National entrepreneurs strut their stuff

HEFEI－With their pleasant floral scent, the jasmine-themed products 31-year-old He Chengtian chose to introduce to visitors during the National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week included teas, bonsai and cosmetics.

The event, which kicked off on Sept 15 and ended on Wednesday, encouraged many young people like He to put their achievements in mass entrepreneurship and innovation on show.

Some 160 projects selected from around the country were showcased in Hefei, Anhui province, which was the main venue for this year's event.

Growing up in the countryside of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region's Hengzhou city, which is known as the "home of jasmine" in China, He has a special love for the plant. So when the young man returned home after graduating in 2015, he started a business based on the flower.

"In my hometown, everyone grows jasmine," He said. "Villagers also picked fresh blossoms to sell in the market, but their added value was low. I wanted to raise the value of this local specialty and expand the market for it."

After a great deal of work and experimentation, he created a number of jasmine products and opened 10 shops on different e-commerce platforms. He also sells to customers nationwide via livestreaming.

"Now, we make sales of 6 million yuan ($865,000) a year. Compared to most traditional farmers, we are familiar with new trends and technologies and so have more innovative ways of promoting products," He said, adding that his company employs 2,300 local residents.

Rural vitalization is in full swing across China since the country eradicated absolute poverty. A growing number of young people are heading home to contribute to rural development.

There were more than 126,000 young farmers－meaning those born after 1995－on the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo by October of last year, nearly 100,000 more than there were in 2019, according to a report released by the platform.

Over the past decade, about 11.2 million people have returned to rural areas to set up their own businesses, with each one creating an average of six to seven stable jobs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Wang Huang, a graduate of the China Three Gorges University, started a business in 2018.

Together with five schoolmates, Wang set up a biotechnology company that specializes in mushroom culture with the help of college professors.

Their products, which include mushrooms, bamboo fungus and black fungus, are sold to school canteens and restaurants in Yichang city, Hubei province.

The company cultivates 12 different fungi on about 200 hectares of land in the countryside and has created over 1,000 jobs.

"We hope to introduce a smart agricultural system to our greenhouses, so that all the growing conditions like temperature, humidity and soil fertility can be monitored and controlled automatically, making the production more scientific and efficient," Wang said.

Themed "Innovation Drives Vitality; Entrepreneurship Creates Employment", this year's National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week includes almost 1,000 activities across the country, online and offline.

Xinhua