Making money by using melon

First Person | Li Junli

I first taught art design at a college in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, after graduation. Then I quit the job in 2003 and started a restaurant in the city.

Though I lived and worked in Zhengzhou, I would go back to Lankao, my hometown, a couple of times every year. I remember driving by a winter melon field in 2009, when melons were piled along hundreds of meters of road due to poor market demand.

It suddenly came to me that I could make winter melons into sauce or slices to prolong the shelf life. And that's what I did. I first started a smaller cooperative in Lankao, and later established the Wunong Hao Food Group.

The rural area has rich business opportunities, but many remain undiscovered due to information asymmetry. And people who have been outside the county can easily turn their knowledge to productive ends when they come back.

My grandma once told me that she had been making winter melon sauce all her life but had never turned it into money. I also developed products such as vinegar using locally produced fruits.

Now my company has signed contracts with more than 300 farmers who grow fruits or crops in accordance with my needs. This has helped farmers avoid lackluster sales and economic losses.

A third of my products are now sold online, and I am planning to expand my online business. The total sales volume reached 80 million yuan ($11.5 million) last year, and I expect the number to reach 100 million yuan by the end of this year.

Li Junli spoke with Li Lei.