On January 19, chaired by Senior Vice President Yue Lei, the year-end conference of Sanpower was held at the Group headquarters, giving a review of the work in 2016 and rolling out plans for 2017. Yuan Yafei, Chairman of Sanpower, spoke at the conference. Yang Huaizhen, president of Sanpower, delivered a report on the work in 2016 and praised outstanding teams and individuals of Sanpower from all over the world.

This year’s conference covered more areas than ever before and the number of the attendees reached a record high. Besides the main meeting at the headquarters, there were 52 venues all over the world, 45 of which were in Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Despite time differences, all Sanpower people home and abroad attended the conference at the same time with the help of simultaneous interpreting. In addition, Hisap and Funtalk Telecommunications set up over 530 video meetings with over 5,000 attendees.

In his report on the work in 2016, Yang Huaizhen summarized the implementation of transformation in five sectors including New Finance, New Consumption, New Health, New Technology and New Real Estate. She mentioned that in the past year Sanpower improved the management of the Group under the guidance of Seven Factors & Three Sheets (i.e., Seven Factors of Sanpower Management System, and Work Supervision Sheet, Synergy Sheet and Work Contact Sheet). President Yang also announced plans for industrial development and management control in the next year.

In 2016, M&A activities by Sanpower helped overseas companies start business in China. For instance, Brookstone opened dozens of stores in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing; House of Fraser set up its first flagship store in China in Nanjing; Natali signed a partnership agreement with Changzhou government on pilot projects of ECG telemedical services, which was the first B2C telemedicine program launched in China. During the conference, representatives of the three overseas companies shared their experiences in China.

“In spite of the gloomy trading environment, we have made remarkable achievements. We will not smug about it. Instead, we will continue to work hard and adapt ourselves to the reforms in China. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. We will seize the day and strive forward.” said Frank Slevin, Chairman of House of Fraser (UK).

“I have joined Brookstone for just 6 months. First, I am amazed that Brookstone is well-received worldwide. Second, I have more confidence than ever to restore the brand to its former glory. I am working hard to figure out how to make Brookstone more popular in 2017 and beyond.” said Steven Goldsmith, CEO of Brookstone.

“2016 was a year of success for Natali as we realized almost all our goals and our company maintained organic growth. Our goal in 2017 is to keep our growth in Israeli market, strengthen the synergy between Natali and A.S. Nursing and expand business all over the world,” said Nimrod Altman, CEO of Natali.

After that, Yang Huaizhen signed responsibility agreements on business objectives in 2017 with heads of 9 enterprises.

During the conference, outstanding Party Committees, party members, teams and individuals were praised. They also received honor certificates and medals from group leaders.

Yuan Yafei Award is the highest award every year. This year, it was won by Cui Chulan, Executive Vice President of Sanpower Management Academy. Having been working for Sanpower for nearly 5 years, she said, “the medal in my hands is so heavy as it is more responsibility and expectation than glory. My team and I will continue to promote innovation, develop a global vision, strengthen synergic development and do more for the talent pool and culture practice of Sanpower.”

After winning Excellent Staff Award, Candice Matthews from Brookstone said, “Sanpower makes it possible for us to expand our brand in both the international and American market. Thank you.”

Zhou Haojun from Buyers Company who joined Sanpower in the end of 2015 won Excellent Freshman Award, said, “the glory means responsibility and encouragement. I will work harder to move with the development of the industry and improve my skills, contributing more to the ‘Retail 4.0’ of Sanpower.”

As the representative of Excellent Enterprise Award, Bu Jiangyong, Chairman of An Kang Tong, said, “what we have achieved is history. We can always be better. Thank you for your support, without which, we wouldn’t have achieved our goals. I wish An Kang Tong a better development in 2017!”

Outstanding Contribution of The Year was won by the project of Nano. Xu Ping, member of the project and Vice President of the Group, said, “we owe our success to all the departments and platform companies that have worked as one.”

Major speeches of Chairman Yuan

The “talk show” of Chairman Yuan has always been the most attractive part of every year’s annual conference. He can always review the work of the last year and announce plans for the next year with tremendous wit and verve. His speech is the most highlighted part of the conference and his speech this year is no exception.

2017: Taking Root

The key words of Sanpower in 2016 are “synergy” and “implementation”. Chairman Yuan summarized the implementation in management, organization, brand and capital over the past year. He emphasized that synergy should be in the DNA of Sanpower and it need to agree with three principles— necessity, market and discount.

Chairman Yuan distilled two words from the plans for 2017— “taking root”. Sanpower has just been preparing for the future in the past few years. In 2017, we need to make solid progress. To be more specific, “taking root” involves improvement in market value, management and industry. That means we need to extend business activities into disparate fields, specialize duties, strengthen Delicacy Management, systematize planning and operate flexibly. To upgrade industries, we should adapt ourselves to the development of the society and promote innovation.

Expectations on cadres: BIG

Chairman Yuan said that “Cadres of a big company need to be tolerant and broad-minded. It entails you to conform to the leaders of first-class international enterprises.”

Sanpower people should be positive, honest, dedicated and professional. Forever positive，never negative. Do not complain. Complaints cannot help us solve problems but determinations can.

In the end, to encourage Sanpower people to overcome adversity, Chairman Yuan quoted PhilKnight, founder of Nike, “the cowards never started and the weak died along the way—that leaves us. Just don’t stop.”

Witty remarks of Yuan Yafei:

Perseverance triumphs over intelligence and nerve triumphs over knowledge.

Horizon determines standard and standard determines quality.

Talents cost little while fools cost much.

Learn about what people want then you get the truth.

All the ups and downs will never stop me from succeeding.

In the times of Internet, speed is more important than correctness when you don’t know what is right.

What is entrepreneurship? Boldness, perseverance and enthusiasm.