Editor`s note: The Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) Awards is a program created by Ernst & Young to identify, salute and reward outstanding Chinese entrepreneurs who have made significant contributions to the economic growth and prosperity of China.

Ernst & Young announced the winners for 2008 on November 21, including those in consumer products, real estate, service, industry, technology and energy.

China Daily is the exclusive English-language media partner of this program. We are pleased to publish interviews with the 12 winners and their profiles:

Ding Shizhong, board chairman and chief executive officer of Anta Sports Products Ltd

Ding was convinced he could build a homegrown sports brand to rival global sports companies. True to his vision, Anta Sports has developed into one of best-known Chinese brands of sports footwear, clothing and accessories over the past 15 years.

The company has a 7 percent share of China`s branded sports gear market, ranking it second among domestic brands and not far distant from renowned global brands in the country.

Behind`s the success is a highly effective branding strategy, including targeted sponsorship in sports such as table tennis, volleyball and basketball. Using a mid-range market strategy, Anta differentiates itself from more expensive brands such as Nike.

The company has 5,193 authorized retail outlets nationwide, employs 12,500 people, and has a sports science laboratory for technological innovation. Anta generated 3.2 billion yuan in revenue last year, a 155 percent increase over 2006.

Q: How do you perceive the entrepreneurial spirit?

A: "Never stop" is my company`s slogan. It is also the motto in my working life. In addition, bearing corporate responsibility is also part of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Q: Can you share with us some valuable insight you gained in operating your business?

A: A pragmatic attitude and high efficiency in management were crucial to Anta`s startup period and still plays an instrumental role in the company`s development today.

Q: What factors pushed your company`s rapid growth?

A: One is the fast-growing, enormous Chinese market; the second is our accurate branding strategy; and the third is Anta`s highly efficient, impassioned teamwork.

Q: Could you give us a further explanation of your branding strategy?

A: Competition in the Chinese sports product market is quite fierce. Against such backdrop, Anta has still achieved strong growth, which has a direct relationship with its branding strategy.

Since its founding, our company has been targeting the mass market and our target consumer group is young sports lovers, especially aged between 17 and 24 years old. It is quite a big group in the Chinese market.

Q: Is the current economic downturn an opportunity or a challenge to Anta?

A: Both. On the one hand, the global economic downturn has influence in the consumption market, which will pose a challenge to us. On the other hand, the downturn will also bring us more opportunities.

For instance, we will have more options in selecting suppliers. Moreover, we have ample funds for further development since going public (last year).

A company will become more competitive if it can manage to continue growth in the challenging circumstances.

Zhu Yicai, chairman and executive director of China Yurun Food Group Ltd

Zhu started up his business in meat processing in 1990 with just 200 yuan, and later went on to establish Yurun, one of the first companies to make ready-to-eat packaged meat products in China. Today, Hong Kong-listed Yurun is the market leader with a 25 percent share of China`s "low-temperature meat products" market - pre-cooked convenience food that can be quickly reheated or eaten right away.

Zhu realized that urban professionals were getting wealthier and busier, creating a huge market for high-quality convenience food. At the time canned goods were the only alternative for consumers. As a result Yurun has grown quickly, acquiring some 30 loss-making State-owned companies and making them profitable.

Zhu is an advocate of food safety standards. He also tries to help the disadvantaged, employing 15,951 people who lost their jobs at State-owned enterprises and more than 9,000 rural laborers. His philanthropic efforts include support for the Guangcai charity program and a 30 million yuan donation to the quake-ravaged Sichuan area.

Q: What do you value the most from the spirit of entrepreneurs?

A: I understand that entrepreneurial spirit is a kind of dedication, which might be interpreted by Yurun`s motto - honesty, diligence, modesty and fortitude.

Q: Could you share with us the most valuable experience you gained in starting your business?

A: Our objective is to benefit with the society. We proposed that the food industry should be a moral industry and we have always adhered to that belief. We provide quality food, obey laws and regulations, and pay taxes, so the society is the first beneficiary. And then come our employees and shareholders, who also benefit from Yurun`s growth.

Q: What have you gained and what have you lost as an entrepreneur?

A: I enjoy the process of achieving success, though the work is hard. As they say, "you can`t eat your cake and have it," so an entrepreneur has to be prepared to sacrifice his or her health and pleasure for career success. I feel rather guilty for my family because most of my time has been spent on business. My company is important to me and I value it as a hard-earned success.

Q: What is your next goal?

A: Our goal is to build Yurun into one of the top Chinese and a world-ranking company. We still have a long way to go but we will persevere with the goal and try our best. This year marks a new start in Yurun`s development. With a startup spirit, we will pursue further growth.

Q: What`s your advice to the young people who want to start their own business?

A: The answer might be "unremitting effort". When young people determine to devote themselves into a new career, the most important thing is to learn to persist. With persistence, they can overcome obstacles. For instance, the recent financial storm is a disaster to China and the world. Many companies are facing difficulties, but I believe by perseverance all the problems will be resolved.

Raymond Lee, chief executive officer of Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd

Supported by his farther, Lee established Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing in 1994. The company makes paper, cardboard boxes and cartons for packaging.

Since its listing in Hong Kong in 2004 the company has recorded a threefold growth in sales and profit over the past four years. Its annual turnover increased 74 percent in the fiscal year 2008 from a year earlier. The company has a 12 percent market share of China`s massive container board market.

Lee has invested heavily in environmental protection. The company now uses a production method that has slashed the amount of water and coal used in the paper manufacturing process. In addition, the company sources recyclable paper from the United States for its products, and is undertaking a huge tree-planting project in China to ensure resources are renewed.

Q: Could you please share some of your experiences in starting a business?

A: My company was established in 1994, but it came to operation in 1998. During the four years, we started from scratch. With little knowledge about making paper before, I had to learn everything about it before the operation.

I realized I have to cope with problems myself, because no one but myself can save me. From then on, I really worked hard.

The startup period was very difficult, as the year 1998 happened to witness an Asian financial crisis. My staff worked overtime, then we together weathered the storm. From that, I learned we may always have the pressure of difficult times, but tomorrow will be better if we get through it.

Q: What was the major turning point for you and your company?

A: Ten years ago, our annual production capacity was just 80,000 tons, relatively small in the papermaking industry. With a small production scale, you cannot survive. This is a rule in the industry, which left our company no other choice but to grow bigger.

During a holiday trip to Japan about nine years ago, I bought at a much lower price a paper machine with a 300,000-ton production capacity, which was abandoned in a warehouse due to the Asian financial crisis. From then on, our annual production capacity jumped from 80,000 tons to 300,000 tons all of a sudden, rocketing Lee & Man to an internationally known company from being little known before.

Q: What is the driving force to keep Lee & Man growing rapidly?

A: China`s continuing economic growth has created a huge demand for the industry. We have seized the opportunity and expanded our facilities. In addition to market demand, another reason for our fast production expansion over the past decade is the pressure from competitors. I`m afraid of losing the race so we had to run better and faster.

The keys to maintaining sustainable competitiveness are cost control and business focus. Looking back, I found some investment projects were unsuccessful and should be written off as non-starters. In the future, we should focus on business worth investment and reduce costs to ensure core competence for a sustainable development.

Zhu Xinli, board chairman and group president of China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd

Zhu founded Huiyuan in 1992, capitalizing on ample fruit supplies in his home region - Shandong province in east China.

Huiyuan has grown into China`s biggest fruit juice company, with 10 percent of the national juice market. With premium quality products, the homegrown brand has a 44 percent share of the pure juice market and 42 percent in the fruit pulp drinks market. Dilute juices, with added sugar and water, are also a popular segment of the company`s lineup. Huiyuan now exports to more than 30 countries, including the United States, where it is on the shelves of 3,000 Wal-Mart stores. Revenue jumped 29 percent to 2.7 billion yuan in 2007 from a year earlier.

Huiyuan went public in Hong Kong in 2007, raising HK$2.76 billion ($356 million) in its initial public offering (IPO) and was 938 times oversubscribed, a record in Hong Kong.

Zhu works with local governments to improve villages and builds partnerships with fruit farmers to support agricultural development.

Q: What do you understand entrepreneurship to be?

A: In my opinion, entrepreneurs are those with continuing innovation and always have the spirit for fresh start-ups.

Q: What is the most valuable experience you gained in the startup period?

A: The biggest lesson I learned is to focus on my business and take it as a big career to pursue. When I achieve a success in my career, I can make my career an entire industry, and the success in my own career will lead and promote the development of the entire industry.

Q: What are the remarkable events you feel proud of ?

A: When Huiyuan was established, I found overseas juice market big - yet the domestic market was next to nothing. I believed with China`s opening-up and reforms, people would increase income and have a healthier consumption demand. It would be a disaster to Chinese fruit farmers if the country, rich in both fruit species and output, had no fruit processing industry.

At the time, fruit sales in a good harvest year was a thorny problem nationwide. Establishing a fruit juice market in the country helped farmers out and juice companies themselves have a strong industrial chain.

I decided to move from my hometown Shandong province and headquartered in Beijing in 1994. Over the following three years, we gained a foothold in the market.

Through my own experience, I found that exporting is not difficult, but building a brand in the domestic market is really hard. If I hadn`t moved to Beijing, I would have had an easy life in Shandong, but could not absolutely accomplish the achievement of today and would never tasted the sense of achievement.

Q: What does career success mean to you?

A: I believe every one of us desires success, whether in our career or in other facets of life. The meaning of success lies in maximizing your life value. The fruits of success are not your own, but for sharing with the society.

Only in this case can your efforts in achieving startup business mission and making fortune become meaningful.

Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry Group

Cao founded Fuyao Glass in 1985, China`s first domestic auto glassmaker, seeking to break the dominance of foreign imports in the market.

Now with a more than 50 percent share the market, Fuyao is now China`s biggest auto glassmaker. In the middle to high-end passenger vehicle market, its 71 percent share is even more dominant.

Fuyao Glass supplies all top 10 carmakers operating in China, and is also a provider to household names such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Bentley and Daimler Chrysler. It is now in international markets competing against better-known global rivals.

Its exports almost doubled in just two years to 1.46 billion yuan in 2007. Sales increased by 33 and 28 percent in 2006 and 2007 respectively. With such a strong growth momentum, the company vows to catch up with top global players in the next five years.

Q: As a successful entrepreneur, how do you define the entrepreneurial spirit?

A: For me, it means pursuit of excellence and challenging the limits. This motto has been encouraging me for the past 20 years.

Q: What is the most valuable lesson you`ve learned from running your business?

A: A book by an English writer says character is the source of individual strength, which has edified me a lot. I believe that before starting a business, an entrepreneur should build up his or her personality, which is the foundation of a career. An entrepreneur should be trustworthy.

Q: What event has impressed you most in Fuyao`s history?

A: In 1999, we took over a stake that Saint-Gobain Co Ltd had held. It is a move that I will be proud of all my life.

Fuyao was running at a loss in 1998. We located the problem and found out the solution. I believed that the solution would work but our overseas investors said they didn`t have confidence and wanted to withdraw.

As a result, we bought back their shares at the price no less than the investment they had made.

Money is no big deal, compared with the mutual respect between business cooperators.

I still take a pride in the deal that was made in a difficult time, an act to guarantee the reputation of our Chinese entrepreneurs.

Q: What is the core driving force behind Fuyao`s brisk growth in recent years?

A: It is a highly patriotic consciousness as well as an acute market sense.

Since starting up business, I have told employees "we are making glass for our country". We have never got involved in hefty-profit business like real estate, because we are honoring our pledge: to produce premium quality glass, which is in short supply in our country.

Since we gained control over the company in 1999, we have set up more than 10 plants in nine provinces and nine companies as well as five offices in seven countries to begin a worldwide distribution network.

Our goal is to build up a top global brand through worldwide sourcing.

Pan Shiyi, chairman of Soho China Ltd

As chairman of Soho China, Pan Shiyi is a leading real estate developer in the country. With a bold vision and ambition in the construction industry, Pan`s company has built some of the most dynamic and modern landmarks on Beijing`s emerging skyline.

Soho China is the biggest commercial landlord in Beijing`s central business district, delivering high-quality, innovative buildings in prime locations that cater to high net worth individuals and urban professionals.

Its completed development projects include Soho New Town, Jianwai Soho Shangdu and Chaowai Soho in central Beijing. Its turnover was 7 billion yuan in 2007, a 300 percent increase from 2006. Soho China was listed in Hong Kong in October 2007 in the largest IPO from China`s private sector and the largest for an Asian commercial real estate developer.

Its achievements have been marked with numerous business awards in recent years.

Q: Could you please share with us what you learned from running your own business?

A: The most valuable experience, also the greatest gain I have achieved, is growing up along with my company.

Q: What has impressed you the most in leading your company?

A: Without China`s reform and opening-up, Soho would never be what it is today. Its development in China has a close relationship with the dramatic changes taking place in the country as it shifted from a planned to a market economy. Under the planned economy, no entrepreneurs could be imagined, let alone successful business leaders.

Q: What drives your company`s rapid growth?

A: Over the past 13 years, making prosperity for the society, our company and ourselves are the driving forces. But in the future, we will not only create more physical wealth but also spiritual wealth. In the pursuit, we will follow such principles as honesty, unity and innovation.

Q: What has your career success brought to you? What is the key to being a successful entrepreneur?

A: The success in my career has given me a broader vision, enabling me to have a better understanding of the industry and the field I am interested in.

To be a successful entrepreneur requires sense of responsibility and innovative spirit, which are important, especially nowadays.

Q: What is your future plan?

A: Withstanding some tough tests, including the current worldwide financial crisis, will determine the future of Soho China.

A company can gain further development provided it can stand such tests. An unhealthy company can merely grow in good time while a healthy one can manage to go through the financial tsunami.

Q: Do you have any advice for those who decide to start up businesses?

A: I think China has the best environment for starting one`s own business - fast growth and an enormous market, which provide entrepreneurs a huge platform. I think youngsters who want to start their own businesses have to be confident, innovative and responsible.

Fan Min, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ctrip.com

Fan Min has built Ctrip into a leading online travel agency in China, with an estimated market share in excess of 50 percent. The NASDAQ-listed company offers hotel reservations, airline tickets and packaged tours to business and leisure travelers in China.

Fan established the online company with three other partners in 1999. Today the company has 20 million registered members and operates Asia`s largest call center in the travel agency business.

A veteran of the travel and hospitality industries, Fan helped the company develop a customer-centric approach, which helps differentiate it from its rivals. Ctrip has 10 branches and operates in 49 cities. Revenue in 2007 increased by 54 percent.

The company has won a variety of awards including those for its workplace and as a growth company. Fan founded the Sunshine Children`s Fund earlier this year to help orphans following the Sichuan earthquake in May.

Q: How do you understand entrepreneurship?

A: To me, it means the impulse or passion, and the commitment to the innovation of our operational mode and direction.

Q: What was the most remarkable experience in your business development?

A: An enterprise needs the support of a team in this post-industrial era that can create a successful business mode. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our team, our company has achieved its unique and successful business mode.

Q: What do you think has sustained the rapid growth of Ctrip?

A: The driving force behind such growth has been our relentless aspiration to a grand goal. Since the very beginning, we have been determined that Ctrip would become a world-class, century-old enterprise. This goal is the embodiment of our entrepreneurship, needing motivation to forge a Chinese brand with global influence and serves as the inner drive for our efforts.

Q: What is your vision for the future of the already successful Ctrip?

A: The relatively realistic goal is to expand our existing operations into international markets. More ambitiously, we hope that one day Ctrip can rank among the world`s top 500 enterprises. We are confident that this dream will come true.

Q: You are already a hero in the eyes of the young people ready to start or already undertaking a business. What advice do you have for them?

A: Borrowing the idea of a famous scientist: To have something done successfully, you need three things together.

First, method, a proper and practical method to govern your operations. Second, diligence. Any success consists of 99 percent of hard work and 1 percent inspiration or chance.Third, just do it, and do it with all heart and soul.

Though it`s no secret, if you have all of the three necessities, you will surely get it.

Freddie Wong, chairman and founder of Midland Holdings Ltd

Freddie Wong started Midland in 1973 in a small office with just two employees.

Today, Midland is one of the two biggest real estate agency groups in Hong Kong, with 578 branches in Hong Kong, Macao and on the Chinese mainland. It was the first property agency to list in Hong Kong and now has two quoted companies in the territory.

Market capitalization of the flagship company was HK$3.5 billion ($451.6 million) as of June 30, 2008, 14 times higher than when it listed in 1995. Last year, its revenue rose by 92 percent to HK$3.9 billion ($503.2 million).

Midland`s success has been built on innovation and leadership. The company pioneered the use of contracts for property viewings, a practice now widely adopted by the industry, and also the mortgage referral program. In addition, Wong introduced new marketing ideas to Hong Kong, including the "Open House" concept.

He also established his own charitable foundation. The company is committed to contributing 0.1 percent of its total commission revenue to the foundation to benefit charitable causes.

Q: What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

A: It means the vision, commitment and decisiveness of an entrepreneur, who should be rational, decisive and persevering.

Q: Can we share your experience of starting a new business?

A: At the beginning of a business, the entrepreneur may very well have limited knowledge about the industry. So he should live and learn, because knowledge has power and can change one`s fate.

Q: What milestones in the history of Midland are memorable in the group`s success?

A: In the past 35 years, Midland weathered and survived four bull periods and four bear periods and got stronger each time. My company was listed in 1995 and acquired another listed company last year.

Q: What has sustained the rapid growth of Midland?

A: For a company to grow fast, the entrepreneur needs to demonstrate entrepreneurship every day. We have always tried to expand our business downstream in the industry, such as in mortgages. We seek also daily innovation and progress because making no progress means lagging behind others.

Q: Given the success of your company and your own achievements, what are your goals and plans for the future?

A: I hope to develop the currently humble Midland into a larger group and ensure that the group will survive the current financial crisis and grow stronger and larger, as it already did in the last four low-tide periods.

Q: What advice do you have for the new entrepreneurs?

A: The entrepreneur may receive less than he invested in the early stage of undertaking a business. However, he who has the needed ability, spirit and will should stick through the challenges, for once he succeeds, he will harvest more rewards than the efforts he has paid.

Christian Heilesen, chief executive officer of Funmobile Holdings Ltd

Christian Heilesen started Funmobile in Hong Kong when he was 20 years old, developing games for mobile phones. Over the past five years, he has led the company to become a leading global provider of mobile games, ringtones, downloads and phone voting software for television.

The company distributes content globally through over 100 mobile phone operators in 28 countries and regions.

Funmobile`s success is also based upon a successful strategy of selling directly to consumers through its own website. Today its own portal has one million subscribers allowing it to bypass revenue-sharing agreements with mobile phone operators.

Funmobile is one of the few wireless gaming companies to develop its titles in Hong Kong and differentiates itself by strong research spending. Heilesen`s overseas expansion has helped the company deliver exponential growth.

It plans to raise its profile further through an IPO in the future. Funmobile sponsors the International Mobile Gaming Award, a global competition for the best mobile phone game design, development and programming.

Q: What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

A: It means calculation of risks and brave experiments with new things.

Q: What has sustained Funmobile?

A: The rapid growth of Funmobile is largely due to our cosmopolitan outlook and pioneering spirit. I was born in Denmark and was in the Internet business in the United States. At the age of 18, I moved to Hong Kong and created Funmobile, which now has a platform of over 110 telecom operators in 25 countries and regions. My global perspective has taught me how to handle the cultural differences among various countries. Certainly, my pioneering character has guided our company to develop new products continuously.

Q: What are your plans and goals for the future development of Funmobile?

A: With a global telecom platform, any of our new products can be marketed all over the world, the small price of which can be paid through the mobile phone and the Internet.

On this basis, in 2009, we will open the former internal platform Netpartner.com to advertisers for marketing their products, exploring deeper into Internet business opportunities.

Q: What advice do you have for the young people ready to start a new business?

A: Trust, and be knowledgeable and enthusiastic. You should know your chosen industry and establish practically profitable and sustainable operations. You should trust your colleagues and give them power, even those concerning financial and market management, allowing you to have more time and energy to deal with the more strategic matters, such as analyzing market trends and your competitors. And you must have enthusiasm for your career and be a model for your employees.

Michael Yu, founder, chairman and CEO of New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Michael Yu founded the largest and most successful private educational services provider in China. New Oriental is the best-known brand for private tuition in China. More than five million students have enrolled in its programs to learn better English or pass college entrance requirement tests.

New Oriental opened in 1993, specializing in teaching exam techniques for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

New Oriental established itself as the market leader in just a few years. It now has an 80 percent share of the overseas test preparation market in China.

The company runs 207 schools and training centers across 35 cities in the nation, and is the authorized local publisher and distributor of educational materials for TOEFL, Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), GRE and Cambridge University Press, among others.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, New Oriental posted compound annual growth of 35 percent in revenue and 60 percent in net profit between 2004 and 2008.

Yu`s dream is to use personal funds to build China`s first private university for the poor and turn it into the "Harvard of the East".

He is a member of the Chinese People`s Political Consultative Conference and is also a judge for a famous TV show about budding entrepreneurs.

Q: Would you mind sharing with us your understanding of entrepreneurship?

A: Entrepreneurship mainly involves the following essential aspects: First, an entrepreneur should sustain love and enthusiasm for his cause. He should have an innovative mind and he should be persevering. Finally, he should have a strong sense of social responsibility.

Q: After you started your business what made you feel the proudest?

A: New Oriental has never done anything bad in these years. The school has developed into a large scale one and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange, setting a record for China, and I have received unique inspirations from these years of experience that will guide my future.

Q: What advice do you have for the young entrepreneurs?

A: They should consider whether or not they really enjoy what they do and are willing to engage in it for a long time instead of for quick money. Besides, a founder of a new business needs to stand high and judge the business from a global perspective. In the era of globalization, for any large enterprise integrating with the world, lack of a global perspective would be fatal. Finally, he needs the spirit of perseverance, without which no success would be possible.

Q: What would you like to say to your family at the awards ceremony?

A: Very simple: I thank them for their support. It is not easy for us to get united as a couple, and we should value the family. We should love our children. As each entrepreneur does, I want to succeed in business and have a happy family at the same time.

Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar Energy Group

Huang Ming started Himin Solar in 1996, driven by a dream of ensuring blue skies for future generations. The privately-owned company is among the world`s biggest supplier of solar water heaters. China`s solar water heater market is the biggest in the world, in part due to Himin Solar`s efforts promoting the use of renewable energy to power sustainable growth.

Huang`s vision is for solar heaters, which make up 20 percent of the heater market in China, to completely replace electric and gas water heaters in the next 10 years.

Huang` s company holds some 300 patents while he actively promotes sustainable development policies, including helping passage of China`s first Renewable Energy Bill, which became law in 2005.

Huang is also developing an ambitious "Solar Valley", which he envisions to be a Silicon Valley-like project in Shandong province, by creating a hub for the entire renewable energy industry in China. Solar Valley will play host to the 2010 International Solar Cities Congress.

Q: What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

A: It means devotion to the undertaking and responsibility to consumers, shareholders and employees, and all other people supporting him, including his parents and motherland, which are indispensable to his success.

Q: What is your most valuable experience in the course of business?

A: To understand and trust others, all those who work for you, cooperate with you, or even compete with you.

Q: What events in the process of Himin`s growth to success made you the proudest?

A: My biggest pride lies in introducing to the world the Chinese successes and achievements we have made in the solar energy and renewable energy sectors.

Q: Himin endured a hard time at its early stage. Can you share insight into the process of developing your business?

A: Very interestingly, among the thousands of pioneer entrepreneurs in our industry, I had the least desire to make a profit, but have now made the most money. Instead of aiming to create an enterprise, I simply wanted to shift from petroleum research to solar energy research. It is totally accidental that I made my first fortune. Later, to sustain my research and business, I had to turn to customers. Only then did the products begin to improve and the operation of the enterprise become normal.

Q: What advice can you give to the would-be entrepreneurs?

A: Look for your favorite profession and field. Success or failure - as long as you have tried - you won`t regret it.

Q: In China, young people or young entrepreneurs are concerned more about salaries or money. What do you think of this phenomenon?

A: As the ancient saying goes, "haste makes waste". Any success demands patience and accumulation. The difficulties and loneliness in the early stage may bring you great success in the future.

Jiang Kai, president of Dragon Power Co Ltd

Jiang Kai started Dragon Power in 2004. In less than five years it has become a leading biofuel equipment and generating company in China, with an estimated 95 percent market share of the industry in China. It is the biggest seller of biomass boilers and the largest maker and operator of biofuel power plants, selling the generated electricity to the government.

Jiang is a pioneer in the biofuel industry in China, believing that renewable energy provides social and environmental benefits - and will still be profitable.

He also acts as an economic adviser to the Shandong provincial government on policy matters. Dragon Power has built 14 biofuel power plants in China and in other locations in Asia including Japan, and expects to sell to Europe soon. It acquired a Danish company for its technology, which has become its primary source of research and development.

Q: What major events made you proudest?

A: I felt the proudest at the instant when the Shandong Shanxian Biofuel Power Plant, the first in China, was put into operation. After this milestone, biofuel power plants were built throughout the country.

Q: As an entrepreneur, what was your biggest reward?

A: I started the business because it was environmentally friendly and energy-conserving. It has turned out to be a pleasant surprise and an unexpected harvest, especially as it develops and benefits everybody.

Q: What do you think has sustained the growth of Dragon Power?

A: The driving force is the common interests of the country, enterprise and people. Our plants have contributed to society and have so received more support, such as subsidies and tax preferences. Both the local governments and people welcome us, and our business has a solid and healthy foundation for development.

Q: How do you interpret entrepreneurship?

A: I believe an entrepreneur should be practical, cooperative and frugal. An enterprise must be practical and operate within the limits of its abilities, seek cooperation with others and remain frugal regardless of its size. Our company must especially have a spirit of frugality because we are doing business with low-income farmers.

Q: Some entrepreneurs claim an early priority is the market and development of the enterprise, while the internal management and mechanisms can be strengthened at a later time. What do you think?

A: Personally, I don`t agree with this opinion. The unresolved small problems of the early stage will, like snowballs, accumulate and evolve into big problems that can hardly be solved. To avoid future collapse, standards and norms should be in place from the very beginning.