84 year old Guan Yuxiang, the big shot behind Orijin: My biggest wish is to pay 10 billion yuan in taxes for the country this year

In the Chinese business world, there are not a few late bloomers. For example, Zong Qinghou, 42, who started three rounds of entrepreneurship, and Tao Huabi, 47, who opened a food store… Guan Yuxiang, the founder of metal packaging giant ORG, started his business at the age of 50, and started a new chapter of life after retirement.
During a recent public event, Guan Yuxiang stated that aging is a natural law that no one can avoid. But a person’s mentality, their goals, and their three values determine everything about themselves, so mentality is the most important. She said, “If you have a goal in your heart, you won’t grow old
84 year old Guan Yuxiang said her biggest hope is that by the end of this year, the company will be able to pay 10 billion yuan in taxes to the country. Because last year was a tax payment of 9.436 billion yuan (from 1994 to 2022). She pointed out that paying taxes is an obligation that entrepreneurs should fulfill, and the reform and opening up policy has led to the development of private entrepreneurs. In order for private entrepreneurs to develop, they must make contributions to the country.
Aurijin is not a fast-moving consumer brand, but big brands such as Red Bull, Wangwang, Yili, and Dongpeng Beverages cannot survive without it! In the first three quarters of 2022, Origen’s revenue exceeded ten billion yuan again, becoming a leader in the metal packaging industry in China.
1、 50 year old mom started her own business twice
Guan Yuxiang was born in Shenyang in 1939. At the age of 19, he moved to Beijing with his military grandfather and grandmother, and later joined a Beijing instrument factory to work. Guan Yuxiang spent the first half of her life in an instrument factory, worked in a state-owned unit for 31 years, and retired during the economic boom after the reform and opening up in 1989.
After Guan Yuxiang retired, he couldn’t stay idle and began to venture boldly. So, Guan Yuxiang founded a company that specializes in instrument manufacturing and did what she was best at. Unfortunately, this time, Guan Yuxiang stumbled and ended up with a disastrous outcome.
But born into a military family, she was not willing to give up, and her failure only sparked her fighting spirit.
In 1994, 55 year old Guan Yuxiang went on a trip to Hainan. In Hainan, she found that the drinks sold on the street were very popular, but most of them were not packaged. It was a small incident that happened to happen on the street, but it caught Guan Yuxiang’s interest. She thought it was a business opportunity.
Quickly, Guan Yuxiang took his 300000 savings with him and his son to Wenchang County, Hainan to establish a factory, which was the initial “Aurijin”.
With 16 employees and a production line, Guan Yuxiang struggled to support her small factory and began a new chapter in her life after retirement.https://www.stoneitech.com/
2、 Take the Red Bull, the aircraft carrier is in its early stages
At the beginning, Guan Yuxiang could only cooperate with some small factories, neither warm nor hot. Fortunately, the following year, Guan Yuxiang seized the opportunity.
In 1995, Huabin Group brought Red Bull into China and established a factory in Shenzhen. This energy beverage, which is popular abroad, is widely favored by the industry. At that time, many packaging giants followed up to negotiate cooperation, but the powder coating technology required by Huabin Group has deterred domestic manufacturers.
Why can Huabin Group use its own products? Guan Yuxiang personally went to Huabin Group executives to discuss cooperation, but at that time, “Aurijin” had no reputation, and the craftsmanship was not advanced, so people were not willing to pay attention to her.
At that time, we had only heard of this technology and never seen it. In order to reach an agreement, the elderly Guan Yuxiang and his son went abroad multiple times for inspection, and finally introduced powder coating technology to China through technology purchase.
But even though he obtained the technology, Oregin’s size was too small, and he was repeatedly rejected by Huabin Group. In order to seek cooperation, Guan Yuxiang, who is over 50 years old, has traveled 41 times between Hainan, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in the past 2 months, totaling over 60000 kilometers.
Red Bull was ultimately moved by her sincerity and handed over the order to Guan Yuxiang, and this collaboration also laid a solid foundation for the development of Orijin.
Everything depends on human actions, and heaven rewards diligence. With her own efforts, Guan Yuxiang killed a large number of large factories in the most inconspicuous position, and those who had mocked her were all slapped in the face.
3、 Enterprises should learn to “lean on big money”
Feng Lun said that in order to start a business, one should learn to lean towards wealthy individuals, go to wealthy places, and be with wealthy people. Zhou Yunjie’s mother and son undoubtedly applied this wisdom to the extreme.
In 1997, Huabin Group led Red Bull to set up a factory in Beijing, and Aurijin also built a factory just 800 meters away. Everyone around them opposed it, and one executive and one senior technician even left as a result.
They don’t want to come to Beijing because they think it’s too risky because they need to build a new factory and face competition from so many companies. Faced with doubts, Guan Yuxiang firmly chose to follow Huabin Group.
Later, Zhou Yunjie recalled, “Initially, we wanted to reduce transportation costs, but later found that in a factory area, it was easy for the two companies to achieve synergy in management, production, and supply chain systems. This formed our idea of developing a strategic alliance
Later, Huabin Group established a factory in Hubei, and Guan Yuxiang followed suit to Hubei. When establishing the third factory in Guangzhou, the two companies decided to jointly build the factory, with office buildings, dormitories, and canteens all located together.
Not only does she make cans, but she also provides filling services for them. Huabin Group only needs to provide the brand and raw materials, and all the production lines are handed over to Aurijin. From following to symbiosis, it may seem like a small step, but in fact, it is a redefinition of the strategic positioning of Guan Yuxiang’s mother and son towards ORG: from a packaging product manufacturer to a complete packaging solution service provider.
Nowadays, most of the jars of Huabin Group are handed over to Orijin. In 2012, ORG went public on the Shenzhen SME board, becoming a listed company with a market value exceeding 10 billion yuan. The old lady who invested 300000 yuan in her later life after retirement also became a true billionaire.
At the time of Orijin’s IPO, Guan Yuxiang had already retired behind the scenes. After the company went public, Guan Yuxiang gave all her shares to her son.
She said, “I think trust in my son is very important. The biggest problem with a family business is that it is easy to start a business. After going public, there may be many problems, so I gave all my shares to my son. This way, the leadership is clear, your shares are particularly clear, and it is also a kind of responsibility to the public
4、 Put the future in a jar
Is Oregin’s performance constrained by the development of Red Bull and lacking the ability to operate independently and continuously? This is the most discussed matter in the industry after Aurijin went public.
Since 2015, Origen has taken a series of major actions to continuously optimize the company’s product and customer structure. By 2021, the proportion of Origen’s largest customer to the company’s annual sales has significantly decreased, but it still reaches 36%. Of course, this client is Huabin Group.
Nowadays, Orijin needs to move from behind Red Bull to the front stage and explore more product cooperation opportunities. At the same time, ORG is actively expanding its downstream To C industry, expanding into the beverage and pre made vegetable industries, and developing its own product brand as a new business increment.
Starting from 2021, Origen has successively launched drinks including “Xiwang” sports drink, “Yuanyangwuyu” plant beverage, as well as pre made dishes such as braised lamb and braised pork ribs, laying a brand foundation for Origen’s development in the TO C business field from 0 to 1.
More than 20 years after its establishment, Origen not only sells tens of billions of cans annually, but also plans to put more and more food into cans, not only food, but also Origen’s future.