The literary era since 1979

After arriving in Pengcheng, passengers got off the ship one after another.

Ren Zhengfei gradually recovered from the surprise and asked, "Teacher Fang, are you really planning to invest in Huawei?"

Fang Yan nodded and said, "But we won't invest rashly. We need to do some on-site inspection first."

"no problem."

Ren Zhengfei said with difficulty that when Huawei was first founded, it had neither high-rise buildings like those in Hong Kong nor factories like those of state-owned enterprises in the mainland. Its office was just a simple brick factory building, and it was very remote.

"It's the same from scratch. I also started from a small stall and grew it step by step."

Han Yuemin cited the example of "Jianlibao", which is now the leader in the domestic beverage market, but was originally just a small brewery.

Ren Zhengfei didn't expect that they were so familiar with Li Jingwei of Jianlibao!
Just this year, in the bidding for the designated beverage for the National Games, Jianlibao competed head-on with Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola offered a price of 100 million, but Li Jingwei directly raised the price to 250 million and also sponsored an additional 10 yuan of Jianlibao beverages.

"You may not know that the name 'Jianlibao', including the design of the trademark, was created by my brother-in-law."

Han Yuemin spoke with great excitement.

“There is such a connection!”

Ren Zhengfei was shocked and stared at Fang Yan.

"I will support the revitalization of domestic brands and investment in national enterprises." Fang Yan said seriously, "So I am also very concerned about investing in Huawei. After all, just based on Mr. Ren's character and the meaning of the name 'Huawei', it is worth my investigation."

“But my factory is very remote.”

The vigilance in Ren Zhengfei's heart gradually disappeared. "It's getting late now. I'm afraid it's too late. How about tomorrow?"

"Just tomorrow."

Fang Yan said, "It's a rare occasion for us to meet today. Meeting is fate. How about I treat you all to a nice meal?"

Han Yuemin suggested: "How about going to the China World Trade Center?"

…………

The original plan for the China World Trade Center was to have 38 floors. This was because the Nan Jinling Hotel, which had just been built in Jiangnan at the time, had 7 floors and was firmly established as the "tallest building in China". If the China World Trade Center had one more floor, it would surpass the Jinling Hotel in number of floors and become the new "tallest building".

But in the final rounds of design, it was finally decided to be "53 floors", and the total height of the floors was 160 meters.

After its completion, the China World Trade Center naturally became the "tallest building in China" and is also regarded as the "landmark" of Shenzhen.

There was a saying at that time: "If you haven't been to China World Trade Center, you haven't been to Shenzhen."

On the 49th floor of the China World Trade Center was the tallest revolving restaurant in China at that time. It was surrounded by 48 large glass panels imported from Belgium. Visitors standing in the revolving restaurant could overlook the panoramic view of Shenzhen.

Gong Xing deliberately sat at the same table with Fang Hong and Han Yue, and sat at two separate tables with Fang Yan and Han Yuemin, leaving them some private space to discuss business.

"I promised my wife and children that I would take them on a tour and have a meal when the China World Trade Center is completed."

Ren Zhengfei sighed, "Now I'm afraid there's no chance of that. I didn't expect it to turn out like this."

"When God wants to give a man a great responsibility, he must first make him suffer. Mr. Ren, you may not be able to overcome this hurdle now."

Fangyan took the initiative to pour wine for the three people.

Ren Zhengfei clinked glasses with them and said that he had smelled business opportunities in programmable switching systems and had decided to let Huawei be the sales agent.

Fang Yan said: "Not only do we need to be an agent, but when the time and conditions are ripe, we also need to transform from an agent to a manufacturer."

Ren Zhengfei was shocked. "Mr. Fang, do you mean that Huawei will produce its own programmable switches in the future?" "Is Mr. Ren willing to be a small agent and watch the majority of the profits in the domestic market go to the agent company?"

Fangyan seriously described to him the prospects of the communications market.

Before the 90s, telephones were still a rare commodity in China, let alone mobile phones or pagers.

To get a telephone installed you usually have to queue up, give gifts, and use connections to ensure that it is installed within a year, and the bills are extremely expensive.

Hong Kong had a population of about 5 million at the time, with 00 million telephones, while the entire mainland had a population of over 360 billion and only 10 million telephones. It is easy to imagine how popular customer telephone switches were at the time. It was a blue ocean seller's market.

"Teacher Fang is right."

Ren Zhengfei's eyes lit up.

Fangyan said that Huawei wants to be an agent for the sales of programmable switching systems for Hong Kong companies. In fact, those Hong Kong companies are just doing OEM business, or they buy some programmable switching system parts from abroad and then hire workers to assemble them. The technical content is not high.

"It turns out that Mr. Fang asked me to be an agent at first but not to produce, so that Huawei could use these products to open up sales channels."

Ren Zhengfei pondered for a while and said, "After we build up our reputation and sales, Huawei will start production."

Fang Yan smiled and said that the programmable switches that Huawei represents can be sold to small private enterprises first, that is, to do the business of "small enterprise PBX".

"Iwako, that's a good idea."

Han Yuemin patted his chest and said that no matter whether Fang Yan invested in Huawei or not, his company would definitely be the first to buy the products that his company represented.

If the product is really reliable and stable, it will help Ren Zhengfei to recommend Huawei to a number of companies such as Jianlibao.

"This this……"

Ren Zhengfei was deeply moved and felt that words were not enough to express his gratitude, so he raised his glass and toasted three times.

"Easy to do."

Han Yuemin burst into laughter and drank the wine in one gulp.

Under the influence of alcohol, Ren Zhengfei expressed another huge worry in his heart, that is, if Huawei only acts as an agent for programmable switches, the needs of the enterprise market can still be met, but once it wants to produce programmable switches, it must enter the operator market.

Unfortunately, the telecommunications bureau's office switches must have at least 1000 ports, which means they can serve thousands of telephone customers.

"Does Mr. Ren have no confidence in Huawei? Do you think Huawei is incapable of producing a programmable switch with more than 1000 ports?"

Fangyan narrowed his eyes.

"Of course not. I'm just worried about the objective conditions for cooperating with the Telecommunications Bureau. Huawei can meet them, but the subjective factors..."

Ren Zhengfei expressed it in a tactful tone and did not explain the unspoken rules.

"To be honest, I do have some connections in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications."

Fangyan said that once Huawei becomes bigger and stronger in the enterprise business market, he would not mind recommending Huawei to cooperate with the telecommunications bureaus, adopting the strategy of "surrounding the cities from the countryside", starting with the telecommunications bureaus in some remote towns, and raising funds with the local telecommunications bureaus to establish joint ventures.

Han Yuemin smiled and said, "Yes, as long as we can become a community of interests, why worry about the lack of sales of program-controlled switches in the telecommunications bureau?"

Ren Zhengfei's head was buzzing and his thoughts were suddenly opened. He had never expected that "surrounding the cities from the countryside" could also be used in business.

I gradually became more and more convinced that if Fang Yan could really invest in Huawei, it would be a blessing for me! It would also be a blessing for Huawei! (End of this chapter)