Mr. Chen Jiageng is an industrialist in Singapore, but also a patriotic overseas Chinese, he actively founded education, in the country to create Jimei School Village and Xiamen University, he also as the leader of the Nanyang overseas Chinese to the community to call for donations to actively support the domestic war of resistance, early years followed his father "to Nanyang", his father because of market fluctuations, owe a lot of debt, according to the local laws of Nanyang, Chen Jiageng does not need to bear this debt, but Mr. Chen Jiageng rely on his own operation to pay off this not small debt, So how did Mr. Chen Jiageng dig the first pot of gold in Nanyang? Here's how.
In the spring of 1904, Chen Jiageng began to operate independently.
He first set his sights on the pineapple canning industry. Pineapple is a specialty of Singapore, which is processed into canned pineapple and exported to Europe and the United States.
European and American foreign firms and firms that operate cans in Singapore often provide manufacturers with raw materials for making cans in order to ensure their own supply, with a payment period of 40 days. Cannery wages are liquidated every half a month. Only the purchase of pineapples must be paid in cash. Therefore, it is not necessary to use much liquidity to obtain a large profit.
It is precisely because the pineapple canning industry has such characteristics that Chen Jiageng started his business from here.
With 7,000 yuan as capital, he purchased old machines and built factories with thatched wood.
A pineapple canning factory named "Shin Lichuan" was completed and put into operation in just two months, catching up with the pineapple season of that year.
At this time, the manager of the "Nissin Company" founded by Chen Jiageng's father and partner died of illness, and according to British colonial law, its equity should be stopped, and the company was run by Chen Jiageng.
"Rixin Company" also operates canned food, which provides a good opportunity for Chen Jiageng to show his skills.
At that time, there were more than 10 pineapple canning factories in Singapore, with annual sales of about 2 million boxes, and the competition was fierce.
European and American foreign companies buy canned goods every two or three days according to their domestic telecommunications, and the market is volatile. Since Chen Jiageng took over the "Rixin Company", on the one hand, he secretly paid attention to the operation of more than 10 peers, and found that if their market information is bright and dark, the production belt has a great correlation.
On the other hand, he conducted a survey of the canned goods purchased by foreign firms and learned that the canned goods they purchased included 50 to 60 kinds of cans such as Tiaozhuang, Block Zhuang, Fangzhuang, Meizhuang, and Carved Flower Zhuang, of which Tiaofang and Meizhuang were the largest, accounting for about 80% or 90% of the total output, and each transaction was often thousands of boxes to 10,000 boxes, which was the center of competition in the same industry. The remaining dozens of miscellaneous villages have an annual output of only 200,000 boxes, and the number of each transaction is only tens to hundreds of boxes, which has always been unnoticed, but the price of miscellaneous villages is high, and each box is more than the average zhuang triangle to seven or eight corners.
After grasping the above situation, Chen Jiageng decided to abandon himself and accumulate a small amount to take over this "small business" alone.
The idea must be that he and his deputies went to various foreign firms every morning to inquire about the business situation, and contracted all the miscellaneous orders.
Soon, most of the canned pineapples needed by the market were almost all under his family's doorstep.
For the traditional way of doing business, Chen Jiageng boldly reformed. The factories in the same industry buy pineapples, which have always been based on the price of each piece, and the size and maturity of each pineapple are not the same, and some are rotten, regardless of weight when bargaining, all by eyesight. And it is necessary to start calculating profit and loss after the shutdown of each quarter.
Nisshin has also been using this approach in the past. Chen Jiageng reformed this method, but his method was to stipulate that the pineapple purchased every day must be made on the same day, and the profit and loss would be settled on the same night, as the standard for the next day's purchase bargaining.
In production, it is required to minimize the loss and waste on the section, while strictly controlling the quality to establish business reputation. He would make inspections of the factory every morning and afternoon and personally direct production.
After 3 months of production, "Rixin" obtained a net profit of 30,000 yuan, "Xinlichuan" made a profit of more than 9,000 yuan, and the two factories contracted 40,000 yuan, and the profit was seven or eight times higher than that of the most famous large factory at that time, far above the old factory in the same industry.
This was the first success of Chen Jiageng's self-proclaimed "fledgling", and Chen Jiageng's confidence increased greatly.
He expanded the "Shin-Rikawa" factory and added machinery and equipment. In order to ensure the supply of raw materials for the two factories, he purchased 500 acres of wasteland near "Shin-Rikawa", named it "Fukuyama Garden", and immediately opened up the wasteland to grow pineapples.
In addition, it also invested 20,000 yuan to open a rice shop, named "Qianyi". In the winter of that year, although the market price of canned pineapple fell slightly, due to Chen Jiageng's good management, the two factories still made a profit of more than 20,000 yuan, and the rice shop also had a profit of more than 8,000 yuan.
In the first year of independent operation, in addition to the partner dividend, Chan Jiageng made a total profit of 60,000 yuan and gained a firm foothold in Singapore's pineapple canning manufacturing industry.
In the summer of the following year, the two factories of "Rixin" and "New Lichuan" once again overtook the same industry, making a profit of more than 30,000 yuan.
Chen Jiageng seized the opportunity to develop industry, and built a canning factory in a convenient location to make rock sugar. Who knew that in the winter of this year, the pineapple canned market fell, and the 3 canning factories only made a profit of more than 10,000 yuan, although it could not be compared with the previous year, but far exceeded the factories in the same industry.
Chen Jiageng is ambitious and is ready to take advantage of the first production of pineapples in "Fushan Garden" next year, in order to pay off his father's debts.
In the summer of 1906, the market price of canned pineapple fell even more, and the canned food of various miscellaneous villages was greatly reduced. The pineapple produced for the first time in Fukuyama Garden suffered this fate and was unprofitable.
Chen Jiageng operated dismally and finally maintained a profit of 10,000 yuan, but his long-cherished wish to repay his father's debts could not be realized.
The frustration of 1906, which he had always wanted, really frustrated Chen Jiageng and sobered his mind: he made his fortune by running pineapple cans alone, subject to uncertain market changes, and fierce competition in the same industry.
Only by being good at grasping the pulse of the market, opening up new areas, and carrying out diversified operations can we make great achievements.
Thinking like this, Chen Jiageng's thinking suddenly opened up, and the vagaries of business information around him particularly aroused his interest.
One day, As usual, Chen Jiageng went to various foreign firms to inquire about the canned pineapple market, and overheard a piece of news about the success of others: Chen Qixian sold the rubber plantation in Malacca for a huge profit.
Before that, such a piece of news that had nothing to do with the pineapple canning industry would not attract Chen Jiageng's attention, but now it made him feel excited and his eyes lit up.
Rubber tree is originally a wild plant in South America, the rubber produced in industrial production and transportation is very useful, and now gradually developed into artificial cultivation, has just been transplanted to Malaya, Singapore and other areas.
Chen Jiageng was inspired by Chen Qixian's success and judged that planting rubber would have a future. He immediately made a decision, used 1800 yuan to buy all of Chen Qixian's remaining 180,000 seeds, and planted them in the "Fushan Garden" pineapple plant set within two months.
Boldly operating rubber, Chen Jiageng took the first step to open up a new situation. This was followed by the second step: the expansion of the rice industry. This is the industry he is most familiar with. He cooperated with the original manager of the "DDB" rice shop for 40,000 yuan to jointly run a cooked rice factory.
Chen Jiageng learned that the cooked rice that DDB operated and processed had the effect of treating beriberi, and was loved by overseas Chinese, and its price was more than one yuan higher than that of raw rice per quintal, so when the original shareholders withdrew due to different opinions, the manager resolutely entered the shares when the IPO operation.
In 1907, at the age of 34, Chen Jiageng made a successful fortune and his career flourished. Relying on the newly operated cooked rice factory (rubber has not yet been forested), pineapple canning and raw rice factory, Chen Jiageng has turned over economically.
Soon after the joint establishment of "DDB", the price of cooked rice rose, and after 16 months of operation, the profit reached more than 160,000 yuan; the raw white rice operated by "Qianyi" also received a profit of 10,000 yuan.
3 pineapple canning factories in the year the price of pineapple canned fell sharply, many manufacturers lost money or even closed the situation, his canning factory withstood the test, still profit more than 20,000 yuan, its production of "Sudan" brand pineapple canned has become a brand-name goods in the international market.
The pineapples produced in "Fukuyama Garden" also received a profit of 5,000 yuan that year. This success enabled Chen Jiageng to realize his long-cherished wish and pay off all his debts for his father, which enabled Chen Jiageng to gain a high reputation in overseas Chinese society.
Chen Jiageng is sober-minded and forge ahead, further developing his own industry in the twists and turns.
By 1910, Chen Jiageng was an industrialist with two rubber plantations, four pineapple canning factories, a rice factory, and a rice shop, with a deposit of 450,000 yuan, surpassing his father's heyday.
Since then, Chen Jiageng has been elected as the associate of the 6th Committee of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (one of the four assistants of the Fujian Gang) and has joined the upper echelons of overseas Chinese society.