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RICH AND YOUNG: At the Global Entrepreneurs Summit hosted by Global Entrepreneur magazine in Beijing on December 1, 2010, rich second-generation entrepreneurs discuss the life and career of those born with silver spoon (CFP) |
Training schools for heirs of Chinese fortunes and businesses have been gaining popularity from 2006. Some schools offer courses such as horse riding, swordsmanship, golf and wine tasting in addition to running a business. Some of the training programs even include pilgrimages to revolutionary sites and visits to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The tuition fees at these schools are typically very high. In 2009, such a training class at Wuxi in eastern Jiangsu Province, offered 12 weeks of tuition for 668,000 yuan ($105,530).
In Beijing, there are at least three well-known training classes for future business leaders, including programs at Peking University, Tsinghua University and Beijing Huashang Institute of Management, a training body mainly for private enterprises.
In March, a netizen who claimed to be one of the second-generation entrepreneurs posted pictures of a class online. In the picture, more than 50 percent of the students are asleep in the class and the few who are awake are either playing games on their iPhones or chatting with other students.
"For the students, to set up a social network with their classmates is more important than the content of the courses," said Qu Jun, a director of the second-generation entrepreneur training program at Peking University. "Many of them don't care what the teachers say in class."
"Almost all the private companies would like to hand the business over to the children even if they know the children might not be qualified to run the business," said Yang Guoan, a professor from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). "So they rely on such training schools or overseas education to give their children more qualifications."
In Yang's opinion, courses such as horse riding or wine tasting are not that important for business. "Of course you need to know something about these things on certain occasions, but this kind of knowledge is easy to get access to as long as you have the money," said Yang. "It is quite superficial."
Li Xiujuan, another professor from the CEIBS echoed Yang. "Some parents are just too busy to take care of the children until they realize it is the time for the handover," said Yang. "But it is not an easy task as the two generations can sometimes barely talk to each other due to a long-standing lack of communication."
"Rome was not built in a day," said Li. "Family education is more important than training classes. To talk more with the children and let them experience and know more about the business from the time they are young would be more useful for a handover."
Wu Chaoji, born in 1984, is the son of the owner of Dawangye Electric Co. in Zhongshan, southern Guangdong Province. While he studied in a college in Zhejiang Province, Wu had a part-time job as a salesman of office facilities.
"I had to knock the doors of every office in the office buildings and promote our products. Usually they didn't even open their doors for me, not mention to talk to me," said Wu, who believed he benefited a lot from the experience. "It was a precious experience and I learnt how difficult it is to do marketing."
After graduation, Wu worked in Nanjing and Guangzhou as a salesman for several years until he was called back by his father to help with the company. At first, Wu helped deliver the goods from the company to customers. "I got up before 6 a.m. every day and no customers knew I was the son of the company owner," said Wu.
In 2009, Wu made major changes to the sales model of the company. He expanded the market significantly in 2010, and the company's sales volume increased 75 percent compared to 2009.
Wu's experience isn't the only example of a second-generation heir successfully expanding a business. Li Zhaohui, who was born in 1981, took over his father's position as the chairman of Shanxi Haixin Iron & Steel Group in 2003.
In January 2003, Li Zhaohui's father was shot and he had to quit his school in Australia to come back to take over the company.
"I was in deep sorrow at my dad's sudden death and couldn't recover for a while," said Li Zhaohui. "As a 22-year-old man who had no experience at all, I didn't think I could ever fulfill this position."
But the board decided to give the young man the position and it proved to be the right decision. Within three years, Haixin Iron & Steel Group developed to be one of China's biggest private steel manufacturers and its total assets surpassed $1.2 billion in 2010.
"My father has long been my idol. He always taught me to be a responsible man and worked very hard," said Li Zhaohui. "He had a huge influence on me and I tell myself all the time to work extremely hard to fulfill his expectations."
"This is the result of the family education and influence on the children during the handover," said Professor Li Xiujuan. "Parents should show them more about the pain and efforts of running a business and let them know it is not an easy job."
E-mail at: yuanyuan@bjreview.com | 
