Dining with Queen and British PM 'pointless': Wahaha boss

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-05-06

Wahaha Group chairman Zong Qinghou. (Photo/Xinhua)

Zong Qinghou, the richest man in China and the founder of the beverage giant Wahaha Group, turned down separate invites to meet the Queen of England and the British prime minister earlier this year because he found it "pointless."

According to the Beijing-based China Entrepreneur magazine, Zong, a 67-year-old self-confessed workaholic, was invited to dine with Queen Elizabeth II on Feb. 6 and meet with Prime Minister David Cameron on Feb. 12. However, as Chinese New Year fell on Feb. 9 this year, Zong rejected the request.

"I would have to ride for more than 10 hours on a plane just for one meal, come back, and then catch another 10-plus-hour flight for another meal, then come back again," he explained. "It's pointless."

Although Zong turned down the rare opportunity to visit Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street in February, he was seen shortly thereafter attending a function held by a Chinese fashion magazine to receive an award for entrepreneur of the year for 2012.

Born in 1946, Zong is currently the richest man in China and the 86th richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$11.6 billion as of March 2013. The notoriously thrifty billionaire is said to spend only 140 yuan (US$22.70) a day and has no vices apart from smoking.

Wahaha has been sitting atop China's mammoth beverage industry since 1999. Taking China's top 20 beverage makers as a group, Wahaha accounts for more than a quarter of the group's total output, 43.4% of its revenue and 53.8% of its profit.

In recent years, Wahaha's total sales have begun to slide, though profits remain strong. In 2012, the group recorded a revenue of 63.6 billion yuan (US$10.3 billion), down 6.23% from the year before, but net profit increased 16.93% to 8.06 billion (US$1.3 billion) on the back of lower raw material costs.

Zong recognizes the growth limits of the beverage industry and believes fair competition is the best way for the industry to develop. "If I introduce unhealthy competition strategies I might be able to push competitors out of the industry, but I might harm my own company in the process and mess up the whole industry," he said.

Zong says his work ethic stems from his desire to make up for lost time from his youth. When he was 18, Zong left school to work on a rural farm to improve his family's economic situation, then switched to a tea factory several years later, where he remained for 15 years. In 1978, at the age of 33, he returned to his hometown of Hangzhou to work as a salesman, and it was not until he was 42 that he borrowed 140,000 yuan (US$22,700) to start his own business selling 4-cent ice blocks, which he eventually built into the Wahaha empire.　

References:

Zong Qinghou　　宗慶後

Related Article:

Blow for Cameron as China welcomes Hollande