Entrepreneur | Ma Haizeng: Bringing food from the ranch to the table

On April 28, the 2024 celebration of the "May Day" International Labor Day and the National May Day Labor Award and the National Worker Pioneer Commendation Conference was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In this commendation, Hebei Kangyuan Halal Food Co., Ltd. was on the list and won the "National May Day Labor Award".

This honor is hard-won and precious, and it is permeated with the sweat of the company's chairman Ma Haizeng.

In March this year, Kangyuan Food appeared at the Wuhan Liangzhilong Food Exhibition, and Ma Haizeng (left) recommended products to customers.

Founded in 2004, Hebei Kangyuan Halal Food Co., Ltd., helmed by Ma Haizeng, is a modern meat production and operation enterprise, mainly engaged in livestock and poultry breeding, slaughtering, deep processing of meat products, special diet sports nutrition peptides, central kitchen food R&D and production, chain brand franchise, import and export of beef, sheep, chicken and duck meat. Over the years, Ma Haizeng has keenly grasped every development opportunity and led the company to sail all the way.

"If you don't make it, you will never go home"

Ma Haizeng was born in an ordinary peasant family in Chen Village, Hui Township, Qiu County. Chencun Township has a history of raising and selling sheep since the Ming Dynasty, and most people in the township are still engaged in the "sheep business". Since he was a child, he has witnessed that many people in the village have earned money from sheep, and Ma Haizeng has also secretly determined: he must do a good job in the sheep business and strive to change the family's predicament.

In 1989, 19-year-old Ma Haizeng left a sentence of "never go home if you don't succeed" and began to go out alone. He served plates, worked as a cook, worked as a driver, and no matter how tired he was, he never lost sight of his goal.

Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. By chance, he contracted a cold storage in Liaocheng, Shandong Province, specializing in the purchase of beef, and then sold it to a beef processing factory. After coming and going, the caring Ma Haizeng became familiar with many beef dealers, and he carefully honed and learned business skills. After that, Ma Haizeng's business did well. In 1998, he harvested the first pot of gold in his life.

In order to give back to his hometown, in 2004, Ma Haizeng returned to his hometown and founded Hebei Kangyuan Halal Food Co., Ltd., engaged in the production, processing and sales of beef and mutton. Ma Haizeng not only did well in the domestic market, but also exported his products to overseas markets such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In 2005, exports exceeded $30 million.

In 2012, Ma Haizeng expanded the company's development ideas, invested in the establishment of a livestock and poultry breeding slaughtering plant, with breeding and breeding of meat ducks slaughtering and processing as the core business, broadening the meat food chain, slaughtering and processing more than 30 million meat ducks per year.

In 2015, in order to lead more villagers to get rid of poverty and become rich, Ma Haizeng closely followed the new situation of network development, founded Hebei Mule Network Technology Co., Ltd., developed a new consortium breeding model of "company + farmer", and created a modern science and technology enterprise for high-quality sheep breeding, breeding and promotion and sales, and created a performance of 80,000 high-quality sheep and 300,000 sheep slaughtered annually in the breeding and breeding base of improved sheep.

"There is no word 'retreat' in the dictionary of life"

"Conscientiousness, sincere service, innovation, the pursuit of excellence", for Ma Haizeng, these sixteen words are not only a requirement for the development of the enterprise, but also an incentive for him personally, "to do these sixteen words, the key is to do a little, persistence." I don't have the word 'back-down' in my life dictionary. Ma Haizeng said.

In order to meet the public's pursuit of health and nutrition, Ma Haizeng was keenly aware that simple meat products could no longer meet the needs of consumers, and he decided to lead the company to a new blue ocean.

Accustomed to the simple industrial chain operation of breeding, slaughtering, segmentation and sales, the lack of scientific and technological innovation ability has become a difficult problem in front of the company's development.

There are always more solutions than difficulties. In order to increase investment in innovation and promote the combination of production and research, in 2020, the company cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in technical research, established the Handan Animal Origin Active Peptide Preparation and Application Technology Innovation Center, adopted the method of recruiting + cultivating scientific and technological talents, and cooperated with academicians and doctors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to expand the scientific and technological team. In that year, the company's investment in science and technology accounted for more than 5% of the sales revenue of that year, and 16 new products were successfully developed and put on the market. At present, the company's 15 high-level professional and technical personnel provide strong support for scientific and technological innovation.

In the exhibition hall of Zhongke Kangsheng Food Co., Ltd., which belongs to Kangyuan Food, Ma Haizeng picked up a nutritional peptide product and introduced: "This is a small molecule active peptide extracted from the heart of a cow, which has a health care effect on the human heart. Through technological innovation, we have made the heart, liver and lungs of cattle into dietary functional foods, which have been recognized and welcomed by the market. ”

In order to further improve the company's operating system and expand sales channels, Ma Haizeng adheres to the concept of diversified business development. The company has established an international trade department, established close and stable cooperative relations with beef and mutton suppliers in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and other countries, and introduced the original "Chinese-style segmentation" technology into the international market.

With the help of global resources, the company has made every effort to create "Akbar" brand products, and has achieved a leap from "pasture to table". The company's "KY" brand and "Akbar" brand beef and mutton series enjoy a high reputation in the domestic and foreign markets, and the products are sold to Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Shijiazhuang and other large and medium-sized cities across the country through supermarket systems, brand authorized store systems and e-commerce platforms. Up to now, the company has created more than 100 national franchise brand stores across the country.

"If you have a successful career, you can't forget your 'roots'"

"Just because I grew up in the countryside, I can't forget my 'roots' if I have a successful career." As an entrepreneur, Ma Haizeng has a feeling of virtue and goodness.

Along the way, he donated 200,000 yuan to take the lead in improving village facilities and activity venues for the people in the township; donated 100,000 yuan to the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area; donated 30,000 yuan to Chencun Township Central Primary School to purchase tables, chairs and teaching materials to improve the school's teaching conditions; donated 300,000 yuan to build a road in Liancun, which completely improved the traffic situation outside Chen Village; 312,000 yuan will be used as the capital to invest in the company for 46 poor households in 5 villages of Chencun Township, and the stock income will be distributed, 36 million yuan of guaranteed loans will provide financial support for farmers in difficulty, a total of 1.08 million yuan will be donated to the Red Cross Society of Qiu County to fight the new crown epidemic, and a total of 170,000 yuan will be donated to promote the national fitness movement and teaching assistants in Qiu County...... A string of numbers highlights Ma Haizeng's mission and social responsibility, so he was named the "Good Person of Qiu County" in 2023.

Grow up in the countryside and give back to the countryside. At present, he has 5 factories in Qiu County. The sheep breeding and slaughtering plant located in Chencun Township recruits more than 500 employees, absorbs 300 farmers in the township, and drives more than 6,000 surrounding farmers to get rich, with an average income increase of more than 50,000 yuan; The duck slaughterhouse located in the county development zone has placed 1,500 rural laborers into employment, driving more than 5,000 households within a radius of 100 kilometers to engage in duck breeding, with an average income increase of more than 60,000 yuan; The company's central kitchen production base provides 800 jobs and drives thousands of central kitchens to directly supply beef noodle shops.

Facing the future, Ma Haizeng is ambitious, planning to realize the "421 Project" within 3 years, that is, to open 4,000 stores, solve the employment of 20,000 people, achieve annual sales revenue of more than 10 billion yuan, and finally realize the company's listing on the main board.

Handan News and Media Center reporter Wang Lingling correspondent Huo Feifei