Valuing people made his company grow

Wang Chongyang has gone from ordinary machine operator to corporate head in just 12 years and describes the experience with an old Chinese saying that "Success grows out of struggle".

The 50-year-old Wang, who is from Henan province in Central China, is the founder and president of the Luoyang Tengyu Group Co Ltd, which works in non-ferrous metals exploration and processing, as well as automobile sales.

After graduating from college in the 1980s, he went to work for a local metallurgy company, starting at the bottom.

But, because of his hard work and noteworthy performance, he got promoted several times, as a technician, a department head, then deputy manager.

Over this period of time, he expanded his knowledge and got certified as an engineer and economist.

Then, in 1995, he decided to quit his steady job, at the very peak of his career, and set up his own business.

Thanks to his perseverance, and in spite of the challenges, his company now has assets of 400 million yuan ($61.5 million).

And the number of employees has grown to around 900, including some 30 senior personnel who are engineers or in human resources or accounting.

"I value their talent because they're crucial to the company's growth," Wang said. He refused to engage in favoritism, which is quite common, and hires people for their merits instead.

"The company has policies on selecting talented people," he explained.

"If you start slacking, you could be replaced by someone else."

Scientific innovation and the pursuit of perfection are other things that Wang values because they play a positive role in product development and market expansion.

By making full use of its technology and human resources, the company has been able to explore more mines to increase its access to minerals, he says.

It has mining interests in Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu and other provinces to back up further development.

The company has also diversified by entering the automobile business, to reduce risks and industrialize more, and now has seven branches, all in Luoyang, except for one.

That one branch is looking at being listed, and is expected to get Securities Association of China approval in August.

The company was given the "Luoyang Trustworthy Enterprise" award by the city's industry and commerce administration, and Wang himself was given the title of "Excellent Contributor to the Construction of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics".

Charitable contributor

In spite of his remarkable success, Wang never forget his roots and gradually got interested in charity.

He always says one should think about where those riches came from and about making progress after becoming rich.

"It's only in this way that a more harmonious society can be built."

He is also a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy.

"As an entrepreneur and NPC member, I should be socially responsible," he explained.

Wang has given more than 2.2 million yuan to education, healthcare and helping the poor over the past two years.

When the company was hit by the global economic crisis in 2008, Wang did not fire anyone. Instead, he paid his employees their monthly wages as well as their insurances.

In addition, he has been helping some farmers in his hometown learn how to do better.

In 2010, he established an edible fungi planting and processing company at a cost of 50 million yuan, thereby providing more than 400 jobs.

The company has a 68,000-square-meter growing room with a steady temperature, two workshops for packing and food-processing, and eight production lines. Annual mushroom production reaches about 7,000 tons.

"It does not pollute and can solve agricultural waste problems," Wang said. "We use straw from crops, chicken manure and other agricultural waste for planting. This accords with international energy-saving and environmental-protection trends."

Within three years, the company expects that its brand will be better known and the annual output value will grow to 200 million yuan, thereby helping 1,000 households with their lives.

"Enlarging the company's production scale allows us to make a larger contribution to the local economy and rural constructions," Wang noted.

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page57)