With a net worth of US $ 7.4 billion, 48-year-old Zhou Qunfei, founder and CEO of Lens Technology, became the most wealthy woman in the world.
Born in a village in Hunan province in eastern China, Zhou did not have an easy childhood. He lost his mother when he was five years old and his father became blind and lost his finger in a factory accident.
He has to learn how to survive on his own, "I have to keep thinking about where my next meal is and how I will get it."
To obtain school fees, Zhou dropped out at the age of 16 and went to Shenzhen City in Southern China to work at watch lens factory in 1986. He was then promoted to a managerial role. However, he has a bigger dream.
In 1993, with a saving of 20,000 HK dollars (or about $ 2,547.80 US dollars), Zhou and eight members of his family set up a screen printing business in a three-room apartment in Shenzhen, which served both as a place of work and their living space.
In the apartment, he launched his first company. Fast forward 10 years, Zhou has built a factory that makes clocks and uses 1,000 people. But his fate changed in 2003 when he got a call from Motorola, asking if he wanted to be a supplier.
Zhou accepted an invitation that helped launch his business internationally. Now, CEO of Lens Technology, Zhou has built a royal glass manufacturing for technology giants such as Tesla, Apple, Samsung and Huawei.
Zhou attributes his success to his persistence. "My biggest challenge is when I beat another rival and won a contract with Motorola in 2003," Zhou said.
Zhou has just started and has little flexibility in his company's finances. But want to make sure the deal is done. As a result, Zhou said he sold his house and other valuables to meet the company's demands. However, he is still underfunded and says he is desperate.
Zhou admitted that it was the darkest time in his entrepreneurial life. "I was standing on the platform of Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong, almost jumping, delirious," he said, "thinking that when I leave, all the problems will also disappear."
But then a phone call from her daughter pulled her back to reality. "I realize that for my family and my employees I can not give up, I must continue." With the help of Motorola, he overcame financial problems.
In 2004, Zhou Lens Technology sold more than 100 million units for the Motorola V3 model just a flat screen phone with iconic speech "Hello Moto." In 2007, Zhou's cover glass beat other Chinese vendors to become a major supplier for Apple.
On March 18, 2015, 22 years after he started a family workshop in the three-room apartment, Zhou Lens Technology became public property. Currently, the company is worth $ 11.4 billion, with over 82,000 employees across China, according to Forbes.
In an interview Zhou shared three suggestions for entrepreneurs:
1. Prepare well
Zhou said employers always need to be prepared for what is to come. He said there are several aspects that must be mastered: "First, improve your overall competitiveness, secondly you have to be mentally strong, Third, strengthen your understanding of your market and your competitors," said Zhou.
He said his experience while working as an assembly line worker and then as a manager for his first employer helped him gain confidence, which is very important for Lens Technology's early days.
"You must gather courage to face failure," added Zhou.
He also said he would prepare some backup plans when he visited clients during his early years of his career: "I always think about what I would say if they rejected my proposal, because rejection is constant, you need to prepare well."
2. Keep the enthusiasm to learn
"Clients will not give you a better price for your product just because you have a higher degree," Zhou said, "but your knowledge of business will help keep your company competitive."
As for Zhou himself, he took part-time courses while working as a factory worker and obtained certificates in accounting, computer operations and even commercial truckers' licenses.
"When you have the ability to learn, you have the ability to continue to grow," he said.
3. Never give up easily
Zhou said many people will experience a serious blow to their confidence when they face setbacks. But the key to success is to survive, especially in the most difficult times.
For team-building exercises, Zhou once took 20 of his company's executive teams to climb Mount Dawei in Hunan Province, which is over 5,000 feet above sea level. Some team members want to give up in the middle of the hill. However, he insisted that they did not stop and march.
"Because when you give up on the road, you will not have the courage to come back and start from the bottom again, you will still give up," he said. "Only when we survive, we can succeed, do not give up because of the small setbacks."