"Shantou is a paradise for entrepreneurship with many opportunities."

Chen Yuzhong introduces building block toys

On January 9th, the 49th Hong Kong Toy Exhibition opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. This is the world's first professional toy exhibition held this year and also the most internationally influential toy exhibition in Asia. As one of the exhibitors, Chen Yuzhong, the person in charge of Shantou Hexing Xieli Technology Co., Ltd., has more than 10 booths at this toy exhibition. At the exhibition, Chen Yuzhong's booth was mainly in orange color, which was particularly eye-catching and attracted many guests to stop and watch. Chen Yuzhong, who has a background in overseas growth, is sunny and cheerful. He meticulously introduces his products to Hong Kong citizens and foreign manufacturers on site, seamlessly integrating Chinese and English, and creating a harmonious atmosphere.

Recently, Chen Yuzhong gave an interview to reporters during his busy work schedule and shared his unique entrepreneurial experience. He believes that Shantou is a paradise for entrepreneurship with many opportunities. As a member of the Taiwanese youth who started their own business in Shantou, he is full of confidence in the future.

From Assistant General Manager to Business Manager

According to Chen Yuzhong, he was born in Taipei in 1989 and settled in New Zealand with his parents at the age of 6. My father is a doctor, and my three sisters and I all studied medicine. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a bachelor's degree in medical chemistry. But Chen Yuzhong is not very interested in medicine. After graduating in 2010, he really wants to go back to China to see more. "My father's classmate opened a toy factory in Shantou, so he recommended me to study in China. In November 2010, I came to Shantou and worked at Uncle Huanghan's toy factory. At that time, Uncle wanted to train me and let me serve as the assistant to the general manager." Chen Yuzhong said that his first impression of Shantou was that it was comfortable and the pace of life was not too fast, which was closer to the pace of life in New Zealand.

At the beginning, he was an assistant to the general manager, which was extremely challenging for Chen Yuzhong. "The position of assistant to the general manager actually requires very high standards. At that time, I had just graduated and lacked professional knowledge and experience in process tracking. At the beginning, what made me laugh and cry the most was meeting minutes. I didn't know how to write them in Chinese at the time, so I could only record what I heard in English. After the meeting, I would translate the records into Chinese and send them to various departments." Chen Yuzhong smiled and told reporters that during his nearly year as assistant to the general manager, he had benefited greatly from it, gained training and growth, and had contact with various departments of the enterprise such as production, research and development, and sales, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the overall work.

Later, in order to play to his strengths, Chen Yu transferred to the business department, and he quickly got started. "My uncle took me to run business, attend exhibitions, and explore markets. English is my mother tongue, and language communication is my strong point. In one year, we have traveled to more than 10 countries, and in two or three years, I have visited nearly 30 countries such as Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Germany, and Brazil." Chen Yu's agent explained.

With the development of Chen Yuzhong in the business department, he became the business manager. Over the course of 5 years, he led the business team to grow, consolidating and developing the company's Middle East market while continuously expanding into European and American markets.

Becoming a young Taiwanese businessman starting a business in Shantou

"Entrepreneurship is my dream." Chen Yuzhong has been searching for opportunities to expand his horizons. On December 27, 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted to pass the amendment to the Population and Family Planning Law, and the two child policy was officially implemented from January 1, 2016. Chen Yuzhong, who has a keen sense of business, saw the development trend of childcare and early education, so in June 2016, he partnered with friends to open an early education center in Shantou. In the first two years, the development momentum was rapid, and early education centers were highly sought after by many young mothers. However, the market cake was only so large, and the industry quickly reached saturation within two to three years. Later, due to various factors such as the epidemic, the early education industry was not as good as before. In 2020, Chen Yuzhong promptly cut losses and closed the early education center.

Of course, Chen Yuzhong did not let go of his old profession. In March 2017, he founded a trading company that delved into his areas of expertise. With partners, he relied on Chenghai's well-established toy industry chain and leveraged his Western learning background and language advantages to specialize in toy export trade. Starting from the European and American markets, he pushed Chenghai toys to the global market and provided integrated procurement and integration services for global customers in China. In 2018, Chen Yuzhong's company collaborated with a Dutch company to launch a popular home board game. According to Chen Yuzhong, this is the world's first dynamic chessboard with multiple patents. It is a unique tactical and dynamic game that is very suitable for playing with family and friends. It is understood that in the development process of this game, due to the limitations of Dutch industrial production technology, the designer's ideas cannot be well reflected, and the production process cost in the Netherlands is too high, and the repeated defects in the product during the production process have not been solved. Dutch companies began searching around the world for manufacturers who could solve these problems, and eventually found Chen Yuzhong's company. After countless sample tests, Chen Yuzhong's company finally achieved the perfect implementation of this game.

"In the past decade, Shantou has undergone significant changes and has been developing well, especially since the establishment of a national civilized city. The urban landscape has undergone significant changes, with the urban environment and transportation improving and maintaining quite well. I have become more and more fond of Shantou. Running a few laps in the fresh air and clean streets every morning is a very pleasant time of my day," Chen Yuzhong told reporters.

Chen Yuzhong speaks highly of the business environment in Shantou. He said that the in-depth "benefiting Taiwan and warming enterprises" action and various policies and measures to benefit Taiwan have effectively helped solve the practical difficulties faced by many Taiwanese enterprises in production and operation in Shantou. Chen Yuzhong also gave a very good evaluation of the industry's development. He believes that in the toy industry chain, Chenghai, as the source of production, has many opportunities and great development space. With such a huge demand worldwide, Chenghai is basically a must visit destination for toy buyers. In his observation, as the industry continues to develop, the quality awareness of Chenghai Toy Factory is also constantly improving. First tier brands in the industry originally chose to process more in the Pearl River Delta region, while most of Chenghai was outsourced to second tier brands. However, now more and more first tier manufacturers are also trying to negotiate with Chenghai. Chen Yuzhong said, "Although various industries have been affected by the overall environment in recent years, our trading company, as a purchaser, is also constantly responding to market changes, strictly controlling quality, actively discovering and exploring our advantages, and improving our services."

Enterprise development enters the 2.0 era

After years of development, Chen Yuzhong has upgraded the company to a technology company and achieved certain results in the industry. In 2021, the company's main business revenue exceeded 20 million yuan. Since 2022, the company's performance has steadily increased in adversity, and it has also won orders from the Hungarian government. How to continuously surpass others and surpass oneself in the race, Chen Yuzhong said that he also experienced a long period of confusion, and only gradually gained a clear understanding last year. "As small and medium-sized enterprises, we have our own shortcomings and need to improve in standardized management. Of course, we also have our advantages, such as high flexibility and quick response, which are also the reasons why many customers choose us," Chen Yuzhong analyzed.

"In the past few years, our company was only thinking about how to provide better services without a very clear direction and plan for enterprise development. It wasn't until I attended a lecture on management skills in Shantou in March last year that I was enlightened. It not only gave me goals for future development, but also allowed me to manage the company with better ideas and methods." Chen Yuzhong believes that as a small and medium-sized enterprise, to continuously grow, starting from the boss, and then to every person in the enterprise, we must constantly learn. He believes that at this time, a company that has gone through five years of basic construction is considered to have entered the second stage of growth, iterating into 2.0.