"From setting up a stall to opening a supermarket chain, to running a shopping mall in China...... Basically I spent my youth in Serbia. Guo Xiao said with emotion in an online interview with a reporter from China Overseas Chinese Network, "I have lived in Serbia for 24 years, and it is my second hometown. ”
In 1977, Guo Xiao was born in Qingtian, Zhejiang, and many relatives and friends around him chose to go abroad to make a living. After graduation, Guo Xiao did not choose to go abroad, but went to Yunnan to find opportunities and start his own entrepreneurial road.
Serbian overseas Chinese businessman Guo Xiao. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Thanks to the accurate location selection, Guo Xiao's stores in Yunnan are opening more and more, and they are opening bigger and bigger, clothing stores, cold drink shops, dessert shops...... He earned his first pot of gold there.
In 1999, his father, who had been in Yugoslavia and turned to commodity trading, called Guo Xiao a week to tell him that the sales of Chinese goods were very considerable, and asked him to come and help.
"At that time, I was just in my early 20s, and I embarked on the road to go abroad, but I didn't expect to be more than 20 years old." Guo Xiao told reporters that he was a little disappointed when he first arrived in Serbia, the small airport, boring work, and the huge contrast with his hometown once made him lose his momentum. Three months later, Guo Xiao told his father: "I won't help you, I'm going to break through by myself." ”
With his experience in doing business in China, Guo Xiao chose to start with a low-cost and more flexible stall. After a long visit, Guo Xiao located the retail store of Yiwu small commodities at the entrance of the vegetable market with a large flow of people. Guo Xiao recalled.
After firing the first shot, Guo Xiao spent 7 months to open 16 supermarkets all over Serbia, the large ones are more than 4,000 square meters, and the small ones are more than 500 square meters, gradually forming their own supermarket chains.
In 2003, Guo Xiao chose to transform, and he contracted a local two-story building, becoming the first Chinese to cooperate with a Serbian state-owned company. With more than 5,000 square meters of department stores and more than 100 stores, this large Chinese wholesale market has a place in Serbia.
Later, the business became bigger and bigger, and Guo Xiao was recognized by the local mainstream society. By chance, the company moved to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Guo Xiao was elected as the president of the Serbian Chinese Business Federation.
In 2013, Guo Xiao (fourth from right in the front row) at the inaugural meeting of the Serbian Chinese Business Federation. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"Many attractions in the Serbian capital have special Chinese signs; Serbian universities and high schools offer Chinese courses......" Speaking of Serbia, Guo Xiao talked eloquently, "Serbia is our China's iron-core friend and brother in Europe!" ”
Guo Xiao told reporters that he often said to his Chinese friends that when you walk on the streets of Serbia, there will be many small children waving to you and greeting: "Hello! Are you Chinese? "It's very gratifying, so now more people are falling in love with Serbia." Guo Xiao said.
On January 15, 2017, Serbia and China officially implemented the agreement on mutual visa exemption for holders of ordinary passports between the two countries, making Serbia the first country in Europe to exempt Chinese citizens from visa restrictions.
Guo Xiao said that Serbia's tourism industry has developed very well in recent years. For Chinese tourists, Serbia is an easy way to take a "walk-and-go" trip. Guo Xiao also said that in fact, not only Serbia, after years of efforts, Serbia's neighboring countries Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries have been exempted from visas to China, in fact, forming an "ecosystem" for Chinese citizens to travel visa-free.
Guo Xiao in Serbia. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2017, Guo Xiao listened to the advice of the Zhejiang Provincial Delegation to Serbia and chose to return to China for development. In that year, Guo Xiao took the team back to China for inspection, and he traveled to many cities in China, and finally settled in Ningbo, Zhejiang.
It was also from 2017 that Guo Xiao began to engage in the import of Serbian goods.
Guo Xiao's journey back to China to start a business was not all smooth sailing, and he initially wanted to use technology products as a stepping stone to open up the Chinese market, but many attempts were unsuccessful. Subsequently, Guo Xiao projected his attention to the food industry, and finally chose to import Serbian red wine as a starting point.
"We have grown from a single product to more than 400 products, from a single country to 9 countries now, and have become the importer with the largest category in the entire Central and Eastern European region." Guo Xiao told reporters that with the signing of the free trade agreement between China and Serbia in October 2023, the number and category of China's imports of goods from Serbia are growing.
Importing is simple, who will sell? Sell to whom? This is also a problem. In 2021, Guo Xiao created the "Home of Central and Eastern Europe" brand. What is the "House of Central and Eastern Europe"? Guo Xiao explained to reporters that the "House of Central and Eastern Europe" is a unique, fashionable and replicable composite business model.
The "House of Central and Eastern Europe" is both a café, an international travel agency, and a pavilion for the goods of Central and Eastern European countries. Guo Xiao introduced that customers drink coffee and shop here, immerse themselves in the customs and customs of Central and Eastern Europe, and we also provide one-stop Central and Eastern European tourism business to have a deeper connection with customers and improve customer repurchase rate and loyalty.
Central and Eastern European Countries Commodity Pavilion. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
At present, the "House of Central and Eastern Europe" has traveled from Ningbo to 30 cities across the country, with each venue ranging from 150 square meters to 3,000 square meters.
"A few years ago, even Serbs doubted how Serbian goods could be sold to China, whether they were suitable for the Chinese market, and to whom they were sold." Guo Xiao said that in recent years, with the continuous close economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, more and more Serbian companies have seen the opportunities brought by the Chinese market.
Over the years, Guo Xiao has traveled back and forth between China and Serbia, actively participating in and witnessing many cooperation between the two countries from blueprint to reality. "In the first 20 years, I dedicated my youth to Serbia, and in the next few decades, I will take root in China and contribute to China-CEE cooperation." Guo Xiao said.
Source: China Overseas Chinese Network (ID: qiaowangzhongguo)
Reporter: Han Hui
Editor in charge: Ma Haiyan