Zhang Tongwei’s entrepreneurial story

Post-80s, CEO, 2008 Charming Figure of the Year in China's Solar Thermal Utilization Industry, 2008 Economic Person of the Year in China's Solar Thermal Utilization Industry, 2008 Top Ten Charming Figures in China's Solar Thermal Utilization Industry, Changzhou National High-tech Development District entrepreneurial model... These labels are placed on Zhang Tongwei, which can't help but attract people's attention. It has been 8 years since graduation and 5 years since starting a business. Starting from scratch, it won the title of No. 1 exporter of China's solar water heaters in 2 years. After operating in the domestic market for 14 months, it successfully won the bid for national home appliances to be sent to the countryside and became a leader in China's photothermal industry. A truly "dark horse". Zhang Tongwei, general manager of Jiangsu Bedelite Solar Technology Co., Ltd., has pioneered a unique development path in the field of new energy with the unique energy and vitality of young people, and has also handed over a perfect plan for the upcoming 30th year. transcript.

Driven by the fourth industrial revolution - green economy, China's new energy industry is setting off an unprecedented wave of climax. Emerging industries such as photovoltaics, wind power, and solar thermal have gathered talents and funds. The well-known low industry threshold has caused the photothermal industry to be in a state of chaos and a mixed bag. As a rising star, how can Zhang Tongwei break out of the "House of Flying Daggers", and in what way can he lead the company to expand its domestic market layout and compete with the industry tycoons? In fact, looking at Zhang Tongwei's unique growth path, it is not difficult to see that his success is no accident.

The dream ignited by Alibaba

Zhang Tongwei was born in rural Changzhou, and his parents are "authentic farmers." In 2001, he graduated from NTU. At this time, when the Internet entrepreneurship trend in China was booming, I entered an Internet company in Changzhou to promote Internet. As one of the earliest Internet newcomers in Changzhou, the company cooperated with the Changzhou Consumers Association to promote the commercial integrity of Changzhou enterprises online, and at the same time targeted the talent recruitment market and launched the Changzhou Job Search Network, becoming the earliest experiment to tap into the Internet economy. One of the water people.

At that time, there were about 30 Internet companies in Changzhou, most of which were in a state of "having money but no ideas, having ideas but no money". They mainly focused on corporate website production business, and most of them were based locally. After Zhang Tongwei became familiar with the tips of online promotion, he quickly became interested in this new economic model and started to develop business.

By chance, Zhang Tongwei came into contact with a local company and was greatly touched. What attracted Zhang Tongwei was not the company itself. The company had only one production workshop, covering an area of ??about 10 acres, and the annual output value was only a few million yuan. What touched Zhang Tongwei was the boss of the company: he graduated in 1994 Hohai University had its own company four years later and dared to hire engineers with a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan. You know, Zhang Tongwei's monthly salary at that time was only 800 yuan. Although the company produces ordinary household appliance switches, when the boss talked with Zhang Tongwei, his younger brother, he talked about the entrepreneurial experience of Japanese electrical appliance king Konosuke Matsushita and the subsequent brilliance of Panasonic Electric Company. The most important thing about Alibaba is that you can find buyers through BTOB online, and it is free.

At that time, Alibaba was in a critical period of rapid development. At the end of 2001, Alibaba's "Chinese Supplier" members reached 1 million, thus laying the foundation for Alibaba to build its online business empire. Solid foundation. Zhang Tongwei registered as a member with the attitude of "you might as well give it a try".

In this way, Zhang Tongwei switched jobs to a home appliance manufacturing company. While working in the company's Shanghai office, Zhang Tongwei did extremely complex things, from developing business to supervising the production process, and he was respectful in everything he did. During this period, Zhang Tongwei took great care to learn oral communication in English from two senior engineers with overseas study background, making up for the lesson he lacked most, and accumulated practical experience in industrial production.

At that time, the company launched a new project of 24-volt low-voltage refrigerators produced using semiconductor technology. This product later proved that there was not much market space. But when Zhang Tongwei listed the product on Alibaba, he unexpectedly received sample orders from two Hong Kong customers. For a while, his confidence greatly increased. The idea of ??developing foreign trade business through the Internet has gradually matured.

Focused on solar energy, switched from trade to work

In order to seek greater development space, Zhang Tongwei once again got a resume and went to the job market half a year later. This time he entered a local solar energy company in Changzhou. At this time, through hard self-study, Zhang Tongwei's English level has improved greatly. After joining this company, Zhang Tongwei quickly helped them build an English website. At the same time, the solar water heater product was listed on his Alibaba page.

It didn’t take long for the new gadgets Zhang Tongwei tinkered with on the Internet to show bizarre effects. On the same day, two customers from India and Turkey walked into the door of Zhang Tongwei's company. The visit of foreign customers caused a stir in the factory. Subsequently, foreign orders came in in droves, and Zhang Tongwei's foreign trade business grew more and more.

However, two years later, as the prices of stainless steel and other raw materials soared, the company's business temporarily reached a deadlock. Zhang Tongwei, who had already made some small gains, simply quit the company, specifically cooperated with a water heater manufacturer, and started his own foreign trade business.

To his extreme disappointment, the quality of the products of the cooperative manufacturers was very poor, which caused considerable problems for his foreign trade business expansion. Problems with upstream supply channels have increasingly become a constraint on his business expansion. At this time, Zhang Tongwei, because of his proficiency in foreign trade business, was ready to take action. Faced with a dilemma, Zhang Tongwei had no choice but to cut off cooperation with manufacturers and set up his own factory based on his experience in the production of photothermal products.

On the one hand, solar photothermal utilization directly converts solar energy into thermal energy, which has the characteristics of low energy consumption and cleanliness. In the context of increasing energy shortage, the photothermal industry has broad prospects; on the other hand, Zhang Tongwei is keen It is found that the development of China's solar thermal utilization industry is almost synchronized with that of foreign countries. Due to the low labor and production costs, it has a competitive advantage that cannot be matched by any other country in the world. It will definitely make great achievements in the international market. Combining the two aspects, setting up a factory by yourself is both a last resort and a natural outcome.

Just do it. In May 2005, Jiangsu Bedelite Solar Technology Co., Ltd. invested and established by Zhang Tongwei started construction. Relying on the team of more than 20 people who had previously been engaged in foreign trade and more than 40 newly recruited people, in August of that year, the production enterprise was officially operational.

Zhang Tongwei's manufacturing enterprise was actually developed to meet the needs of the expanding foreign trade business. From the beginning of the establishment of the factory, he has been involved in the chain of world trade and is committed to the development of the international market.

What is the "stepping stone" to the international market? quality. Bedelite always regards product quality as the lifeline of enterprise development and the cornerstone of the brand building. The German market is known for being demanding, so Zhang Tongwei adopts the strategy of "first difficult, then easy" to implement total quality management. In order to ensure that product quality reaches the leading international level, Bedelite has also cooperated with the German Standardization Association in quality management. The organization regularly dispatches engineers to Bedelite every year to conduct comprehensive inspections including raw material procurement, product design, technology, process control, product inspection, etc. Guidance for quality control of orientation. With perfect quality and rigorous craftsmanship, Bedelite products successfully passed many hurdles and opened up the German market in one fell swoop.

After that, Zhang Tongwei led his team to get the "passports" into the international market one by one: ISO9001 quality system certification, ISO14000 certification, Ministry of Construction Kangju certification, EU EN12975 product quality certification, EU Solar Keymark certification. In this way, in 2006, it was 50 million yuan; in 2007, it was more than 70 million yuan; in 2008, it was 120 million yuan. This year's output value is expected to reach 180 million yuan. With its professional quality and service advantages, its products were exported to 78 countries and regions by 2007, especially in Europe and South America, where it gained a large market share. Its sales revenue in the international market ranked first among its peers in the country. By 2010, products were exported to 82 countries and regions.

Advance into the domestic market and open up blue oceans

The accumulation of export experience made Zhang Tongwei realize that it is not easy for products to enter a market, and it is even more difficult to occupy the market for a long time.

In July 2009, the company made another big move and spent a huge amount of money to sponsor the "First Jiangsu College Student Home Appliance Service Industry Entrepreneurship Competition", which reflected the company's leader, Zhang Tongwei, a young president born in the 1980s, for the social issues of college students' employment and entrepreneurship. Attracting great attention and unanimously selected by departments at all levels, Zhang Tongwei, the young general manager of Jiangsu Bedelite Solar Technology Co., Ltd., was elected as the chairman of the judging panel of the competition and was hired as an entrepreneurial mentor, which once again proved that all sectors of society have a short-term commitment to young entrepreneurs. Great recognition of time entrepreneurial achievements.

In 2004, Bedelite entered the solar energy industry with the unique passion of orange. In 2010, Bedelite presented a new VI image - the stability and maturity unique to dark brown, marking Bedelite. Wright enters a new period of development. The change from orange to dark brown is not only a change in the image of Bedelite's VI, but more importantly, it is the mature transformation of Bedelite's rapid development over the past five years. In 2010, Bedelite is launching a brand war in the industry. Brand is the soul of an enterprise. Bedelite will make full efforts to take the brand as its core competitiveness and move from passionate growth to steady development. The company will continue to adhere to the production and operation principle of customer first. , relying on the wolf management concept of teamwork, focusing on providing world-class green hot water solutions to consumers with high-quality products.

For the future development of the company, Bedelite General Manager Zhang Tongwei has made detailed plans and has begun to actively introduce technology, production, and sales elites from all parties to expand the company's existing talent team and comprehensively Upgrade production equipment and increase R&D investment in the utilization of medium- and high-temperature solar energy. In the next five years, Bedelite will comprehensively develop the domestic market, not only continue to maintain a rapid development speed in retail, but also vigorously explore the engineering market. In addition, the company will continue to expand foreign trade, maintain its leading advantage in exports, and strive to enter the top ten in the industry within five years. It is determined to continue to write the myth of China's solar thermal utilization industry and become one of the giants in the industry.

Langdao culture, displaying great ambition and pride again

Having been working in the solar energy industry for six years, Zhang Tongwei talked about the industry situation like a treasure trove. He analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of industry giants represented by Huangming, Taiyangyu and Sangle very clearly. Being in Longcheng, he also admired Changzhou Trina Solar's extraordinary performance in the capital market.

He said that compared with the hot photovoltaic industry, the relevant national departments still have very little understanding of the photothermal industry, resulting in the current photothermal industry basically being in a state of spontaneous development without any preferential policies. , the current industrial scale of the entire industry is only 40 billion yuan, which is not as good as the annual output value of the home appliance giant Haier.

Fortunately, with the popularization of the concept of integrating solar energy and buildings and the promulgation and implementation of the "Energy Conservation Law", the country has relatively clear regulations on solar thermal applications and building installations, which provides a good opportunity for solar thermal enterprises. brought significant benefits. Moreover, with the innovation and improvement of medium- and high-temperature technologies for solar thermal utilization, the solar thermal industry is about to enter an epoch-making golden road.

At present, Zhang Tongwei leads Bederite to steadily transform into a provider and solution provider of solar thermal system engineering solutions for schools, hotels, hospitals, etc., while maintaining its outdoor retail advantages of solar water heater series products. With its abundant funds, advanced equipment, efficient management and perfect technology, Bedelite Company has designed large-scale heat collection projects not only for heating domestic water, but also for material drying, seawater desalination, etc. The overall system can Standalone operation is also compatible with other conventional energy sources. These will have a considerable impact on enterprises and industries that currently produce through traditional energy methods.

Not smoking, drinking, playing cards, or clubbing, young Zhang Tongwei seems to have chosen the way of an ascetic monk. Five years after starting his business, Zhang Tongwei's life seems to be like an alarm clock that has been wound up, moving forward non-stop. As a young man who started out as a foreign trade salesman, Zhang Tongwei has been playing the role of a lone hero for a long time. This coincides with the American culture he admires.

Even as the chairman of the company, he still takes the lead in business development. Just last year, he alone did more than 20 million yuan in business.

He said with emotion that young people nowadays regard entrepreneurship as a fashion. In fact, entrepreneurship requires not only having lofty ideals, but also being down-to-earth and working hard. Without the latter, he is just an ambitious utopian, and entrepreneurship becomes empty talk. Currently, the first phase of Bedelite's project for young people to start their own businesses, the "Ten Million Funds to Create an Entrepreneurial Pioneer with an Annual Salary of Millions" plan, is fully launched. Zhang Tongwei allocated tens of millions of entrepreneurial funds to support entrepreneurial operations and reflect the new value of life.

In the Bedelite production base located in the Airport Industrial Park, Luoxi Town, Xinbei District, Changzhou City, the reporter saw that the factory area covering an area of ??100 acres and a factory area of ??38,000 square meters was as clean as new, and Zhang Tongwei The "sunshine career" you are engaged in is equally pleasing to the eye. Upon entering the office building, seven wolf sculptures with different postures are lifelike, and slogans such as "obedience, execution, wisdom, competition, loyalty" and other slogans explaining the spirit of the wolf are posted on eye-catching places on both sides of the corridor.

Zhang Tongwei, who advocates wolf culture, is committed to building a team that can unite, fight, compete and win in the fierce market competition. In his heart, the image of the setting sun shining in the evening, the forest being dyed, and a male wolf standing alone on the top of a mountain, roaring up to the sky, had inspired him to be enterprising and enterprising more than once when he encountered setbacks. "Be the leader of the wolf first, and then be the leader of the pack." When talking about team building, "Wolf Leader" Zhang Tongwei said excitedly.

At present, after five years of rapid development, Bedelite is in a stage of summary, precipitation and accumulation. "As a young man, I know that management is a never-ending process of learning and accumulation. My management occasionally has a magical touch, but it has not yet been systematized." Zhang Tongwei showed his enthusiasm and enthusiasm when talking about the operation of the enterprise. Aged and capable beyond his years. Based on the above understanding, Zhang Tongwei not only enrolled in the EMBA class of NTU to recharge his skills, but also introduced Hohai Business School and Southeast University to conduct systematic diagnosis, consultation, and cooperation with enterprises.

In his plan, Bedelite will further increase the development of the domestic market based on the simultaneous advancement of the domestic and international markets in the near future, striving to be among the top 8 in the domestic solar thermal utilization industry. Under the strategy of integrating solar energy and buildings, we will rely on the advantages of low-temperature technology to strive for major breakthroughs in the fields of central heating and water supply. We will also cater to the application trend of medium-temperature technology, gain a place in the industrialization of medium-temperature technology, and provide enterprises with win broad space for development. Zhang Tongwei will also bring us more "accidents".