Two generations of 42 year old entrepreneurs
42 seems to be a magic number for Wahaha.
Zong Qinghou, 42 years old in 1987, contracted the school run enterprise distribution department in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou. Regardless of the severe cold or heat, he rode a tricycle through the streets and alleys of Hangzhou. By selling soda, stationery, popsicles and paper, he gradually turned the school run distribution department into a profit.
During the hot period of various oral liquid markets, Zong Qinghou aimed at the blank market of children's nutrition oral liquid. In July of the same year, Hangzhou Baoling Children's Nutrition Food Factory (later renamed as "Hangzhou Wahaha Nutrition Food Factory") was established with the proceeds from pollen sales and a bank loan of 50000 yuan as the original capital
In 1988, Zong Qinghou found Zhu Shoumin, a nutrition professor at Zhejiang Medical University at that time, and directed Wahaha to develop the first nutritional product for children.
Since then, Wahaha has been "soaring" in the domestic beverage industry for 20 consecutive years, firmly occupying half of the top ten Chinese beverage companies. In 2003, the revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan, becoming the fifth largest beverage manufacturer in the world. In 2007, the turnover exceeded 25 billion yuan, and in 2008, the sales exceeded 30 billion yuan.
Zong Qinghou, who had been a farmer for 15 years and a worker for 9 years, built a 10 billion beverage empire in his forties. In 2010, 2012 and 2013, he was the richest person on Forbes' Mainland China Rich List for three times.
From the age of 40 to the age of 70, he has been struggling on the front line, leading Wahaha to make various attempts from children's clothing, beauty makeup, daily chemicals, white wine to new tea drinks, and looking for the second life curve.
He died of illness this year at the age of 79. Without his leadership, where would Wahaha Group go in the future?
The eyes of the outside world naturally fell on Zong Fuli, Zong Qinghou's daughter, vice chairman and general manager. She is 42 years old, the same age as Zong Qinghou when she contracted to run the school factory.
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Zong Fuli has 14 years of experience. In 2004, after studying abroad and returning to China, he worked in Wahaha workshop; 2007 Chuangye Hongsheng Beverage Group; In 2018, she became the head of the Group's brand public relations department, leading the brand renewal, which is the starting point for her to truly enter the front line of business.
In March 2020, he also served as the Deputy General Manager of the Group Sales Company, and deeply participated in the group sales business. In December 2021, he officially took the post of vice chairman and general manager of the Group, and gradually came to the center of the stage as a "Houlang entrepreneur".
Zong Qinghou's management of enterprises is a "big parent model". In an interview with the media in 2023, he said, "I should not retire, but I will retire to the second tier and let young people charge in front. I will watch from behind and turn around when I go astray."
Until the end of last year, Zong Qinghou, who had worked hard for more than 30 years, continued to travel frequently and work every day.
A dealer who once dealt with Wahaha disclosed that many internal employees of Wahaha positioned Zong Fuli more as the "daughter of the boss" than as the "second boss". This has brought some challenges to Zong Fuli's succession.
Wahaha's fate is intertwined with the 42 year old two generations, a farmer and an overseas student. The outside world is full of speculation and onlooker mentality. What kind of future will Wahaha be led by the "Princess Zong" who took over the ten billion beverage empire?
Not only Wahaha Group
Zong Qinghou also left behind not only Wahaha Group, but also "gold mines" for "Princess Zong".
Zong Qinghou began to arrange equity investment in his early years. In 2001, Hangzhou Wahaha Guangsheng Investment Co., Ltd. was established (Guangsheng Investment). Since its development, it has invested in 10 joint ventures and 7 non joint ventures.
In 2002, Hong'an Yongsheng Investment Co., Ltd. and Guangyuan Jinxin Investment Co., Ltd. were established, with relatively small scale and a total of 11 enterprises invested.
In 2007, Wahaha set up two investment companies at one go. One is Zhejiang Qili Investment Co., Ltd Investment mainly focuses on Wahaha's food and beverage, marketing, science and technology and other related enterprises. According to public information, nearly 30 enterprises have invested abroad.
The other one is Wahaha Hongzhen Investment ， It is the expansion and investment layout of Wahaha's diversified business. According to Tianyan's survey, there are 27 enterprises mainly engaged in food and beverage, health care products, cultural media, biotechnology, packaging, animal husbandry and other industries except Wahaha.
It is worth mentioning that in 2010, Hongzhen Investment started a LP, and invested in Zhejiang Laterite Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Laterite Venture Capital") jointly with Huang Chulong of Shenzhen Galaxy Investment Group, Xu Yong'an, President of Hengdian Holding, Fang Chaoyang of Zhejiang Precision Industry Construction Industry Group, and Wang Shuifu, jointly held by Hangzhou Xizi.
Zhejiang Laterite Venture Capital was founded in 2010 and is a member of Shenzhen Innovation Investment Group. Hongzhen Investment subscribed and registered 13.5 million yuan for the fund, with a shareholding ratio of 12.27%. Zong Qinghou served as the director of Zhejiang Laterite Venture Capital. It will not formally withdraw from the list of shareholders until November 2023 and step down as the vice chairman of the company.
It is reported that Zong Qinghou also intended to invest 40 million yuan in Chongqing Laterite Venture Capital.
In 2014, Hangzhou Wahaha Qili Investment Co., Ltd. was established, and the investment company was cancelled in 2016.
In November 2019, Zong Qinghou set his sights on chips again. Through Zhejiang Deqing Wahaha Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd., he invested 7 million yuan to establish Zhejiang Hongzhen Intelligent Chip Co., Ltd., which accounts for 70% of the shares. It is also the only industrial enterprise in which he holds a controlling stake.
In July 2021, 76 year old Zong Qinghou passed the qualification certificate for fund practice,
Zhejiang Wahaha Venture Capital Co., Ltd. also officially completed the filing in the Fund Industry Association, with Zong Qinghou as the legal representative/executive partner.
In fact, Wahaha Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wahaha Venture Capital) was officially established as early as November 2010. It was only on July 9, 2021 that the record was officially completed in the fund industry association.
The major shareholder of Wahaha Venture Capital is Hangzhou Wahaha Hongzhen Investment Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 90%; Zong Qinghou's wife Shi Youzhen holds another 10% of the shares.
Since its inception, Wahaha Venture Capital has participated in five outbound investments, mostly indirectly as a LP (limited partner), and through the establishment of branches to meet project financing needs.
Expand Wahaha's business territory and second growth curve through equity investment.
Equity investment in the direction of artificial intelligence and information technology mainly uses Hillhouse capital to carry out investment in related fields; The direction of medicine and health is mainly invested by Fengchuan Capital, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other enterprises.
As a LP, Wahaha Venture Capital also holds a 51% stake in Juhe Information and participates in the A-round financing of Zongsheng Intelligent Technology, which focuses on the research and development of vending machines. The two companies respectively carried out Wahaha online water ordering business "Wahaha arrives home" and vending machine research and development.
In April 2022, Lishui Wahaha Private Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established with a registered capital of 500 million yuan, which was operated by Zong Qinghou himself. At present, only two enterprises have been invested.
Wahaha, which is not listed or financed, is not short of money. On March 23, 2023, Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun 2023 Global Rich List, and Zong Qinghou ranked 121 with a wealth of 100 billion yuan.
"Successors" Challenge of
Zong Fuli is the successor and founder of the family business.
She also makes equity investments. According to the data from the venture capital channel of the Associated Press of Finance - Executive Center, Zong Fuli served as the legal representative of 13 enterprises, of which 6 were in existence, and Ningbo Jinhui Investment Management Co., Ltd. was one of them.
Equity penetration shows that Ningbo Jinhui is Zong Fuli's personal investment platform, with a shareholding ratio of 100%. At present, it has invested in Tianjin Zhenge Tianhong Asset Management Partnership (limited partnership), Ningbo Zhongjin Qixing Equity Investment Center (limited partnership), Beijing Gaorong Phase IV Kangteng Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership), Ningbo Meishan Free Trade Port Zhongjin Chengchen Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership) Shenzhen Dinghui Xinjia Equity Investment Fund Partnership (limited partnership), Lishui Jinhui Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership).
From this we can see that Zong Fuli is already the LP of many front-line VC's such as Zhenge, CICC Capital, Gao Rong, CDH, etc.
Zong Qinghou once entrusted Zong Fuli with many pioneering businesses. In 2002, Wahaha dabbled in the children's clothing industry, and Zong Fuli was the "vanguard" of this business; In 2005, Wahaha dabbled in the daily chemical industry. Zong Qinghou established the Xiaoshan Wahaha detergent production base under Zong Fuli's management; In 2010, Wahaha entered the real estate industry, and Zong Qinghou also entrusted Zong Fuli with this responsibility.
But in the end, innovative businesses such as children's clothing, daily chemicals and real estate didn't splash much.
Only in recent years did Zong Fuli return to the main business of Wahaha. We have tried to develop a new beverage product "Kellyone", which is positioned as a consumer group centered on the new generation of people in the first and second tier cities. In terms of sales channels, offline convenience stores, supermarkets, trendy retail stores, etc. have been settled to radiate the national market.
As“ Successor ”， Zong Fuli took a different route from her father New consumption routes for young people. Now, it's not enough to manage Kelly well. Zong Fuli needs to plan for Wahaha's future.
At the dealer conference in 2023, Zong Fuli clearly proposed that Wahaha should adhere to the big health strategy, including the direction of low sugar, low fat, zero sugar and zero fat drinks, as well as the research and development of probiotics. The new products planned to be launched in 2024 are also closer to the market, such as double pomelo juice, sugar free pure tea and other new series.
A dealer who approached Wahaha said, "Wahaha's problem is not to judge the direction, but to push the product not firmly enough. In the process of landing, the distribution and terminal construction did not keep up, leading to many products being abandoned and wasting a lot of resources. In addition, the 'joint marketing body' system, which is highly dependent on dealers, also has limitations. New products and supporting resources are needed to develop new front-line markets. However, some dealers start by wholesale and pay more attention to 'fast in and fast out'. They have less control over the terminal, and the terminal naturally refuses to sell new products, which makes Wahaha's new products promote slowly in the channel. "
It is not difficult to make new products, but to sell them well. Zong Fuli faces a market that is completely different from Zong Qinghou's when he started his business. Now the food and beverage industry is "a hundred flowers bloom", and the product competitiveness of large beverage enterprises is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
For Zong Fuli, Wahaha Group, with a 37 year history of development, faces two major challenges: innovation and growth.
Although Wahaha has made many explorations, it has not become a new growth point. From 2015 to 2020, Wahaha's performance has always hovered at 46 billion yuan. In 2022, Wahaha's sales performance will reach 51.202 billion yuan, down more than 30% from 2013.
The road ahead is difficult. Zong Fuli has to persevere. In December 2019, she said in an interview: "Wahaha is a country created by my father. As his daughter, I have the responsibility to protect it." (This article first released the titanium media app, author | Guo Hongyun, editor | Tao Tianyu)
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