At the age of 18, she became the only female tractor driver in the county. After decades, now has created a business empire of 100 billion yuan, with a capacity comparable to Ma Yun, she is the founder of Wanfeng Aote Holding Group - Chen Ailian.
From the girl who drove the tractor to the helmsman of the 100 billion empire today, how did Chen Ailian, who was born in a small county, cast her own business empire step by step?
At the age of 18, she became the only female tractor driver in the county
Chen Ailian was born in 1958 in Xinchang, Zhejiang Province, to a family of five sisters. His father was a former Chinese Volunteer Army, and after retiring from the army, he served as the head of the People's Armed Forces Department of the district committee and the deputy secretary of the commune party committee, and his mother was also a women cadre of the commune.
Among the Chen family sisters, 4 are typical gentle women in Jiangnan Water Town, but Chen Ailian is different, from a young age, she has a cheerful personality, more naughty, and has a confident personality that dares to express herself and has a clear goal.
When Chen Ailian was in junior high school, her cousin drove the army's big truck back to her hometown, chen Ailian was immediately fascinated, climbed on the truck and turned the steering wheel, sat in the co-pilot and refused to come down.
When she graduated from high school in 1975, she happened to be in the cultural revolution period, so Chen Ailian had no books to read after finishing high school, so she had to go home to work as a farmer. However, due to his outstanding performance, he became the militia company commander of the commune in only one year.
1976 In order to realize the modernization of agriculture, the state issued a policy to let each commune set up agricultural machinery stations to prepare for the training of a group of tractor drivers, and Chen Ailian's township was assigned a tractor, and it should be known that there were only 4 in the entire Xinchang County.
This was an indispensable opportunity for Chen Ailian, so he hid from his father and repeatedly fought for opportunities from the commune cadres in charge of recruiting tractor drivers, saying that he had strong academic performance and could quickly learn technology.
As a result, on the second day of the training class, Chen Ailian dared to get on the car to operate. This made the other boys dumbfounded, and she had the best results in the three-month walk-behind tractor driver training course.
Originally, the driver of this tractor had been assigned to a veteran, and Chen Ailian did not have a chance. But she did not accept defeat and went to the person in charge and persuaded him.
In fact, her father hoped that Chen Ailian could become a sales clerk in the supply and marketing cooperative, because the work was idle and stable. However, because of Chen Ailian's insistence, she finally agreed, allowing her to become a trailer driver with veterans.
As a result, at the age of eighteen, she became the only female tractor driver in the county, and her sense of purpose and execution were also revealed at this time.
Start your entrepreneurial life
A few years later, the county began to get rich, the tractor was replaced by a large truck and then turned into a small car, conforming to the development, the car changed but did not change, Chen Ailian was still so fond of cars, and her identity was still a driver. The leaders appreciated Chen Ailian and wanted to train her as a cadre.
In 1983, Chen Ailian got married and married Wu Liangding, the director of Xinchang New Textile Equipment General Factory, and thought that she would live the life of a husband and a godson, but in order not to let her husband work too hard, she decided to work in the factory.
Chen Ailian has served in the logistics department, sales department, workshop director and other positions, but the good times are not long, due to the oversatuation of the textile industry, the living space of the enterprise is getting smaller and smaller.
In order to find a way out, Chen Ailian drove around, led a few people south and north, and finally made a bold decision: to enter the aluminum alloy wheel manufacturing industry!
In 1993, Chen Ailian decided to cut into the aluminum wheel project, in the case of no funds, no plant, no equipment "three noes", she relied on the bank loan of 500,000 yuan of working capital, credit sales of 4 gravity casting machines, as all of her chips. She painfully unloaded the Yamaha motorcycle wheels sent by her husband as a prototype to develop products.
In 1994, in the policy environment of Zhejiang's opening up, with the advantage of time and place, Wanfeng Aote was founded, and the product was motorcycle aluminum wheels, and Chen Ailian was the general manager. She also really started her own entrepreneurial life.
The helmsman of the 100 billion Empire
At that time, it was not easy to do the automobile industry. And the motorcycle market is gradually saturated, while the domestic automobile industry as a whole is lagging behind.
The only way for Wanfeng to continue to expand the market is to enter overseas: first of all, for foreign cars, when the international market has gained a firm foothold, the domestic market may also mature in basic norms, and then turn back to attack the domestic market with international standards.
At the beginning of 1998, Wanfeng released information to foreign countries, saying that China's Zhejiang Wanfeng Aote Group would launch the automotive aluminum alloy wheel project, and the products would be used in the international market, and it was necessary to purchase a full set of production lines from all over the world.
Before 2001, China's car tires were basically imported, so the price was very expensive. In this regard, Chen Ailian is anxious to create tires made in China.
Therefore, through bold experiments, she finally successfully developed the first low-pressure casting machine with independent intellectual property rights and international advanced level. Wanfeng also began to change from product manufacturing to equipment manufacturing.
At the beginning of 2001, after Wanfeng acquired Shandong Durui Wheel Co., Ltd., Weihai Wanfeng Aowei Steam Turbine Company was established, and the products were exclusively supplied to the domestic market, and soon, Shenlong Fukang, SAIC Chery, etc. hit it off with Wanfeng, and the steam wheel source came out of the factory, and Chen Ailian won the North China and Northeast Markets in one fell swoop.
After that, Chen Ailian attacked the city all the way, north to Weihai, west to Chongqing, south to Ningbo, east to Shanghai, and crossed the ocean to set up sales companies overseas. During the past 12 years, 12 new companies have been established through mergers and acquisitions. Take over the family and revitalize the family.
In 2003, Wanfeng Ott's sales exceeded 500 million. In 2006, under the leadership of Chen Ailian, Zhejiang Wanfeng Aote Steam Wheel Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first listed enterprise in China's aluminum wheel industry.
In November 2013, Wanfeng Group spent 1.53 billion yuan to bring the global leader in the magnesium alloy industry, Magnesium Redding, to the canadian magnesium retin. After Wanfeng acquired Magnesium Retin, its market competitiveness, operation and management level, premium ability, etc. have been greatly improved.
Under the leadership of Chen Ailian, today's Wanfeng is not only auto parts, but also involves aviation, intelligent equipment, and large enterprises with financial investment. Magnesium alloy, aluminum wheels, coating industry segments have become the world's first. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Tesla and other high-end car brands in the world are using wheels produced by Wanfeng. It is one of the top two aluminum wheel enterprises in China and even in the world.
Maybe you think that she is so accomplished in her career, she must be a fierce woman, but the truth is absolutely the opposite. She is strict with herself at all times, but she treats the company's employees as family. She can't see others suffering, she treats employees and subordinates kindly, as early as 2010, she bought hundreds of BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars to reward the company's employees, which shows that she is really a very compassionate and righteous person.
In just over 20 years, Wanfeng Aote has become a leader from a follower in the industry, and at present, Wanfeng Group has entered a trillion-level industry. It has realized the five internationalizations of capital, management, science and technology, brand, and talent, and Chen Ailian has become the helmsman of a 100-billion-level enterprise.
brief summary
She is a legendary figure and an inspirational woman, and her success stems from her indomitable spirit and extraordinary courage.
And to go from a tractor driver to a female entrepreneur who can sensationalize the world is indeed not simple. Such a low-key, caring industrialist deserves to be respected.