Starting a business right after graduation, putting what they learned to use

On November 20, Wang Chu (front) and team members tend plants in a greenhouse.

Wang Chu, born in 1990, had just graduated in 2015 with a master's degree in horticulture from Nanjing Agricultural University. After graduation, instead of busying himself with job hunting like most of his classmates, he contracted 50 mu of land in Luhe District, Nanjing, and, leveraging his professional strengths, founded Nanjing Qingteng Agricultural Technology Company, engaging in the research, development and promotion of home gardening.

Wang Chu had been actively trying his hand at entrepreneurship since his junior year. After comparing many industries, he finally settled on a business direction that combined with his own specialty, and successfully obtained investment and formed a team. Wang Chu's startup team has 7 members in total; apart from one born in 1989, the rest are all "post-90s" and also graduated in horticulture. Wang Chu believes that as the "green" concepts of health and environmental protection gradually take root in people's hearts, home gardening is an important part of leisure agriculture and urban agriculture, and holds great potential economic value. Enabling city residents caught up in a fast-paced life to have their own "home ecological vegetable garden," so that they can cultivate their character, relax, relieve life's stress, and at the same time eat green, healthy fruits and vegetables, was the original intention behind Wang Chu and his team's startup.

At present, Wang Chu's company has researched and developed 6 home gardening cultivation modes: balcony gardening, rooftop gardening, windowsill gardening, indoor gardening, courtyard gardening and DIY gardening, with fruits and vegetables that are both medicinal and edible as the main crops. Through e-commerce platforms, it is trying an internet equity crowdfunding model, and has preliminarily integrated related enterprises and farmers in Jiangsu Province to jointly sell home gardening products. With the support of the Jiangsu Provincial Association for Science and Technology, the Provincial Agricultural Technology Association and Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing Qingteng Agricultural Technology Company has been awarded the honorary title of "Jiangsu Modern Home Gardening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base (Maker Space)." The base has infrastructure including an entrepreneurship training and coaching center, intelligent greenhouses and experimental demonstration fields, and can accommodate 100 makers. Wang Chu hopes the base can become a paradise for innovation and entrepreneurship for college students, science and technology workers and new-type professional farmers. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Chunpeng

On November 20, Wang Chu tends plants in a greenhouse.

On November 20, Wang Chu (right) transplants plants in a greenhouse.

On November 20, Wang Chu (center) and team members chat about work plans at the base.

On November 20, Wang Chu (right) and team member Tang Yankun tend plants in a greenhouse.

On November 20, team member Tang Yankun tends plants grown with a column-type intelligent gardening machine in a greenhouse.

On November 20, Wang Chu and team members hold a meeting in a greenhouse.