realized she had to start from scratch,
with the lack of both funds and talent.
After making careful market investigations, she found that the
hardware the factory was making simply didn't sell, while ceramics
and furniture did.
"So I took a risk to arrange a loan from the bank and traveled
around the nation to obtain the latest market information," she
said.
Soon, Yu's company became the only commercial agent in Wuxi for the
Foshan Ceramics Group of south China's Guangdong
Province and took the lead in opening furniture
exhibitions.
A
year later, the company began to see the benefits.
Yet Yu didn't stop there. She and her colleagues worked to develop
the company into a more comprehensive trade group.
After 10 years, Wuxi Xinyi is now a multi-trade company engaged in
ceramics, furniture, interior design and decoration, raw decoration
materials and advertisements design and programming.
To
be able to keep talented people, she established a training center
for her employees that provides courses ranging from professional
ethics, basic knowledge of the law, public relations, marketing and
sales.
"Trust is the motto in business," she said. "In my view, it is more
important and efficient to trust the employees than control
them.
"I
like making friends, be it with my employees or clients. This
brings me as well as the company success after success."
Some people say that men's guts and pioneering spirit might be
stronger than women's, but Yu said her success has proved this is
not always true.
When asked about any regrets that she might have, Yu admitted, "I
owe my family much for the last 10 years.
"When I took over the company, my son had just entered
middle-school and studied diligently day and night. We had little
time to communicate with each other."
Three years ago, her son was admitted to a college in Urumqi,
capital of northwest China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, which is very far from Wuxi.
"I
could only arrange time to accompany him in his short vacations,"
she said.
As
for the future of the company, Yu said that she wants her future
daughter-in-law to inherit the company.
"From my own experience, I believe a talented woman would be good
at running business and I hope to find such a capable
daughter-in-law," she said.
"As for my son, I wish him to be a civil servant."
(China Daily March 26,
2002)