Zhou Dahu, The Godfather Of Lighters, From Tramps To Billionaires

To mention the world lighters industry, we can not help but see Wenzhou, which occupies about 80% of the world's market.

The Wenzhou lighters industry will not fail to mention the chairman of the Wenzhou cigarette smoking Industry Association and the chairman of the Zhejiang tiger lighter Co., Ltd.

In terms of performance, Zhejiang tiger lighter Co., Ltd. is not very outstanding: Wenzhou has 600~700 lighters factories, and exports 500 million lighters every year, with sales ranging from 3 billion to 4 billion yuan.

Zhou Dahu's company has about 15 million annual cigarette lighter, worth around 200 million yuan.

Therefore, although Zhou Dahu's company is the best in Wenzhou lighters, it has not stood out.

The reason why Zhou Dahu is concerned is that it does not have more than 300 million yuan's worth, but the following two points: first, when Zhou Dahu's counterfeit and counterfeit products were rampant, Wenzhou did not drift with the tide. Two, Wenzhou products had been blocked in the international market in recent years. Lighters were one of them.

In addition to this, Zhou Da Hu can play the role in the lighter industry.

The character determines destiny. Victory is his character portrayal. Zhou Dahu speaks of his character. He can use one word to describe it: "to win".

There are two details that illustrate Zhou Dahu's personality: he played well, and he founded the first amateur football team in Wenzhou and won the two time in the province.

By the end of July 1995 and early August, Zhou Tai Hu led the Wenzhou football team to Ningbo to participate in the provincial league matches.

Wenzhou had not been in the League for 8 years.

"Every player has to shovel 5 balls, otherwise he will be dismissed from the team," he said.

"At the same time, Zhou Dahu also brought two stretchers.

On the second day of Wenzhou, the team averaged less than two minutes to play a tackle.

The Wenzhou team won the game and the players were bloodied.

Half a month later, the Wenzhou team won the championship.

On the court, "the only thing that is contending, but the crown is taking" is used in its own career. The goal Zhou Dahu set for himself is "never give up."

"Japan is the largest lighters manufacturer in Japan. When it was beaten by the Wenzhou counterparts, it decided to close the Japanese production line and carry out OEM production in Wenzhou.

Zhou Dahu was the most active in the process of finding manufacturers in Kwong Tin.

In fact, OEM is more troublesome than producing itself.

Kwong Tin Company's request is very high, if there is no perseverance and endurance, it is very difficult to persist.

"Two years later, Zhou Da Hu finally reached the technical requirements of the company.

Now, more than 10 countries in Japan, Korea, the United States and Western Europe are licensed to produce lighters in Wenzhou.

And these foreign manufacturers want big tiger and other factories as their 100% licensed manufacturers.

But Zhou Dahu refused.

He always insisted on one, no matter what circumstances, tiger factory must ensure that 70% of the products to fight their own "tiger" brand, that is, the proportion of licensing and self licensing is 3:7.

"Lighters market there is a breeze, when others want to stop the suspension of what to stop, we can only be arbitrarily slaughtered by others.

In the past few years, China's garment industry has suffered a lot in this respect.

Now, when I want to suspend the business, it depends on what I think.

For seven years, Zhou Dahu had worried about his livelihood and talked about why he had such a strong heart. Zhou Dahu felt that these experiences had nothing to do with his own "hard" experience.

Zhou Da Hu was born in Wenzhou in 1952. His father was an old revolutionary. Before his father was rightist and his mother was sent to the rural post office, Zhou Dahu's childhood and youth life were full of warmth and sunshine.

After the change of family life, Zhou Tai Hu became very difficult to live and study.

After graduating from junior high school, Zhou Da Hu jumped to the countryside in Wenzhou.

"There is no way to maintain life in the countryside," Zhou Dahu said.

In 1969, the 17 year old Chou Tai Hu followed several Wenzhou townships and began to make a living outside.

I first went to the suburbs of Xi'an to make sheet metal metalworking.

At that time, I did not have national food stamps. Eating was a big problem. I had eaten dried persimmon for a month.

Unexpectedly, the captain of our contractor team was soon brought back to Wenzhou, and was shot dead on the charge of black bag foreman. I also stayed in Xi'an for a month.

Soon after the big tiger was arrested and returned to Wenzhou, he began to travel to Jiangxi, Anhui and Hubei.

In 1976, the 25 year old Chou Tai Hu took over his mother's work in Wenzhou post office, and ended his wandering life.

Began to carry the life of parcels everyday.

"Maybe because of my old wandering experience, I care much about this job.

"Recalled that at that time, Zhou Dahu said he set himself the request that" carry the parcel, I also need to carry more than others, better than others.

He was "dead and alive" and finally withstood the test of the market. Zhou Dahu was the successor of Wenzhou lighter production.

As early as 1985, people in Wenzhou had started producing lighter.

And he entered the business because he had to.

In 1991, when the Wenzhou soda factory of Zhou Da Hu's wife went bankrupt, she received a settlement fee of 5000 yuan.

"I find it lighter to make lighter.

This was mainly due to the large number of manufacturers of spare parts for lighter in Wenzhou at that time, so we could produce lighter as long as we invested a small amount of money.

"Relying on this resettlement fee, Zhou Da Hu recruited 35 workers and made a more than 40 square meter home for a workshop.

After working, Zhou Tai Hu ran for his wife, and found that the lighters market was lucrative.

So he resigned after a year.

In 1992, Zhou Tai Hu rented a more than 200 square meter factory and recruited more than 100 workers.

Soon after he entered the industry, the Wenzhou lighters market went into a state of madness.

In the first half of 1993, Wenzhou has developed rapidly from the original 100~200 lighters manufacturers to 3000.

"Wenzhou lighters only cost 10 yuan, while those in Japan and Korea are 300 to 500 yuan lighter.

The price difference is really too big, and Wenzhou is full of foreigners who come to buy lighters.

It's hard to believe that even if you send stones to foreigners, the foreigners will take them away.

Zhou Dahu is on the verge of bankruptcy when the market is so hot.

The reason is that under the market madness, many lighter manufacturers in Wenzhou are holding the idea of "quick fishing" to produce poor quality lighters.

Zhou Tai Hu refused to fool customers, and insisted on product quality. As a result, upstream suppliers refused to supply Zhou Tai Hu. Apart from several backbone, more than 100 workers ran clean.

At that time, according to my quality standard, the workers could only make 150 lighters a day, and those manufacturers producing inferior lighters could do 500.

The salary of a worker is calculated by piece, so working for me is less attractive and less paid.

At that time, the profit of making a lighter was about 1 yuan. I could not earn even a penny, nor could I get a high salary.

This is also true of suppliers.

"The factory was in a tight corner. Zhou Da Hu was very depressed. In a week, he had three accidents on his motorcycle.

"When I was driving at the post office, nothing happened, and I had three accidents. I could see that the pressure at that time was really great.

When the skilled worker left, Zhou Da Hu decided to recruit a new group of ordinary workers and train them.

"In the first half of 1993, I was very badly off. The profits in the first two years were all posted.

"The market rule of the market finally played a role. In the second half of 1993, foreign businessmen who suffered enough from poor quality products began to stare at Zhou Da Hu.

Zhou Dahu's orders rose at once, and the production capacity of more than 5000 units a day could receive orders from 50 thousand to 60 thousand.

The original 3000 manufacturers of lighters, like the autumn wind swept the leaves, closed 90%.

Although Wenzhou's lighters are invincible worldwide, they have been repeatedly blocked in recent years, such as the EU's CR act and anti-dumping act.

"The competition of lighters in Wenzhou is too strong, so it is always blocked by others in the world.

Besides active prosecution, we should also try to improve the quality and visibility of the products and change the current unfavorable situation.

"Zhou Da Hu firmly believes that as long as we have perseverance and endurance, we will win in the end.