The best retired female worker, by selling cans, has a net worth of tens of billions

Deep Krypton new consumption

2024-05-21 14:46Published in Chongqing Finance and Economics Creator

The best retired female worker, by selling cans, has a net worth of tens of billions

Source: Deep Krypton New Consumption Mu Jiujiu

In another five years, Guan Yuxiang will be ninety years old. Time runs so fast.

In the years since she appeared in the public eye, "fashion" has always been a label for her from the people around her and the outside world. From the establishment of ORG to the introduction of powder recoating technology, from a retired female worker to the queen of cans, people have seen her dress more and more pink. Whenever she attends an event or is interviewed, she always likes to put a touch of pink on her body that can't be hidden.

But she doesn't seem to have changed. When speaking, he is still firm and calm, gentle and powerful; When I hear my friend's sudden "revelations", I still cover my face with my hands and giggle like a girl.

I still can't be idle, and I like to toss.

In April 2023, when she was selected as one of the "Top Ten Brand Women in China", Guan Yuxiang, who is 84 years old, said that her biggest hope is that by the end of this year, the company will be able to pay 10 billion yuan in taxes for the country (9.436 billion yuan in taxes at that time).

Since then, in less than half a year after this event, Guan Yuxiang has completed this goal ahead of schedule. But it's rarely mentioned, and she's been particularly low-key.

Questioned, denied

If you want to summarize the lives of Guan Yuxiang and ORG in the past few decades, it must be questioning and firm.

Born in Shenyang in 1939, Guan Yuxiang moved to Beijing at the age of 18 with her grandparents who were soldiers, and Guan Yuxiang entered an instrument factory as a female worker. From a workshop worker to an assembler and a draughtsman, Guan Yuxiang has been doing this for 31 years.

In 1989, Guan Yuxiang retired. When other retired workers choose to tease their grandchildren and enjoy their old age in peace, the first thing Guan Yuxiang did after retirement was to start a business. At the end of that year, in the economic tide after the reform and opening up, Guan Yuxiang, who couldn't hold back, opened his first trip to the sea and founded Beijing Lean Instrument Company.

Unfortunately, due to the overall saturation of the industry at that time and the lack of entrepreneurial experience, Guan Yuxiang soon fell in the hands of this "old friend".

When people were hit by this in middle age, they thought that Guan Yuxiang would collapse. Unexpectedly, this failure was like a fire, igniting her vigorous vitality and fighting spirit hidden deep in her heart.

Photo source/Pixabay

In 1994, when 55-year-old Guan Yuxiang traveled to Hainan, she found that there was an endless stream of fruit juice drinks on the street, but the packaging of the drinks was surprisingly rough and rudimentary, and most of the good cans came from Taiwan and South Korea, and there were almost no products from local canning companies.

Suddenly, Guan Yuxiang was as excited and excited as a child getting a new toy, and in a blink of an eye, he remembered the failures of the past few years, and founded Wenchang ORG Canning Company in Hainan at the end of that year.

As he was a few years ago, bold and fearless.

Of course, in the world of "grown-ups", this is called blindness.

In the eyes of relatives and friends, going to a strange place with decades of savings is simply a "crazy" move. "I can't even run a business at my doorstep, and now I'm going all the way to Hainan to toss, and I'm not familiar with life, isn't it obvious that I'm losing money?"

But Guan Yuxiang didn't care, in order to do a good job in this business, she not only borrowed money from everywhere, but also brought her son Zhou Yunjie from Beijing.

In the land of Hainan, in the thorny field of metal packaging, the mother and son duo worked with 16 workers, groping little by little, trying to find a way.

At the beginning, due to the small scale of the factory, the brand has not been formed, and the lack of popularity of ORG can only cooperate with some scattered small customers, with meager profits, not to mention that life is very difficult, for Guan Yuxiang, what is more difficult is how to continue to fight against the confused unknown with firm determination. Later, when referring to this experience, she told the media, "If I fail, if I jump off a building, I will jump first." ”

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Guan Yuxiang and her ORG to meet the first nobleman - Red Bull.

In persistence, in pursuit

In the 60s of the last century, Thai-Chinese businessman Xu Shubiao developed a drink of Krating Daeng, which was later introduced to the international market by Austrian businessman Mateschitz. At the same time, it also has another name - RedBull.

Thirty years later, a businessman named Yan Bin and his Reignwood Group won the right to sell Red Bull in the Chinese market, invested in Shenzhen, and began to look for high-quality suppliers of cans.

Soon, the news spread and flowed along the ocean current to Wenchang, where ORG was located. Guan Yuxiang, who was pacing back and forth in the factory, suddenly realized the opportunity, and then rushed to Shenzhen without stopping.

In front of many competitors, ORG, who is unknown at this time, let alone talk about cooperation with Red Bull, even if he meets the person in charge, it is a pipe dream.

But ORG did it.

The premise is that it hit a wall 41 times.

Many people say that Red Bull is the noble man of ORG, because with Red Bull as a big customer, ORG was able to produce 150 million cans in 1998, and all of them have a place to sell.

But few people mention the bitterness and persistence in this. For example, before reaching a cooperation, Guan Yuxiang and Zhou Yunjie traveled back and forth between Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Hainan many times within 2 months, with a total mileage of 60,000 kilometers.

Photo source/Pixabay

At that time, the domestic can welds generally use the liquid recoating technology with low density, and the powder recoating technology is still blank, and the cost is huge.

But Guan Yuxiang dared. She and her son traveled all over Southeast Asia to bring back powder recoating technology from Singapore.

The story behind is well known, O.R.G. won Red Bull and became the king of cans with the help of Red Bull's power, and its customers include Dongpeng Special Drink, Jianlibao, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Snow Beer, etc. And Guan Yuxiang is also worth tens of billions.

Going to Singapore to introduce technology, Guan Yuxiang's courage is visible to the naked eye. But nowhere near that.

In 1997, Red Bull invested in the construction of its second bottling plant in Beijing Yanqi Industrial Development Zone. Immediately afterwards, Guan Yuxiang made a bold decision to follow Red Bull and go north.

As soon as the decision came out, there was a lot of discussion within the company, and even some executives and senior technical personnel left because of it. "They don't want to come to Beijing because they think it's too risky, because they need to build a new factory in Beijing and face competition from so many companies."

But Guan Yuxiang insisted on her opinion, and followed Red Bull to build a Beijing factory 800 meters away from it.

Nowadays, ORG's factories are distributed all over the country like a big fan, and a little shake can fan the entire domestic beverage world. And Beijing, which was the least favored at the beginning, has become the key to linking the handle and tail of the fan.

epilogue

Regarding her current identity, Guan Yuxiang has always emphasized that she is the "founder".

In 2008, Zhou Yunjie became the chairman of ORG. When the company went public in 2012, Guan Yuxiang gave up all her shares and transferred it to Zhou Yunjie.

Compared with other founders' twisting and refusing to let go of power, Guan Yuxiang is obviously much more free.

Of course, this does not mean that Guan Yuxiang is idle. On the contrary, even if she is "retired for the second time", she can't help but toss.

For example, during the epidemic, the headquarters of Beijing ORG needed to be upgraded, and many executives were trapped in other places and could not come back, so Guan Yuxiang would make up for it in a timely manner and solve the problems within the appropriate range. Even if she stays at home, she can't be idle, and will be busy knitting sweaters and wool vests for others.

In addition, Guan Yuxiang is also enthusiastic about public welfare. Since 2011, when ORG established the "China Children's Foundation 'Health Plan-Happiness Fund' Council" with Guan Yuxiang as the honorary chairman, ORG's funding for poor students and remote schools has never stopped. Not only that, Guan Yuxiang has also repeatedly taken the lead in calling for corporate disaster relief donations, and has helped the disabled and the poor many times through the public welfare fund, with a cumulative donation of more than 2,000 yuan.

She also loves to pamper herself, likes to do beauty, and loves to wear pink clothes. Sometimes, when she wasn't wearing a pink dress, she would always wear a pink or pearl headband on her head.

Today, ORG has already established its own canned food empire, and Guan Yuxiang has also achieved the company's goal of paying 10 billion in taxes. About this female entrepreneur, what we hear more is the inspirational joke of "Dong Mingzhu is still running business at the age of 36, Tao Huabi started at the age of 42, and Guan Yuxiang started a business at the age of 55 with an annual income of 10 billion", but her courageous and persistent personality may be more worthy of our consideration.

As commented by China Entrepreneur magazine, "She has proved with her life experience that the four dimensions of 'age, gender, role, and career' can be a true proposition." ”

*The above pictures have been indicated, and the accompanying pictures are for reference only, and have no directional significance and commercial use. If there is any infringement, please contact us to delete.

Resources:

"Starting a business at the age of 55, at the age of 84, she will pay taxes of 10 billion at the end of this year|Business Mulan"

"A Can Sells 13 Billion Net Worth"

View original image 563K