I did not rush into business when China embraced the first wave of market economy at the end of the 20th century. Rather, I only started my first brand until the beginning of this century after long-term contemplation and preparation. Over the past 14 years, I have been able to create a number of brands including Landfound, Han Incense and Damei and lead my team to cross over several industrial chains, making success in real estate, culture and health business. If I have to share my observation in the process, I must say the birth of each brand is due to the fact that it can find where it belongs in the waves of market, and an innovative soul is an important driving force for me to persist in exploring one new area after another.    

 

Landfound originated from a dream. I discovered the huge potential in real estate in 2002 and created the brand “Landfound” after I finished my term in Yunsheng Group in the hope to draw a blueprint of my dream with wisdom. In the following year, the State Council issued the Notice on Promoting Sustained and Healthy Development of Real Estate Market and identified in the document that real estate is a pillar industry of China’s national economy, hence ushered in the golden decade of real estate boom.  Landfound seized the opportunity and grew to be an important strategic partner of state-owned enterprises under the jurisdiction of the Central Government as well as listed companies, proving the value of innovation and wisdom.

 

The motto of Landfound is “Innovation, Pragmatism, Professionalism and Dedication”. In the heyday of real estate business, hundreds of agent enterprises competed in the same city. Thanks to our goal of innovation, pragmatic style, professional competence and dedicated attitude, Landfound was able to stand out from our competitors and be favored by some 20 national enterprises such as China Overseas, Vanke and Poly. Landfound offer tailor-made services from positioning, brand promotion, program marketing to city concept planning and sales. We lived up to our reputation as the “king of local real estate agents” by creating miracles in the market time after time.  

 

Just like other sectors, the real estate business is quietly undergoing great changes after a decade of rapid development. High degree of market sensitivity and the blow of internet economy are prompting real estate companies to conduct readjustment and transformation.

 

Han Incense is a brand born in such a context.  It symbolizes “pursuit” with a refreshing posture and integrates people’s thinking about life-leisure in urban hustle and bustle, new legacy of ancient civilization. The Incense not only emits fragrance and culture, but also symbolizes a dialogue between one’s busy soul and culture, and one’s understanding about inheritance. The creation of Han Incense is an innovation for Landfound. Taking a big leap from real estate to culture sector, I gained more understanding about mission of enterprises. In 2012, with the dawning of a new opportunity, Damei as a brand for mother-baby products was born in Nanjing, China.

 

When Damei led businesses in the sector to organize the first City Industry Association in China, some entrepreneurs commented with envy that Damei has grasped the opportunity emerged in the upgrading process of China’s consumer market and benefited from the “second-child” policy. As is often said, opportunity favors only those who are prepared. In October, 2013, one year after the birth of Damei, President Xi Jinping pointed out on the 100th anniversary celebration of Western Returned Scholars Association that innovation is the soul for a nation’s progress, an inexhaustible driving force for a country’s prosperity and the most profound endowment for the Chinese nation. Only those who innovate can prevail in the fierce international competition.  

 

Over the past 14 years, the brands I created changed from the dream of Landfound to pursuit of Han Incense and to blessing of Damei. I am honored that my continuous efforts of innovating contributed to industrial upgrading, cultural inheritance and improving population quality in China. I enjoyed different scenes in the journey but my feeling is all along the same: the cells of a vibrant enterprise must contain DNA of innovation. By constantly exploring new areas, one can cultivate business acumen about market tendency and maintain courage to face new challenges, and make success on the path of entrepreneurship.

 

As a Chinese old saying goes, there are other hills whose stones are good for working jade. In the process of establishing and running my own business, I have deeply felt the importance of international vision to entrepreneurs. When I visited other countries, I was inspired by various industries that are born in different cultural and economic backgrounds.

 

In October 2009, I had the honor to be invited to participate in the “trade and investment facilitation delegation” organized by the Ministry of Commerce of China to visit Belgium, Germany and Hungary. The trip enabled me to see a general trend for future development of health sector in a foreign perspective. A 2-week investigation trip in American business, education and science and technology sectors in April 2010 further nurtured my vision of stepping into innovative services by establishing an industrial chain covering whole life cycle. Two years later, I visited several Middle East countries as a council member of Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU). My experience in Europe, North America and Asia enables me to take note of different environments for enterprises, which makes me value domestic industrial environment even more, and consolidates my idea of extending my business along the industrial chain and across multiple sectors in order to attain win-win results in both commercial and social value.

 

In the Global Summit of Women held in May 2010, Landfound and its subsidiaries as a co-organizer of the conference offered our product “Brocade Incense” to guests all over the world as gifts. I made a speech titled Promote Growth of Enterprises with Wisdom and Technology. In September 2012, I was invited to attend the 8th Joint Conference of Member Organizations and the 1st Conference of the Board of Directors for Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament.  

 

When I returned from the meetings to Nanjing—the city I am based, I often took time to reflect my gathering and exchanges with leading entrepreneurs. I felt an enterprise’s survival and social contribution can be combined in a more natural and harmonious way. Earlier on, we participated in public welfare by donation, sponsorship, disaster rescue, assistance and relief. We set up scholarships and grants to nurture talented young people. In recent years, we established internship bases in Medical School of Southeast University and School of Nursing of Nanjing Medical University to provide students with platforms for study and development. Damei started to upgrade its online platform in 2015 by introducing more free services and public benefit activities in the hope that every family with a pregnant woman or baby in the cities we operate can benefit from us and beginning of a new life can be made more beautiful.

 

As a Chinese entrepreneur, I choose a path of continuous innovation which lasted through my 14 years of business career. With new dream in my heart, I will keep on seeking to draw a splendid picture in this flourishing age.
  
    (Qi Fang, Council Member of CAFIU. Chairman of Nanjing Landfound Real Estate Investment and Consulting Co. Limited, Chairman of Jiangsu Damei Health Technology Ltd., Chairman of Nanjing Han Incense Cuture and Art Exchanges Co. Limited. She was assistant researcher in the Institute of Policy and Management, China Academy of Science; lecturer and then assistant professor in Jiangsu Provincial Party School and Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Governance. )