Zhou Ting is a female entrepreneur who is not afraid of hard work and difficulties. She graduated from Nottingham University Business School China (NUBS China) with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business Management in 2008. She founded Ruixin Leisure Products Co., Ltd in 2017 and in its third year the company’s annual output reached RMB 50 million in value.

Outdoor leisure products are the typical industry of Linhai City, a county-level city in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province situated on the banks of the Lin River in Eastern China. With nearly 30 years of development, Linhai’s industrial base possesses the largest scale and the widest product chain of outdoor leisure products compared with other similar industry clusters in China. These products are mainly outdoor furniture, outdoor parasol umbrellas, and awnings, etc. Ruixin Leisure Products Co., Ltd (Ruixin) established by Zhou Ting is one of these enterprises whose main business is producing and selling outdoor parasol umbrellas to Europe and other countries.

Restless year round with having to work until 10 pm almost every day, Zhou Ting explains “Outdoor umbrellas are seasonal products, so no matter how hard it is, we have to complete the order within a specified time.” Sometimes when workers have already left work, Zhou Ting still needs to deal with follow-up matters as part of her life. She takes on most of the work in the company apart from product line work. For example, she is involved in financial affairs, developing new customers, working in foreign trade merchandising and human resources, etc. Although sometimes she is physically exhausted, her heart is fulfilled.

Zhou Ting has her own unique business philosophy. She is willing to do the kind of business which other similar companies may not find acceptable. Once she met a German customer at a commodity fair. The customer expressed interest in her products but had already placed a large order somewhere else. The customer was willing to leave with a small order from Zhou Ting but through a more complicated process. When asked if she was willing to do it, Zhou Ting said yes without any hesitation. "In the early days of the company's establishment, building a good reputation was more important than profitability, and we needed to take a long-term view," she said. This German client is now one of Ruixin's key customers.

Zhou Ting can claim to be unreasonable in her pursuit of product quality, "Regardless of the quality of most products in the market, the products I sell must be above the standard, even if we have to bear higher costs." An outdoor umbrella has more than 80 parts, and Ruixin's job is to produce some, purchase some, assemble all these parts, package them, and finally ship them abroad. Packaging is of great importance as it needs to protect the products from any damage during transit. A foreign client once came over to inspect the goods and dropped the already packaged product from a height of 1.5 meters as the inspection standard. The result was unsatisfactory, and the packaging had to be constantly upgraded. She joked that her attitude towards excellence benefited from "picky" customers.

Zhou Ting's hard work and pursuit of perfection draw heavily from her family and four years of university life. She said: "The University of Nottingham Ningbo China has an atmosphere of autonomous learning, and everyone is enormously enthusiastic for self-study. You may be surrounded by a group of peers who are not only better than you but also work harder than you. Thus, it's hard to become lazy in such an environment." Furthermore, the rigorous academic environment of a British education also gradually affected her. “I applied the standards of how to write academic papers to my work. When I communicate with clients, I make sure my emails are clear and easy to understand. So there are strict standards in emails from text and logic to the font size and spacing. My clients find that it is especially easy and comfortable to talk to me about work” she explains.

In terms of entrepreneurship, Zhou Ting believes that ideals can only be achieved without idealization.

Zhou Ting's parents are also engaged in the outdoor leisure products industry. Under their strong influence, she has had business dreams ever since she was a child. After graduating from high school, she resolutely chose to study business at University. After accumulating solid knowledge from NUBS China, she was convinced that she could compete competently in business.

"In the past, I always thought that my parents didn’t understand advanced management knowledge, but when I started my business, I found that their factory had reached their maximum capacity under present conditions. Not every classic management theory applies to reality, so the promotion of business philosophy needs to be adapted to local conditions."

Zhou Ting is not eager to expand production urgently at this stage. She describes the current output of the company as already reaching maximum production capacity with current resources. Also, employee attitudes and personal capabilities need to be upgraded in sync with the company. She trains employees by teaching them how to communicate with customers, and how to write business emails in English. “Internal strengthening is more important than expansion. Only when employees have capabilities and are in step with the company, can Ruixin develop steadily,” she said.

In addition to the identity of the company leader, Zhou Ting is also a mother of a 6-year-old child. She spends one day a week with her daughter and there is a special interaction between them through the reading of notes to classical Chinese poetry. Zhou Ting firstly writes her understanding next to the poems and then explains to her daughter their meaning, and as her daughter likes to paint, she lets her daughter draw corresponding pictures.

She tells us that although she spends little time with her daughter, her daughter is still very close to her. When working at home at night, her daughter always has a small picture album of them together by her side. When introducing her mother to her kindergarten classmates, she is always proudly telling everyone that her mother is her idol. It is because her mother is very capable and can do anything in her eyes. The words and deeds of parents will become ingrained into their children’s mind and body. As Zhou Ting said, "At least my daughter will not be a lazy person in the future."

At the end of our interview, she points to a European map in her office with firmness and confidence, and says: "I hope that Ruixin's footprints can be spread throughout Europe and beyond." Starting from this year, Zhou Ting's husband will also join and run the company with her. 

Best wishes to Zhou Ting!