Post-90s "Peanut Prince" Gives Up Graduate Studies to Return Home and Start a Business, Annual Output Value Exceeds 30 Million
Entrepreneurship Annual output value exceeds 30 million" />
Workers are drying peanuts in the sun
Entrepreneurship Annual output value exceeds 30 million" />
Jiang Zhuyun in the peanut field
In the final round of the first Yibin Entrepreneurship Competition held in May 2016, the entrepreneurial project "Small Peanut, Big Dream" from Yibin County won repeated praise from the on-site judges and investors, and ultimately took the championship of the competition.
The project leader is Jiang Zhuyun, a typical young man born in the 1990s. In 2014, he gave up his graduate school admission opportunity at Qingdao University, returned home to take over his father's enterprise, and at the same time embarked on his own entrepreneurial journey. At present, his company's annual output value has exceeded 30 million, and he has established a peanut planting specialized cooperative. "People call me a rich second generation, but actually I am a typical second-generation entrepreneur." This 24-year-old young man said firmly that in the future he will build a deep-processing peanut industry chain.
Giving Up Graduate School to Become a "Peanut Expert"
At 3 p.m. on the 4th, the outdoor temperature had already exceeded 35°C. However, in a peanut field in Qunzhong Village, Guanyin Town, Yibin County, Jiang Zhuyun was inspecting whether the plastic film in the peanut field was properly covered and how the peanuts were flowering.
Jiang Zhuyun majored in mechanical engineering in university. In 2014, he was admitted to graduate school and also received an offer from a large machinery manufacturing factory in Chongqing. "At that time, my father's business had reached a bottleneck, and he hoped I would come back to take over and expand the company." When his father's enterprise was facing development difficulties, he gave up the graduate school admission opportunity and the factory job opportunity, returned to his hometown, and began his entrepreneurial journey.
When he first returned home, everyone said Jiang Zhuyun was a "rich second generation," but Jiang Zhuyun knew clearly that since the company was founded in 2008, it had always been engaged in extensive production and had remained in debt. He had to keep the company alive. After returning home, Jiang Zhuyun began to root himself in building the peanut industry chain. After more than a year of effort, the Yinhuang Peanut Food Co., Ltd. he took over not only obtained the title of "Key Leading Enterprise in Agricultural Industrialization in Yibin City," but also, through multiple negotiations, became one of the raw material suppliers for New Hope Dairy. Local farmers enthusiastically called him the "Peanut Prince."
"When he first came back, he did not understand anything, including pesticide residues, peanut seed selection, and peanut purchase prices." said Liu Zhimiao, an employee of Yibin County Yinhuang Peanut Food Co., Ltd. But now he has become a true peanut "expert" in the cooperative.
"Newborn Calf" Enters Competition, Small Peanut Wins Championship
For Jiang Zhuyun, who had just graduated from university not long before, the biggest obstacle on the entrepreneurial path was experience and worldly knowledge. In early 2016, when he heard that Yibin would hold its first entrepreneurship competition, he had his own idea and began planning during the Spring Festival.
"Because peanuts are very common and found all over the country, it is very difficult for an entrepreneurial project to pass the application, and even harder to make it stand out." Jiang Zhuyun said with a smile that because there was no retreat, he could only forge ahead. With the support of relevant local departments, Jiang Zhuyun brought the "Small Peanut, Big Dream" project through application, preliminaries, and finals, cutting through obstacles all the way, and finally stood out from 73 projects across the city to win the championship.
"At the time I did not think too much about it. I just hoped to learn and accumulate experience. In order to help the judges and audience better understand the nutritional value and benefits of peanuts, we made a short video for the roadshow. Unexpectedly, the on-site experts were all optimistic about the peanut industry chain project and believed it had great market prospects." Jiang Zhuyun recalled that this result gave them great confidence.
Although Jiang Zhuyun took over his father's company, he did not follow the original model. "At present, in addition to the traditional production and sales of multi-flavor peanuts, we have developed a peanut planting base and also developed peanut protein." Jiang Zhuyun said that a low-temperature oil pressing and peanut protein product processing plant is being planned.
At present, the multi-flavor peanuts of Yibin County Yinhuang Peanut Food Co., Ltd. have entered supermarkets and specialty stores in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shanghai, and other places, and the company has applied for external packaging and product patents.
It is reported that he will also bring this project to participate in the Sichuan Provincial Entrepreneurship Competition in July.
Solving Return-to-Home Employment for 80 People and Caring for Left-Behind Children
A reporter noticed in the production workshop of Yibin County Yinhuang Peanut Food Co., Ltd. that many workers screening and sun-drying peanuts were from the local area, and many children were playing in the rest area. When they saw Jiang Zhuyun, they called him "Brother Jiang."
"These employees are all returning migrant workers. We not only solve their work problems, but because there is a primary school and kindergarten opposite the company, many returning migrant workers also have the problem of enrolling and picking up their children solved after joining the company." Jiang Zhuyun said that children who were previously left behind now regard the company as another home because their parents work there. "Every holiday, Jiang Zhuyun gives something to the employees' children. The children also like being with him, but he is just too busy." said Sister Liu, who works in the factory.
It is reported that Yibin County Yinhuang Peanut Food Co., Ltd. has grown into an enterprise with annual peanut sales of 6,000 tons and sales revenue of around 30 million yuan. In peak season, it provides employment for more than 80 local workers, and normally 40 people work there.
In addition, in order to increase farmers' enthusiasm for planting, Jiang Zhuyun not only provides high-quality peanut seeds and peanut soil-testing formula fertilizer for free, but also reached a strategic cooperative relationship with the Industrial Crops Research Institute of the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. During the peanut planting process, peanut planting experts from the institute provide face-to-face technical guidance to local farmers. At the same time, the cooperative signs guaranteed minimum purchase contracts with participating farmers at a price slightly higher than the market price. This method effectively guarantees farmers' economic returns.
Under his organization and leadership, the Yibin County Mengyuan Planting Professional Cooperative, established in February this year, has grown to 1,699 households and completed peanut planting on more than 3,000 mu of land, and is expected to help each local farmer household increase income by more than 2,000 yuan per year.