A male graduate of the niche major of apiculture earns 40 million yuan a year with his professional knowledge

Xiong Jian

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Xiong Jian, a native of Fengdu, Chongqing, has now established his own honey company in Kunming, Yunnan, and it is also one of the largest honey companies in Kunming, Yunnan.

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Build a honey kingdom in Yunnan, so that people in my hometown can all taste the purest honey.

A dark suit paired with a light-colored shirt is rarely seen in Yunnan, where it is like spring all year round, but it makes Xiong Jian, a young entrepreneur in his early 30s from Fengdu, Chongqing, look especially steady.

Were it not for an introduction by an acquaintance, few people would probably take much notice of this dark-skinned young man. Yet when it comes to the production and sales of bee products, Xiong Jian is the youngest among the founders of large-scale bee industry enterprises nationwide, and his company's annual output value has reached 40 million yuan, ranking among the top three in Yunnan's industry.

University: Studied Asia's only apiculture undergraduate major

In the summer of 2002, Xiong Jian was admitted to the apiculture major at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, which was then the only apiculture undergraduate major in all of Asia. During university, Xiong Jian spent most of his spare time selling self-produced honey. "Honestly, sometimes after talking until my mouth was dry for a whole evening, I sold only one bottle, which made many classmates worry about the future." Xiong Jian told reporters that now, of the whole class, only he and one classmate still stick with the apiculture major; the others switched careers long ago.

So how can honey be sold? With this question in mind, Xiong Jian decided not to do business the way his senior schoolmates did, but instead to find the right timing and venues, turning a crisis into a business opportunity.

Entrepreneurship: From setting up a stall at the school gate to building exhibition booths

Xiong Jian found that as vacations approached, classmates always liked to bring gifts for their parents. Before the summer vacation in his sophomore year, Xiong Jian set up a stall at the entrance of the school supermarket to sell honey. In just 3 hours, he sold more than 500 bottles and earned 15,000 yuan, which was hundreds of times the honey sales of door-to-door selling. Before the winter vacation that year, Xiong Jian set up an exhibition booth in the central area of the school dormitory zone to sell honey, earning more than 40,000 yuan in just over 10 days.

After that, Xiong Jian threw himself wholeheartedly into selling honey. He rented a storefront at the school and opened up honey sales with self-made sticker advertisements. From losing money at the start to earning 10,000 yuan a month, and then later expanding the stores. In less than two years, Xiong Jian opened a total of 4 honey stores and set up a total of 4 counters in several supermarkets, with an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan.

Turning point: Making a comeback after several million yuan went down the drain

Afterward, Xiong Jian wanted to have his own "honey kingdom." He transferred the honey stores and counters on campus, built a honey processing factory in Yunnan, where "the flowering period is long, there are many flower varieties, and it is suitable for making high-end bee products," and set up several sales stores in Kunming with almost his entire fortune.

However, because the quality of honey raw materials was uneven, the bee products produced had a poor taste, and the investment of more than a million yuan was wasted. Xiong Jian realized that to do big business, steady business strategy was needed.

He found that the reason Yunnan's locally produced honey raw materials were not of high quality, besides backward production techniques, was that they might also be adulterated by traders in the circulation process. Xiong Jian acquired a bee farm in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, and used his university professional knowledge to "transform" it, greatly reducing the antibiotic content in the honey raw materials and increasing the honey collection period from 2 times to 8 times. Then he joined with 25 bee farms across various prefectures and cities to establish a cooperative, thereby obtaining higher product quality and stable production capacity.

Next, Xiong Jian found 10 honey producers nationwide, offering a wholesale price for honey raw materials that was even 2 yuan per kilogram lower than the cost price. Over the year, relying on excellent quality, Xiong Jian's bee products won over customers and sold extremely well.

In 2011, Xiong Jian built a modern honey factory, created his own brand, set up counters in several shopping malls in Kunming, and opened an online business, beginning to run the entire industry chain of honey products from raw materials to processing to sales. In 2014, his honey brand reached an explosive sales point, with sales increasing two times year-on-year. That year, Xiong Jian's company achieved sales revenue of more than 40 million yuan, entering the top three in Yunnan's industry and fulfilling his own "honey kingdom."

Giving back: He wants to do deep processing of Fengdu pomelos from his hometown

Although Xiong Jian made his fortune in Yunnan, he has never forgotten his hometown. Xiong Jian told reporters that he is starting to invest in and build a red pomelo deep processing project in Fengdu.

It turns out that around every Spring Festival, Fengdu produces a large amount of red pomelos. But the price has always been its weak point; when cheap, even 3 yuan per jin attracted no buyers. By chance, Xiong Jian heard that making pomelos into pomelo tea could sell a jar for more than 100 yuan, so why couldn't his hometown's pomelos be made into deep-processed packaging?

Xiong Jian plans to repay his hometown with his own practical actions. "I plan to do deep processing of agricultural products, thereby driving upstream production and helping farmers in my hometown become rich." In the Fengdu County Industrial Park, Xiong Jian's factory is installing and debugging related equipment, and it is expected that the first batch of honey pomelo tea will be produced by the end of the year.

Morning News Dialogue

The secret to success is choosing the right major

Reporter: What do you think is the secret to your success?

Xiong Jian: Personally, I think the main secret to success is choosing the right major after the college entrance examination (premium course), and then going all the way down this path. Of course, effort and courage are also indispensable.

Reporter: I heard you want to run a honey product processing project in your hometown. How do you plan to do it?

Xiong Jian: In today's business environment, simply operating a single main product can no longer satisfy the market. I plan to use the red pomelos from my hometown Fengdu to make honey red pomelo tea and other honey tea products. It will definitely be popular!