As chairman of China’s New Hope Group, president of the Hope Group, and vice chairman of the China Minsheng Banking Corporation, in 2004 Liu Yonghao was regarded by Fortune magazine, along with his three brothers (Yongyan, Yongxing, and Yongmei), as one of China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs with assets totalling RMB600 million.
Background
Liu Yonghao was born in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, to a Chinese farmer’s family. He is of Han nationality and a native of Xinjin. In the village of Guojia the Liu family was well known. Liu’s father was an intellectual who participated first in the revolutionary war and then worked as a manager in the local agricul- tural office. His mother attended the esteemed Huangpu Military School and after 1949 she became a teacher. The names of the four brothers Liu Yongyan, Liu Yongxing, Liu Yongmei, and Liu Yonghao together indicate ‘always nicely and well in words and actions.’
Education
Liu Yonghao studied mathematics at the Chengdu Normal College from 1978 to 1982. In the early 1980s when the government modified its policy to introduce science and technology into the agriculture industry to vitalize the economy, the Liu brothers had just completed their education at universities or vocational schools, and they wanted to benefit from the economic reforms.
Career
After numerous discussions, the brothers decided to sell their wristwatches and bicycles to raise 1000 yuan as their first capital for a breeding farm for chickens in the village. However, the business did not go well at first, and the brothers had to work hard to avoid bankruptcy. They would twist bamboo baskets in the evenings, then get up at 4 a.m. and pedal for three hours to the market to sell their chickens. Later the brothers decided to breed quails, which brought their respective abilities fully into play. They used computers in the feed arrangement and developed a biologically recyclable method of feeding. This was the beginning of their prosperity. After six years the Liu brothers had collected RMB10 millions. By the end of the 1980s they had begun to develop animal feed.
In 1992, the family enterprise was named the ‘Hope Group.’ Over 15 years, the small family company developed into an enterprise group with over 35 000 employees. Since 1995, the Hope Group has been the biggest Chinese enterprise in the feed industry and was honored by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce as the ‘most successful private enterprise.’ In 1996, New Hope invested heavily in research in order to roll out a steady stream of new products, improve on production techniques and productivity, and maintain high product quality. In the 1990s, the group went through several restructuring exercises as differences arose between the four brothers regarding the future direction of the business. Liu believes it is vitally important to use every opportunity to pursue various markets and to expand the capital thereby. When the government decided to open and liberalize the banking sector in the 1990s, Liu seized the opportunity and entered the banking business. He assisted with the initial development of the Minsheng Bank from 1993 to 1996, and when the bank went public in 2000, Liu became its largest stockholder.
Personality
Liu Yonghao is the visionary of the Liu brothers. Because of his innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, he was named among the Top Ten Best Entrepreneurs of Chinese Privately-run Enterprises, and named by BusinessWeek as a ‘Star of Asia.’ Liu is vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a standing committee member of the Chinese Political Consulting Conference, and vice president of the Federation for the Chinese Feed Industry. Liu is modest about his talents, saying that he could neither dance, nor play golf and was not interested in celebrities or famous brands. When asked why he continued to work so hard, being already one of the richest men in China, Liu replied: ‘You do not understand the mind of entrepreneurs. Whenever I had reached good achievements, I focus my eyes onto the next target and begin to work untiringly for it to achieve still better results. I hope that my business will develop year after year to become a top enterprise in the world. My knowledge, experiences, and abilities are more important than money’.
Quotes from others about the person
In an interview with the Beijing Review in 2002, Liu reflected: ‘in my childhood my family was very poor. In my first 20 years I have never worn new shoes. I bought old shoes, repaired them and wore them. Because my family lacked firewood, I had to collect brushwood after school.’ The poverty of his childhood was, in Liu’s eyes, a valuable learning experience and powerful motivation, ‘I have worked as a farmer and teacher. With these experiences of life I have no fear of the fact that I will have one day nothing; I can be active over and over again in the agriculture and have a new beginning . . .’
