A leader in getting rich by raising sheep knows the "sheep business" well, and never forgets his hometown as he leads local folks to increase their income

When it comes to Ma Wenkui, everyone in Zhaojia Township, Dongxiang County knows him; people all say he is a "star" of prosperity who knows the "sheep business."

The rolling mountains have forged the mountain-like national endowment of the Dongxiang people, and the harsh natural conditions have tempered their tenacious national character. Ma Wenkui is an ordinary farmer from Qiangtou Village, Zhaojia Township. Facing hardship without losing heart, he struggled to start a business and seek a path to prosperity. After successfully starting a business and becoming rich, he did not forget his original aspiration, returned to his hometown to establish a breeding cooperative, and led the local folks to stride forward on the road out of poverty toward moderate prosperity.

A poor man's child takes charge early. Ma Wenkui, who only finished first grade, went to Wuwei at the age of 15 to try his luck in business because his family was very poor at the time and his mother died early. The so-called business at that time was actually buying a bicycle in Wuwei and going through the streets and alleys collecting sheepskins.

How can you see a rainbow without going through wind and rain? It was precisely these trials that allowed Ma Wenkui to accumulate rich social experience and practical know-how, and also to save his first pot of gold for starting a business and getting rich. In 2005, he began to move into the wholesale of mutton to other places such as Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, **, and Qinghai.

A "careful" person never lets any business opportunity slip by. When Ma Wenkui was engaged in mutton wholesale in Wuwei, he discovered that Wuwei had no local halal slaughterhouse or live livestock trading market. After extensive investigation and study, he decided to take the plunge. In December 2010, he established the Wenkui Halal Slaughterhouse and Live Livestock Trading Market in Wuwei. This was the only halal cattle and sheep market in the Wuwei area, and business was extremely brisk, so naturally he made a lot of money. He struck while the iron was hot and established Wuwei Wenkui Animal Husbandry Company, and right after that he opened a halal Wenkui Restaurant in the live livestock trading market, achieving a one-stop chain of sheep raising, slaughtering, sales, and dining.

While getting rich himself, Ma Wenkui did not forget the local folks. His slaughterhouse, live livestock trading market, restaurant, and others employed more than a hundred Dongxiang people, with monthly wages all around 4000 yuan, and many people from the same township and village also embarked on the road to prosperity.

Getting rich without forgetting his hometown. Ma Wenkui kept thinking about how to let more local folks get rich together, and he still had to give full play to the Dongxiang people's traditional strength in raising sheep and lead the local folks to get rich by raising sheep.

In May 2016, he returned to his hometown and cooperated with four people from the same village to build the Wenkui Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative. At present, there are more than 1000 sheep on hand. During the feeding process, no feed is added, and they are mainly fed with corn, bran, and so on, so the mutton quality is especially good and the sheep are ready for market quickly, and they are "sought after" by consumers inside and outside the county. Now, more than 20 are slaughtered every day, and after slaughter they are all sold to places such as Yongjing and Guanghe.

On the road out of poverty, he does not rest; there is no need for the whip to urge a galloping horse. Relying on his own hard work, Ma Wenkui moved from poverty to prosperity. What is valuable is that after getting rich he did not forget his hometown, and with practical actions he stimulated the local folks' drive for development and entrepreneurial vitality, moving forward together on the road to moderate prosperity.