Tartary buckwheat wine production set her on the road to prosperity
When we met Sun Xiaoyan at the Longnan Kangshen Tartary Buckwheat Wine Factory in Yantai Village, Chengjiao Township, Wudu District, Longnan City, Gansu Province, she was working alongside her employees in the packaging workshop. Dressed in work clothes, Sun Xiaoyan looked capable and brisk. She brought over a bottle of unblended liquor for us to taste, and seeing us being polite, she poured herself a cup and drained it in one gulp. After downing the cup, Sun Xiaoyan began telling the story of her entrepreneurship, by turns witty and sorrowful.
Sun Xiaoyan is 51 years old this year and was born into a poor farming family in Yangjiaba Village, Longxing Township, Wudu District, Longnan City. In 1983, after graduating from high school, she went to work at a state-owned automobile repair factory. In 1987, the automobile repair factory closed down, and Sun Xiaoyan borrowed more than 20,000 yuan to open a retail shop selling general merchandise. In early 2005, with some savings, Sun Xiaoyan opened a restaurant in Dongjiang Town. Just as the restaurant's business was beginning to pick up, it had to be demolished due to the redevelopment of the Dongjiang new urban area. The process of starting a business was full of hardships, but Sun Xiaoyan was not discouraged. This time, Sun Xiaoyan set her sights on the tartary buckwheat wine that a liquor merchant from Wen County had once promoted at her restaurant.
"Tartary buckwheat, as a coarse grain, has many benefits such as clearing heat and detoxifying, lowering blood lipids, lowering blood pressure, and lowering blood sugar. The mountainous areas of Longnan are rich in tartary buckwheat, and tartary buckwheat wine has great prospects, so I made up my mind to go all out," Sun Xiaoyan recalled.
In early 2007, a tartary buckwheat wine factory in Wen County, Gansu Province, fell into difficulties due to problems with its business philosophy and sales strategy. Sun Xiaoyan took out the 70,000 to 80,000 yuan she had earned from running the restaurant and borrowed another 120,000 yuan from friends, deciding to take over the tartary buckwheat wine factory that was on the verge of closing. Her idea was opposed by her family and friends, but the persistent Sun Xiaoyan believed that as people increasingly valued food safety and healthy living, tartary buckwheat wine would surely be recognized by more and more people. "Besides, producing tartary buckwheat wine can also help mountain villagers increase their incomes and become prosperous."
In March 2007, Sun Xiaoyan took over Kangshen Tartary Buckwheat Wine Industry Company and became its chairwoman. In December of the same year, relying on Kangshen Company and large tartary buckwheat growers, the Longnan City Tartary Buckwheat Professional Technology Association was established, with Sun Xiaoyan as its president. After that, the Kangshen Tartary Buckwheat Farmers' Professional Cooperative was also established, with her as its chairman. In this way, Sun Xiaoyan stepped onto the grand stage of entrepreneurial management.
"When I first took over the factory, a mountain of difficulties pressed down on me so hard I could barely breathe, and I even doubted my choice at one point. If I had backed off then, the factory would not be what it is today." Recalling the difficult entrepreneurial journey she had traveled, Sun Xiaoyan could not hide her emotion, sometimes wiping away tears, sometimes feeling gratified.
Sun Xiaoyan repeatedly went to Sichuan to hire experienced technicians to conduct on-site training at the factory. With the joint efforts of the factory's technical staff, starting with improving product quality, using microorganisms provided by research institutes for starter culture making and yeast cultivation, and through continuous practice, they developed a starter culture suitable for tartary buckwheat fermentation and propagation, thus thoroughly solving the problems of tartary buckwheat wine's strong bitterness and poor taste. At the same time, they actively developed a series of products and continuously extended the product chain. While brewing wine from tartary buckwheat, they also carried out deep processing of tartary buckwheat. At present, more than 10 tartary buckwheat series products have been developed, including tartary buckwheat tea, tartary buckwheat vinegar, and tartary buckwheat dried noodles.
In order to make the tartary buckwheat industry stronger and bigger, Sun Xiaoyan boldly innovated and broadened her development approach, adopting the business model of "company + cooperative + base + farmers." She and the cooperative members went deep into Wudu, Dangchang, Li County, Wen County and other counties, districts, townships and villages suitable for growing tartary buckwheat, going from village to village and household to household, actively promoting tartary buckwheat cultivation techniques and the market prospects of tartary buckwheat industry development to the people, signing more than 980 targeted purchase agreements for cultivation. At the same time, they provided loan guarantees for buckwheat farmers, assisted large growers and purchasers in handling preferential agricultural loans, and distributed tartary buckwheat seeds. Starting in 2010, more than 50 tons of tartary buckwheat seeds were distributed in more than 10 townships each year, and all were recovered after harvest at the end of the year. In this way, it not only powerfully drove large-scale tartary buckwheat cultivation and opened up a new channel for increasing the incomes of mountain villagers, but also ensured a sufficient supply of raw materials for the company's production and the quality of its products.
In order to build Kangshen Wine Industry Company into a uniquely distinctive modern enterprise and create a characteristic Longnan tartary buckwheat brand, Sun Xiaoyan managed the enterprise according to modern enterprise management methods. She said: "Brewing wine is not only a test of raw materials and craftsmanship, but also a test of people. Only by striving for perfection in every process can mellow, fragrant fine wine be brewed." She also put forward the production rule that "Kangshen tartary buckwheat wine must never be blended; every drop must be brewed."
In order to open up sales channels, Sun Xiaoyan took sales staff with the wine to promote it at major hotels in Wudu and at hotels in various counties of Longnan and in cities such as Tianshui, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Guangyuan, and Mianyang. The company also set up sales outlets in various counties of Longnan and in cities such as Tianshui, Lanzhou, and Guangyuan.
Over the past 9 years, under Sun Xiaoyan's painstaking management, the production scale of Kangshen tartary buckwheat wine has continued to expand, output and profits have increased year after year, and 27 laid-off workers have been reemployed. Through the hard work of Sun Xiaoyan and the company's employees, Kangshen tartary buckwheat wine won the "Houji Award" at the 15th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Fair and the "Gold Award" at the 9th China International Agricultural Trade Fair. The "Shanqiao" trademark was honored as a "Famous Trademark of Gansu Province." Sun Xiaoyan was awarded the title of "Leader in Returning Home to Start Businesses" by the provincial government and the "First Youth Entrepreneurship Award" by the Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League.
Looking back on her more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, Sun Xiaoyan said with deep feeling: "If you can endure hardship, bear fatigue, have perseverance, and have courage and insight, you will certainly be able to do well the cause you love, and you will certainly be able to realize your entrepreneurial dream and your life dream."
In implementing the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation, Sun Xiaoyan began expanding tartary buckwheat cultivation in multiple mountain villages. Series products such as tartary buckwheat tea and tartary buckwheat vinegar have also gradually come onto the market. [746000 Longnan Municipal Party Committee Reporting Group, Li Tingxian]