Valley Girl November 18, 2009, 9:25PM EST

The Six Entrepreneurs You Meet in China, Part Two

Chinese entrepreneurs are expanding beyond tech. And they're moving up the supply chain from assembly to design, engineering, pharma R&D, and more

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Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part Valley Girl series on entrepreneurs in China. The second three of six types of businessmen are featured below.

When I left my post as a reporter covering business software for BusinessWeek, I thought I'd never again have to write about the unsexy subject of supply chain management. Techies know the term well. It refers to the multistep process of bringing together a product's components and then getting finished goods to their destination. But during a recent trip to China, I was immersed in supply chain management again and encountered startups that are driving innovation in this crucial area. Their founders make my list of the six kinds of entrepreneurs you meet in China.

Kings of Supply Chain Management. China's massive factories aren't just for Dell (DELL) computers and Apple (AAPL) iPods anymore. The country is climbing the value chain from electronics assembly to play an increasingly important role in product engineering, design, order fulfillment—even research and development.

While in Beijing I met with the folks at Pharmaron, which handles drug development for huge U.S. drugmakers. Down the road, Pharmaron hopes to handle drug discovery for those same big companies.

Which ones, you ask? Pharmaron won't let me tell. Western electronics, gadget, and pharmaceutical companies have their brand reputations to protect. They still collect the lion's share of the revenue generated by their products, and they don't want to broadcast the names of the Chinese players that help make them.

The Non-Techie. Judging from the way a lot of Silicon Valley venture capitalists invest, you might think the high-growth opportunities in China are all in tech. But they're the minority. Fortunes are being made in everything from locally produced tomato paste to coal mining.

Entrepreneurs are also taking on just about any consumer industry you can imagine. An example is Xu Xiong, who started Oriental Fashion Driving School. Chinese drivers have to attend driving school before getting licenses. Xu wasn't happy with the process.