| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- ASIAN COVER STORY
Payoff for a Pioneer in Shanghai (int'l edition) Despite growing up under communism, Zhou Fusheng had always wanted to be a businessman. One of seven children of factory-worker parents in Shanghai, Zhou just wanted a better life for his family. ''We were very poor, and that gave us a rebellious attitude about life,'' recalls Zhou, 48. ''We needed to feed ourselves.'' So with only a middle-school education, Zhou quit his factory job to set up a private business making small signs. That was in 1983, and it was risky to be a private businessman back then. Clients were afraid to deal with people who didn't have official sanction. Access to the market was restricted, and access to capital was nonexistent. So the fledgling signmaker had to wear a ''red cap,'' meaning he registered his company as a ''collective'' even though he had started it with his own capital. ''People thought private entrepreneurs earned too much profit on the backs of the people,'' says Zhou. ''But I didn't earn lots of profit. I had to pay lots of tax.'' Fortunately for Zhou, China's attitude toward small businesses has changed. His Shanghai Dasheng Industry & Trade, now registered as a private company, has $1.2 million a year in sales and has made signs for Shanghai's new opera house, library, subway, city hall, and sports stadium. It also built many of the huge neon billboards along Shanghai's historic waterfront, the Bund. Zhou's was one of the first private companies in China to purchase a failed state-owned factory--a maker of product brand-name plates for televisions--in 1994. ''They were on the edge of bankruptcy, so I just went there and promoted myself as a successful businessman,'' says Zhou. The desperate factory managers hadn't been able to pay workers for months and decided to take Zhou's offer of $305,000 even though it came from a private entrepreneur. ''I had saved some money, borrowed some from relatives, and promised to pay the rest later,'' says Zhou. ''It was quite risky.'' Within months, Zhou's risk was paying off. He quickly adapted the factory's machines to print signs for construction sites, timing the move to coincide with the boom in Shanghai's construction industry. With that visibility, Zhou soon had a contract to build signs for the new subway system. Now he's virtually the only game in town. ''There isn't any domestic competition,'' says Zhou, noting that his co-bidders for signs at Shanghai's new airport were all foreign companies. Next, Zhou plans to buy another failed state-owned company--one with a license to do advertising. ''With the almost-completed development of the city, the sign business will decline, but my company shouldn't,'' says Zhou. Spoken like a real entrepreneur. By Sheri Prasso in Shanghai _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 RELATED ITEMS China's New Capitalism (int'l edition) ASIAN COVER IMAGE: China's New Entrepreneurs TABLE: China's New Private Sector TABLE: The Long March to Capitalism Payoff for a Pioneer in Shanghai (int'l edition) The Very Model of a Modern Chinese Juggernaut (int'l edition) INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
