Shenzhen, November 2020. A sanitation worker in overalls rang the listing bell of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange along with entrepreneur Zhou Ping. This is an exciting spectacle of an ordinary sanitation worker who has worked hard to become a billionaire.
In fact, Zhou Ping was born in an ordinary family of sanitation workers, and since he was a child, he has witnessed the hardships of his mother's work in the canteen.
In 1997, he founded Yuhetian Cleaning Company, and with his persistent pursuit of sanitation, the company has developed step by step into a leading enterprise in the domestic sanitation industry.
When the listing bell rang, why did Zhou Ping invite ordinary sanitation workers to attend the meeting? This is not only a respect for them, but also a demonstration of his tenacity that has never forgotten his roots.
Today, Zhou Ping is a billionaire, but he still maintains a high degree of awe for the sanitation industry. So, how did an ordinary sanitation worker become a billionaire by sweeping the streets?
The statements in this article are based on reliable sources of information and are detailed at the end of the article. However, in order to improve the readability of the article, there may be polishing of the details, please read sensibly, for reference only!
Zhou Ping's entrepreneurial journey
For Zhou Ping, who came from a poor working family, cleaning work has accompanied him since he was a child. His father, Zhou Xiangzhen, is an unknown grassroots sanitation worker, while his mother, Zhang Guiying, works in a small canteen to maintain the family's food and clothing.
At that time, life was indeed quite tight. But Zhou Ping never disliked the cleaning work because of this, but learned the character of hardship and hard work in his mother.
On weekends or after school, he followed his mother to work in the canteen at a young age, washing dishes and brushing pots and bowls is a skillful craft he has been skilled in since he was a child. Despite the hardships of life, Zhou Ping never gave up on his dreams and never compromised with his fate.
In 1990, Zhou Ping was already a 28-year-old young man. This year, her mother, Zhang Guiying, took over the management of a small canteen. Zhou Ping naturally became his mother's right-hand man and joined the canteen operation.
In the beginning, they were just a small shop on a negligible scale. But with Zhou Ping's hard-working quality and hard work cultivated since childhood, coupled with his mother's network resources, this small restaurant quickly gained some popularity in the local area.
When the career is improving, the opportunity is also coming. In 1996, with the market-oriented reform of Shenzhen's political and sanitation work, social capital began to intervene in the field of sanitation services.
Zhou Ping, who has a unique vision, immediately smelled the smell of this business opportunity, and resolutely gave up the small achievements he had made in the early stage, and shifted his career focus to the sanitation and cleaning industry.
For Zhou Ping, this decision is not only a major life choice, but also a great test of courage. But he didn't hesitate in the slightest because he gave up his original business.
Instead, he relied on some of the connections his mother made in her early years working in the canteen, and soon opened up some cleaning businesses in urban villages and other areas of Shenzhen.
Having grown up in this environment since childhood, Zhou Ping knows the operation mode of the entire sanitation service industry inside out.
Coupled with the good skills he cultivated during his work in the canteen, he was able to gain insight into the pain points of the industry and propose practical solutions from his unique professional perspective, which quickly won the trust and praise of local residents.
In 1997, Zhou Ping, who struck while the iron was hot, officially registered and established Yuhetian Cleaning Co., Ltd., which opened his first entrepreneurial road.
At the beginning, the company was very limited, with only a small team of Zhou Ping and 5 employees. However, they were not discouraged, but forged ahead with vigor and determination.
For Zhou Ping, although the sanitation work is hard, it plays a vital role in urban environmental sanitation and should be regarded as a glorious and sacred cause.
It is out of this sense of mission that he led his team to never slack off, working overtime to achieve the ultimate in the company's service quality, and won unanimous praise from the industry and citizens.
Yuhetian's business expanded rapidly
With the unswerving pursuit of sanitation and dedicated work style, Yuhetian quickly won a good reputation and popularity in Shenzhen in the first few years of its establishment.
Zhou Ping led his subordinates to maintain a humble and pragmatic attitude at all times, and regarded service quality as a lifeline, which won unanimous praise from the surrounding communities and businesses.
As the business continues to expand, so does the workforce. In just a few years, Yuhetian has developed from the original team of 6 people to a regular company with thousands of employees.
By 2002, the total number of employees of the company exceeded 3,000 people, and the annual revenue also crossed the 100 million yuan mark, which initially reflected the prototype of a large sanitation enterprise.
Standing at the height of development in this period, Yuhetian has shown strong development potential. It conformed to the general trend of the times and seized the golden opportunity period of Shenzhen's rapid economic development at that time.
At the same time, Zhou Ping is also constantly seeking breakthroughs and innovations, and has gradually extended its business field from the initial community cleaning to urban roads, landscaping and other sanitation sub-fields.
Along the way, Yuhetian has won not only praise from all walks of life, but also many major customers including Tencent, R&F and other well-known enterprises.
The reason why these large enterprises favor Yuhetian is naturally because of the high recognition of the latter's professional services and high-quality reputation. Strength and reputation have achieved Yuhetian's rising industry status in the environmental sanitation industry.
In fact, in 2016, Yuhetian's total assets were only 800 million yuan, and there was still a certain gap from a strong large enterprise.
However, with the sustained rapid development and vigorous development momentum, by the time of its listing in 2020, its total asset value has exceeded 4.5 billion yuan, which can be described as a familiar road.
Today, Yuhetian has become a veritable leading enterprise in the sanitation industry.
It has branches in 28 major cities across the country, and its business coverage has radiated to more than 50 key cities, with a total of nearly 100,000 employees. With such a scale of capital and manpower, the potential for future development is endless.
From a small handicraft workshop to a leading enterprise in the sanitation industry, Yuhetian has interpreted an immortal inspirational legend with more than 20 years of development.
It is precisely because of the firm belief in the cause of sanitation and the spirit of innovation that Yuhetian is far ahead of the industry in today's peers.
Zhou Ping's attitude towards sanitation workers
Yuhetian is now able to stand out from its peers and become a leading enterprise in the domestic sanitation industry, which is inseparable from the original intention of the founder Zhou Ping's persistent pursuit of this job.
As a person who has personally experienced the hard work of sanitation work, Zhou Ping has supreme respect for this profession.
It is out of this respect that at the 2020 Yuhetian listing bell ringing ceremony, Zhou Ping specially invited several ordinary sanitation workers in overalls to attend the meeting, so that they could share this festive moment with themselves.
This heart-warming scene undoubtedly shows his high respect for the cause of sanitation and his heartfelt respect for ordinary workers.
However, Zhou Ping's respect for sanitation workers does not stop at the scene. In the management practice of Yuhetian, he used practical actions to reflect the strong support and attention to this group.
It is understood that the company has about 17,000 elderly employees over 60 years old, and nearly 20,000 middle-aged employees between 50 and 60 years old. Although these people are old, Zhou Ping still regards them as the backbone of the sanitation industry and gives them full respect and opportunities.
"They have made great contributions to the cause of sanitation, and we cannot do without the support of these old comrades." Facing those old sanitation workers who have entered their old age, Zhou Ping is full of heartfelt gratitude.
It is precisely because of their long-term silent cultivation that the foundation of today's Yuhetian is evergreen. Therefore, instead of treating them as a burden and laying them off, the company respects them as heroes of the company's development and gives them due courtesy.
Similarly, in the face of middle-aged employees, Yuhetian has also given full care and protection. For these middle-aged laborers who are in the prime of life, the company provides them with a full range of career development channels, so that they have the opportunity to display their talents and show their self-worth.
In this way, it not only allows the company itself to obtain reliable talent support, but also enhances the centripetal force and cohesion of the workforce.
Some people in the industry commented that it is by virtue of the great importance attached to grassroots employees that Yuhetian has won a unique talent advantage in the industry, laying a solid foundation for its subsequent rapid development.
Today, this small workshop that started on the street has developed into a listed sanitation leader with a market value of more than 16 billion yuan, and Zhou Ping's personal worth is more than 10 billion yuan, and he is affectionately called "the richest cleaner" by insiders.
Despite this, Zhou Ping, who is worth more than 100 million yuan, still maintains the simple style of a poor background. He often compares himself to an "urban beautician" and encourages the company's employees to do their jobs conscientiously and add luster to the city.
At the same time, he is also very strict with his children's teaching, requiring them to be down-to-earth, work diligently, and never forget the ordinary origin.
It is this persistent pursuit of cleaning work and sincere respect for the common people that has made Zhou Ping's 10 billion net worth and Yuhetian's industry status today. This noble character will also accompany him into the next glorious stage of development.
Yuhetian's road to success
Tracing Zhou Ping's personal rise is a magnificent epic full of legends. As the founder and helmsman of Yuhetian, his personal achievements are naturally highly tied to the development of the company.
In November 2020, when Yuhetian announced the impressive performance of 118%-131% year-on-year increase in net profit in the first three quarters, the outside world was once again shocked by Zhou Ping's extraordinary achievements in the sanitation industry.
People of insight sincerely admired that Zhou Ping's contribution to sanitation and even the entire urban service industry is extraordinary. Soon, people from all walks of life paid their most sincere respects to the "richest cleaner".
Honorable titles such as "Retrograde" and "Model of the Times" came one after another, aiming to promote his outstanding contributions to the cause of urban environmental sanitation.
In fact, Zhou Ping and his Yuhetian company have also provided high-quality cleaning services for high-profile large-scale events and activities on many occasions.
In the 2019 World Horticultural Expo, the 2022 Winter Olympics and other heavyweight international events, they have taken care of the cleaning and cleaning work around the venues and their important places, which can be said to add the last touch of bright color to the beautiful business card of China's urban environment.
Now, with the successful landing of Yuhetian in the capital market, Zhou Ping's personal net worth has exceeded the 10 billion yuan mark and has become a veritable "self-made billionaire".
But he still maintains the simple style of a poor background, often comparing himself to an "urban beautician", and encouraging his employees to do this seemingly ordinary but extremely honorable job with their hearts.
It is not difficult to foresee that today, when China's economy continues to take off and the overall level of urban modernization continues to improve, the sanitation industry will still be in a golden period of rapid development.
According to the latest data from the Prospective Industry Research Institute, by 2023, the size of the mainland sanitation market is expected to reach 267.6 billion yuan.
In the face of such a vast market of 100 billion yuan, Yuhetian, as the industry leader, will continue to expand its business territory and seize this rare opportunity for development.
And Zhou Ping, the "leader" in the environmental sanitation industry, will also lead his Yuhetian to ride the east wind of the times and write a wonderful new chapter on a broader development stage.
After all, it is with an unswerving pursuer like him that the sanitation industry is thriving today; Only a simple and persistent entrepreneur like him can lead this ancient and glorious traditional industry to a more brilliant future.
Resources:
Luzhong.com: "Yuhetian: The Sanitation Industry is Becoming Increasingly Smart"
Harbin News Network: "Sweeping the Street" into a "Beautiful Industry"丨Zhou Ping, a native of Bingcheng, broke into Shenzhen alone, deeply cultivated the municipal sanitation industry for 22 years, and became one of the top 500 enterprises in Shenzhen..."
China Economic Net: "Yuhetian's R&D investment has been zero yuan for two years, and nearly 35,000 retirees have supported the actual controller's worth of nearly 10 billion"