1904 spring, Chen Jiageng began to work independently.
He first targeted the canned pineapple industry. Pineapple is a specialty of Singapore. It is canned from pineapple and exported to Europe and America.
In order to ensure their own supply, European and American foreign firms and Singapore firms engaged in canning often provide raw materials for canning to manufacturers, and the payment period is 40 days. The salary of the cannery is calculated every half month. Only buying pineapples requires cash. Therefore, you don't have to use too much liquidity to get rich profits.
It is precisely because of this characteristic of canned pineapple industry that Chen Jiageng started its business here.
With a capital of 7,000 yuan, he bought an old machine and built a factory with thatch, which was simple and quick.
A pineapple cannery named "Xinlichuan" was completed and put into production in only two months, catching up with the pineapple production season of that year.
At this moment, the manager of Nisshin Company, which was run by Chen Jiageng's father and partner, died of illness. According to the British colonial law, its equity should cease and the company should be operated by Chen Jiageng.
"Nisshin Company" also deals in canned radish, which provides Chen Jiageng with a good opportunity to show his talents.
At that time, there were more than 10 pineapple canneries in Singapore, with an annual sales volume of about 2 million boxes, and the competition was fierce.
European and American foreign firms buy cans every two or three days according to domestic telegrams, and the market is changeable. Since Chen Jiageng took over the "Nisshin Company", on the one hand, he secretly paid attention to the operation of more than 0 peers in/kloc-0, and found that their market information was vague and their production was closely related.
On the other hand, he investigated the market of canned food purchased by foreign firms, and learned that there are 50 or 60 kinds of canned food they bought, such as Tiaozhuang, Kuaizhuang, Fangzhuang, Meizhuang and Diaohuazhuang, among which Tiaofang and Meizhuang are the largest, accounting for about 80% to 90% of the total output, and each transaction is often between 1000 boxes and 10000 boxes. The other dozens of miscellaneous villages have an annual output of 200,000 cases, and the number of each transaction is dozens to hundreds, which has always been inconspicuous, but the price of miscellaneous villages is high, and each case is three to seven or eight cents more than that of ordinary villages.
After mastering the above situation, Chen Jiageng decided to abandon me and take it. Every little makes a mickle and monopolize this "small business".
This idea is affirmative. Every morning, he and his deputy went to various foreign firms to inquire about the business situation and contracted all the orders from miscellaneous villages.
Soon, most of the canned pineapples needed by the market went to his house.
Chen Jiageng boldly reformed the traditional management mode. All the factories in the same trade buy pineapples at a price, but each pineapple is different in size and maturity, and some of them are rotten. It's not weight when bargaining, it's all about eyesight. And the calculation of profit and loss must begin after the quarterly shutdown.
Nisshin Corporation used to adopt this method. However, Chen Jiageng reformed this method, but he adopted the following method: stipulate that the pineapple purchased every day must be completed on the same day, and the profit and loss should be settled on the same night, which is the standard of the next day's procurement negotiation.
In production, it is required to minimize the loss and waste of cutting work, and at the same time strictly control the quality to establish business reputation. He goes to the factory every morning and afternoon to personally guide production.
After three months of production, "Nisshin" made a net profit of 30,000 yuan, "Xinlichuan" made a profit of 9,000 yuan, and the contract between the two factories was 40,000 yuan. The profit was seven or eight times higher than that of the most famous factory at that time, far above the old factory in the same industry.
This was Chen Jiageng's first success as a "fledgling", and Chen Jiageng's confidence increased greatly.
He expanded the "Xinlichuan" factory building and added machinery and equipment. In order to ensure the supply of raw materials for the two factories, he bought 500 mu of wasteland near Xinlichuan and named it "Fushan Garden", and immediately reclaimed the land to grow pineapples.
In addition, it invested 20,000 yuan to open a rice shop called "Qian Yi". That winter, although the market price of canned pineapple dropped slightly, the two factories still made a profit of more than 20,000 yuan and the rice shop also made a profit of 8,000 yuan because of Chen Jiageng's good management.
In the first year of independent operation, excluding the partner bonus, Chen Jiageng made a total profit of 60,000 yuan, and gained a firm foothold in the canned pineapple manufacturing industry in Singapore.
The following summer, "Rixin" and "Xinlichuan" factories once again surpassed their peers and earned more than 30,000 yuan.
Chen Jiageng seized the opportunity of industrial development and built another cannery in a convenient place to produce rock sugar. Who knows that this winter, the canned pineapple market fell, and the three canneries only made a profit of 1000 yuan. Although it can't be compared with the previous year, it far exceeds the factories in the same industry.
Chen Jiageng is ambitious and ready to take advantage of the opportunity that the first batch of pineapples in Fushan Garden will produce more than one next year to pay off his father's debts.
However, the weather did not help others. In the summer of 1906, the market price of canned pineapple dropped even more, and the canned sales in Zajia Village also decreased greatly. The pineapple produced for the first time in Fushan Garden suffered this fate and was unprofitable.
After a dismal operation, Chen Jiageng finally kept the profit of 1000 yuan, but his long-cherished wish to pay off his father's debts could not be realized.
The frustration of 1906, to which the wish belongs, really depressed Chen Jiageng, and made him sober: he made his fortune only by managing canned pineapples, and was subject to the unpredictable market and fierce competition in the same industry.
Only by grasping the pulse of the market, opening up new fields and diversifying operations can we make great achievements.
In this way, Chen Jiageng's thinking was broadened at once, and the ever-changing business information around him particularly aroused his interest.
One day, Chen Jiageng, as usual, went to various foreign firms to inquire about the market of canned pineapple, and overheard a successful news of others: Chen Qixian made huge profits by selling rubber plantations in Malacca.
Before this, such a news unrelated to the canned pineapple industry would not attract Chen Jiageng's attention, but now it makes him really excited and his eyes are bright.
Hevea brasiliensis is a wild plant in South America. The rubber produced is very useful in industrial production and transportation. Now it has gradually developed into artificial cultivation and has just been transplanted to Malaya and Singapore.
Encouraged by Chen Qixian's success, Chen Jiageng thinks that planting rubber has a bright future. He decided to buy all the remaining 6.5438+0.800 seeds in Chen Qixian at a price of 65438+0.800 yuan, and interplanted them among pineapple plants in Fushan Garden within two months.
Chen Jiageng boldly deals in rubber, taking the first step to open up a new situation. Then there is the second step: expanding the rice business. This is his most familiar industry. He cooperated with the former manager of Hengmei Rice Store for 40,000 yuan to jointly manage the cooked rice factory.
Chen Jiageng learned that the cooked rice processed by Hengmei has the effect of treating beriberi, which is deeply loved by overseas Chinese, and its price is more than one yuan higher than that of uncooked rice per load. Therefore, the original shareholders withdrew because of disagreement, and the manager decided to take a share when issuing shares.
1907, 34-year-old Chen Jiageng made a fortune and his career was booming. With the newly operated cooked rice factory (rubber has not yet become a forest), canned pineapple and raw rice factory, Chen Jiageng has turned losses into profits economically.
Shortly after the joint venture between Hengmei and the United States, the price of cooked rice rose, operating for 16 months and realizing a profit of160,000 yuan; The raw white rice operated by Qian Yi also made a profit of 1 10,000 yuan.
When the price of canned pineapple plummeted and many factories lost money or even closed down, his canned pineapple stood the test and still made a profit of more than 20 thousand yuan. The canned pineapple they produced has become a well-known brand in the international market.
The pineapple produced by Fushan Garden also made a profit of 5,000 yuan that year. This success made Chen Jiageng realize his long-cherished wish, paid off all debts for his father, and made Chen Jiageng gain a high reputation in overseas Chinese society.
Chen Jiageng has clear thinking, forge ahead, and further develop its own industry in twists and turns.
By 19 10, Chen Jiageng was already an industrialist, with two rubber plantations, four pineapple canneries, 1 rice mill and 1 rice shop, with a deposit of 450,000 yuan, exceeding his father's heyday.
Since then, Chen Jiageng has been elected as Assistant Director of the Sixth Committee of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (one of the Assistant Directors of the Fujian Gang of Four) and has become one of the top members of overseas Chinese communities.