Very trade has its master, including livestock. In Tairi Town in Fengxian District, the so-called "partridge town" of Shanghai, Mo Aifen is a master.
At the age of 31, she has already built a reputation as the No. 1 livestock raiser in Tairi.
The slim and diminutive Mo daily supplies some 800 kilograms of livestock to the city's four big supermarkets and 40 school canteens. Some 50,000 people a day dine on the livestock meat that comes from her farm.
In Tairi, a traditional livestock raising town, over 40 families are engaged in the business. But most simply sell their chicken and partridges in the food market.
Mo is the only one who has managed to take her products into hotels, restaurants and supermarkets.
"It's not because my livestock is better quality than theirs," Mo said.
Almost all the farmers here have good knowledge of livestock raising. Almost all of them have tried exploring new markets, but those who can continue after repeated refusals are few.
"If there is any knack for my success, it is my perseverance," said Mo.
The new market in hotels and supermarkets has brought great profit to Mo. Her sales volume reached 1.5 million yuan (US$180,000) last year, leaving all neighbouring livestock raisers far behind.
Early rising
The idea of being a livestock raiser never occurred to her until nine years ago when Mo was laid off by her former workplace - a State-owned rest house.
With only a junior middle school education, Mo was at a loss. It was her husband who helped rebuild her confidence.
Like many other farming families in Tairi, they raised several hundred partridges at that time. They were mainly sold in the local food market.
Demand from the local market was small. Mo suggested selling some to the food market in the urban area. However, the long distance between Tairi and the city posed a big obstacle.
Without a car, Mo had to get up at 2 o'clock every morning. She would place the partridges that had been killed and cleaned the previous night into sacks, and after a rushed breakfast, would take a bus for the city. But the damp sacks, a little smelly, were often banned by the bus drivers.
"It was often the case that I had to wait a whole hour before meeting a bus driver who would have mercy on me," Mo recalled.
"When at last I managed to get on the bus, I didn't know whether I felt grateful or sad."
At that time Mo chose a food market in the densely-populated Luwan District to sell the partridges. It wasn't long before her cheap and fresh partridge gained popularity among the residents there.
Her good reputation - she never short-weighted her customers - also helped to win her more business.
Pushed by the growing demand, two years later the couple bought their first van to help carry the partridge. Also starting then, stimulated by the market, Mo began to raise chickens and ducks.
Success story
During the time of selling in the urban area, Mo set her eyes on the supermarkets and restaurants.
She remembered doing her first business with a chicken porridge restaurant six years ago.
"It is difficult to find people who can make the decision, and many times I went there only to be told that the one I wanted to see was out again," Mo said.
When at last she managed to talk with the purchasing manager and boss, and the chicken after it was cooked won the approval of the chef, the restaurant granted an order of 100 chickens weighing 1.25 to 1.4 kg each.
Mo agreed without the slightest hesitation. She carefully weighed each chicken after she killed and cleaned it so as to ensure the weight.
Her credit impressed the boss. It was not long before Mo became the only chicken supplier of the restaurant.
"I don't believe in luck. I only believe in the good quality of my products and my service," Mo said.
During the slack season, some restaurants would reduce their demand to a very small amount.
To suppliers like Mo who lived so far away, it was a money-losing case after deducting traveling costs. But she did not stop supplying so long as the restaurant retained her as a long-term provider.
In the past nine years, Mo has won a share of the city's market. She has even won counters in famous supermarkets like Lianhua, Hualian and Park'n' Shop.
Fraud risk
Doing business is full of risks. As a young woman with little formal education, a "green hand" in conducting business, Mo experienced all the more risks in her earlier years of conducting business.
She recalled being cheated at least four times.
The one that caused her largest losses was in 1996, when a restaurant refused to pay some 60,000 yuan ($7,229) it owed her.
"The restaurant asked me to supply them with 50 kg of chicken every day," Mo said.
"Every morning I carried the products to the restaurant very early. The boss had not arrived. The staff said they didn't know how to write a receipt."
Mo didn't mind it a lot as the boss paid her on time during the first few months. But later he began to put off payment, giving the excuse that business was slack.
Afraid of losing a big customer, Mo didn't push him too hard. But later when Mo went again to ask for her money. The boss said abruptly that he would not pay. As Mo had not obtained receipts, the boss managed to escape the debt without legal punishment.
The hard blow did not defeat Mo, although the family was at that time bogged down in a predicament. "We couldn't even afford the forage of the livestock," Mo said.
After borrowing some money from friends and relative, she went on again.
The risk for the livestock raisers is not only that. If experiencing livestock pests, the losses can be tremendous.
Last year, Mo started raising rabbits. However, with lack of knowledge and experience, of the first branch of 600 rabbits she purchased, 500 died.
When speaking about it, Mo simply smiled.
"I am already accustomed to the frustrations. They won't beat me down," she said.
Mo is aiming high.
To further expand her business, she has invested 400,000 yuan ($48,193) in modernizing her farm. She has also selected 40 laid-off workers from the large number of applicants in the district to help her sell the livestock.
"As I've also experienced being laid off, I know what they want most," Mo said.
Seeing her neighboring farmers fail to find a market by themselves, Mo would buy their surplus products and sell them on her own.
Sometimes farmers from neighboring towns will come to her with their livestock and ask her to sell for them. They never worry about being refused or defrauded.
(Shanghai Star June 13, 2002)
