Share and care alike

The main reason for Wellhope's success in China's animal feed market in less than 10 years, according to CEO Jin Weidong, is that he has always been willing to share.

When he invited his six friends to start the business together, the ownership of the company was divided evenly, with the exception of Jin's share, which was higher due to his role as founder and leader.

"Most of the privately owned businesses in China have a single dominant shareholder, or are family controlled," says Jin, "but when we started in 1995, we had a team, and ever since then we have always insisted that the team is king."

The earliest team was mainly composed of development and technology experts, such as Shao Caimei, and those with marketing experience, like Jin himself. As the company grew bigger, Jin persuaded the earliest shareholders to give up part of their ownership in order to attract more talent.

Several years after the company started to become profitable, the seven co-founders gave part of their shareholdings to the 18 new management staff for free.

And in 2005, they further expanded the number of shareholders to 49, with the shares transferred at a much lower price than the market value.

With De Heus, the major European feed maker, acquiring a 10 percent stake in 2007 for 150 million yuan, the company now has 50 shareholders.

Jin also lowered his stake to 20 percent (from 30 percent at the beginning) and gave his shares to new employees.

"The sharing, in fact, helps both the original shareholders and new ones to rapidly increase their wealth," says Jin. "After all, we are businessmen, and we care about the company's interests."

Jin says his largesse also prevents employees from starting their own companies or joining competitors. "I'd like to have more partners instead of opponents."

The sharing system has also made him more confident as Wellhope expands by setting up feed mills throughout the country and through mergers and acquisitions.

"The staff of Wellhope devote themselves to the company since they own it, but my competitors employ people to work for them for money," says Jin. "The different attitudes will lead to different results."

(China Daily 09/15/2008 page12)