On November 18th, more than 60 young entrepreneurs from a training class of the new-generation of non-public economy representatives were not perturbed by the rain and still visited Sanpower Group to listen to Yuan Yafei’s entrepreneurial experience. The training class was held by the United Front Work Department of the Nanjing Municipal Committee, Nanjing Federation of Industry and Commerce and Nanjing Institute of Socialism. The class was led by Mao Weihua, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Nanjing Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Nanjing Federation of Industry and Commerce as well as Zheng Dewei, Member and Vice Chairman of the Nanjing Federation of Industry and Commerce. Mao Weihua commented that he hoped that through this kind of interactive sharing, these young entrepreneurs can be inspired by and benefit from it. Zou Yan, Vice President of Sanpower Group, and Shang Hongjun, Vice President and Director of the External Cooperation Management Centre of Sanpower Group, were present at the reception.

The young entrepreneurs began by visiting the Showroom of Sanpower Home and learned about its five industrial sectors, corporate culture and CPC construction culture. Zou Yan, Vice President of Sanpower Group, guided these young visitors.

In the Brookstone concept store that is full of novelty products, visitors were very interested in many US products including robots, PSG monitors and massage chairs. They’d like to know when it would be available.

After the visit, more than 60 entrepreneurs of the 1970s and 1980s listened to Yuan Yafei’s entrepreneurial experience face to face. As a veteran of entrepreneurship, Yuan Yafei provided valuable and fundamental opinions and suggestions for young people who are striding down the entrepreneurial path. Smattered among the opinions and suggestions, exciting business contests and reflections on life which brimmed with emotions and thoughts were also included, making the young entrepreneurs strongly assert that, “We’re satisfied. It’s a worthwhile trip."

Yuan Yafei said that he has experienced a lot of things during his many years of entrepreneurial journey and also came to some conclusions. In order to achieve entrepreneurial success, you need to abide by “The Two DOs and One DON’T.”

First, you should be brave enough to trust others. “One who doesn’t believe in anyone cannot succeed!” Yuan Yafei said that a savvy person who doesn’t believe in anybody would never come to anything. Sanpower Group’s requirement for managers can be described with four words, namely: respect, implementation, understanding and trust. “Perhaps you may not understand my ideas, but first, you must learn to respect them. Afterwards, you should implement them, then you will gradually understand why I do things this way, and, finally, you would trust me.” Those four words were forged from the crucible of logic, which are applicable for entrepreneurs. If they don’t trust others, they cannot proceed with sincere cooperation.

Second, you should have the spirit to fight against the odds. Yuan Yafei especially appreciates what Lv Buwei said. As a great businessman during the Warring States Period, Lv once said, “If one does things without pursuing perfection, how can there be struggle? If one doesn’t pursue completeness, how can there be sages? Only after one person achieves completeness, even if time passes you by, there are no regrets!” He also uses this passage to motivate himself and all those at Sanpower. Lv Buwei’s quote can be described in contemporary words as such: “Strive until you have no other options left and endeavour until you move yourself.” All successful entrepreneurs think like this.

Third, do not be concerned about embarrassment. “Only if you aren’t concerned about embarrassing yourself will you finally have respect.” As Yuan Yafei said, avoiding embarrassment is different from upholding dignity. Dignity is nestled deep in your heart while embarrassment is shallow; however, most people tend to avoid embarrassment. Yuan Yafei talked about his experiences while learning English. He said, if you do not understand and are willing to work hard and study, then you can have a “pants-down” moment. If you claim to know what you don’t know, it would be detrimental to you and you’ll get your pants pulled down. He began to learn English three years ago, and now he can negotiate with others in English. Actually, there is no technique for learning English. What you need to do is open your mouth and speak, ask for help if you don’t understand and even ask your subordinates for help. “I required my assistant to report everything in English. If there was anything that I cannot understand, I would ask, without worrying that I was embarrassing myself.”

As for personal pursuits, Yuan Yafei said that after achieving his goals, he will open a school, make a movie and write a book. “I’m a very ordinary person, not too smart. After achieving my goals, I will share them with everyone. As an ordinary person, if you want to be successful at something, try hard, and it will be within your grasp. Therefore, I want to open a school and will also share my experiences with everyone concerning how I achieved my goals. The movie I’ll make will be called Big Times, telling the story of how an ordinary person like myself kept up with the development of the times and finally became a success by pulling myself up by my bootstraps in other people’s eyes with the backdrop of China’s reform and opening up. The book that I plan on writing is about this story as well.”