Builders become Asia’s richest billionaires
Early last year, China’s low-profile billionaire, Zhong Shanshan, overtook Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s richest man. According to statistics from Bloomberg, just last year, Zhong – founder and chairman of bottled water company Nongfu Spring “pocketed” 70.9 billion USD. At the time, the richest billionaire in Asia, he owned a fortune of nearly $78 billion and was the 11th richest person in the world. Currently, he owns $ 67 billion and is the 16th richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
This is one of the fastest get-rich-quick cases in history. It is also worth noting that Zhong is not well known outside of China. He was called “the lone wolf” because he was not involved in political affairs. Besides, his business activities are not related to other wealthy families.
The two fields of bottled water and vaccines have largely contributed to the 66-year-old billionaire’s success. However, these were not his first ventures. To achieve his current success, Zhong has experienced many difficulties.
Here is his life story:
Zhong was born in Hangzhou in a difficult family, his parents died early. At the age of 12, he had to drop out of school and work many manual jobs to earn a living. For a decade, he worked as a builder and then went to an ordinary college.
After graduating from school, he tried many different professions, from a business reporter to a mushroom farm. However, all failed. In 1993, he founded Yang Sheng Tang pharmaceutical company specializing in the production of health care products. His business is notable for his erectile dysfunction drug. In 1996, Zhong established Nongfu Spring, a subsidiary of Yang Sheng Tang.
Although the market is already dominated by large companies, he is still determined to enter with the goal of turning Nongfu into an alternative to rivals’ chemical-based bottled water.
In fact, in many parts of China, tap water is considered unsafe to drink directly. As people tend to pay more attention to their health, the demand for bottled water is increasing. Therefore, Zhong has run many promotional campaigns emphasizing the effects of water of natural origin produced by Nongfu.
In 2019, Nongfu topped the Chinese bottled water market with a market share of up to 21%. The company’s revenue reached $3.5 billion, up 37% from 2017. Nongfu’s products are sold almost everywhere, from roadside grocery stores to high-end hotels.
Besides mineral water, Nongfu is also a major beverage manufacturer in China with 40% of 2019 revenue coming from products such as tea, juice or vitamin water.
In 2020, despite the pandemic and natural disasters affecting business activities of many industries, Zhong still got rich quickly. Nongfu’s successful IPO has helped increase Zhong’s net worth to $38 billion, making him the third richest person in China, after Jack Ma and Pony Ma.
Zhong Shanshan (left) and Jack Ma (Photo: Internet).
One analyst shared: “No one thought that Zhong, a bottled water seller in the current information technology age and post-Covid-19 economy, could become the richest person in China and even become the richest person in the world. He’s also one of the few people in China who built not one, but two businesses worth over $10 billion.”
About Zhong’s personal life, the media exploits very little information. China Daily said the billionaire now lives with his wife and three children. His wife and children are not on the list of shareholders of Nongfu, but a son of this founder is on the company’s board of directors.
Source: Bloomberg, Forbes
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