Ronald Reilliu,
Adrian Santaniau
3 Krygina Street Vladivostok,
690065 Russia
Last updated: October 12, 2010
Index of articles, click here.
Most people have never heard of Lover Health Products or Senken Industrial, but the two mainland companies have cornered the market in two unlikely industries - sex and violence.
Lover is one of the world's top sex toy makers, while Senken is the mainland's biggest maker of police equipment. Their unusual businesses aside, the two share much in common: both are private firms with humble beginnings based in the eastern province of Zhejiang .
Zhejiang is home to several private companies emerging on the global stage after the government relaxed limits on private business.
The city of Wenzhou , in the south of the province, already claims to produce most of China's cigarette lighters, 80 per cent of its eyeglasses and 60 per cent of its razors. Whole towns near Wenzhou have been turned over to niche industries, including electronic components in Hongqiao, electrical products in Liushi and buttons in Qiaotou.
When Wu Hui's father was trying to go through a maze of regulatory approvals to start manufacturing in Wenzhou what the mainland euphemistically calls 'health products', government officials called his goods obscene and said they would encourage lewd behaviour.
'But he argued that a vegetable knife could also be used for the wrong purpose,' recalled Mr Wu, who now handles domestic sales for the business as chairman of Wenzhou Adam and Eve Health Products.
The Wu family is keeping the sex toy business all in the family. Mr Wu's older brother, Wu Wei , heads Lover. A younger brother manages the factories, while their 61-year-old father, who founded the business, still takes a daily turn on the factory floor.
The year 1994 found the family reconditioning old lathing machinery bought from bankrupt state companies and reselling it to emerging private firms. A Hong Kong magazine article led them to visit an early sex exhibition in Beijing, which convinced the family that sex toys could be made domestically to sell at lower prices than expensive imported products.
An alliance with a Japanese partner, which has since withdrawn, provided early technology. The company now has nearly 2,000 products which it exports mainly to Europe and the United States, accounting for about 70 per cent of the business.
From this year, Lover is aiming Cupid's arrow at the domestic market, selling through its own shops, franchise stores, other retail outlets and even over the internet.
'Overseas we don't have a brand. Domestically, we can build a true brand,' Mr Wu said. He declined to give figures regarding financial performance.
The mainland's rapid economic development and strict family planning policies, which effectively make most sex recreational, should invigorate sales. 'People need food, sleep and a sex life. After you have adequate food and clothing, you can talk about psychological comforts,' Mr Wu said.
His goal: to develop sex toys with all the bells and whistles of the latest electronic products. He wants to incorporate remote controls, sophisticated computer chips and space-age materials.
'It's like developing mobile phones,' he said.
If the soft-spoken founder and chairman of Senken Industrial, Chen Shisheng , has a motto, it might be: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick.' The big stick could be one of the company's own JG-50B truncheons, which are carried by police officers around the country.
The company holds half the domestic market for police equipment ranging from sirens to helmets. Business was not always so easy. After launching the company in 1990, the biggest problem was convincing police, courts and the military to buy from Senken at a time when private companies were shunned.
'We had no funds, no factory or land, no market and no products. All we had was a government policy. Other places couldn't engage in private business,' he said.
Using his background as technical chief for a speaker and amplifier factory, Mr Chen turned the family -staffed business into a company with annual domestic sales of 160 million yuan and exports of US$4 million.
On the mainland, 30 million police officers and 300,000 vehicles now use Senken products. With the insurgency and chaos in Iraq following the US invasion, the company has found a booming new overseas market.
'We are selling special products, also used on police cars, to the new government in Iraq. They are using a lot of American products, but some places need cheaper ones,' Mr Chen said.
That ambition is shared by many other private companies in Zhejiang, as the government encourages them to go global.
Index of articles, click here.
Ronald Reilliu,
Adrian Santaniau
3 Krygina Street Vladivostok,
690065 Russia
Last updated: October 12, 2010