Not listed, no loans, annual sales of 4.5 billion yuan—Laoganma has become a well-known entrepreneurial goddess. However, just over 500 kilometers away in Liuzhou, Guangxi, a similar legend of a goddess circulates.

Her mother died early, she was forced to drop out of school, became an apprentice at 13, deputy factory director at 18, and finally factory director at 33. She led the transformation of a candy factory into a pharmaceutical factory, overtaking competitors to become the industry leader, holding the top position for nearly 20 years with annual sales exceeding 800 million yuan.

In July 2015, at the age of 69, she led her company to become the second Liuzhou enterprise to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, following "Guangxi Automobile Group."

She is known in the industry as "Jiang Laoniang," the founder of Guangxi Golden Throat, Jiang Peizhen!

To outsiders, Jiang Peizhen's success seems incredible, but perhaps it is also within reason.

▲ When Golden Throat was listed, Jiang Peizhen's powerful gavel strike!

Orphaned at a young age, she worked her way up to deputy factory director by 18

At 13, when most children are carefree, a young girl timidly lingered at the gate of Liuzhou No. 2 Candy Factory in Guangxi. It was September 1959.

Jiang Peizhen lost her mother at a young age, and her family could not afford to send her to school. She had to abandon her beloved schoolbag and work to barely scrape together tuition for her four younger siblings.

According to national regulations, factories were not allowed to hire child labor, but the girl's difficult situation aroused sympathy, and they made an exception to hire her. At the candy factory, Jiang Peizhen worked as a packer under a master worker, standing for 12 hours a day, hands never stopping, mechanically repeating the same motions. Her hands often had cuts that bled, hurting so much she could hardly hold a bowl.

Despite this, Jiang Peizhen worked diligently, arriving earliest and leaving latest. Everyone thought she must be crazy—after a tiring day, she would voluntarily work overtime.

Jiang Peizhen didn't care what others thought. She kept familiarizing herself with the machines and practicing packing techniques. With her diligence and tenacity, she soon surpassed others. Who would have thought that the thin, small Jiang Peizhen was so dexterous, exceeding her quotas almost every month? She rose from production pacesetter to team leader, youth squad leader, and workshop director... At 18, Jiang Peizhen was elected by all employees to be the deputy factory director in charge of overall work, with no dissenting votes.

At an age when others were still in high school, she was already leading an enterprise.

Implementing reforms, turning a loss-making small factory into the national number one!

After becoming deputy factory director, Jiang Peizhen did not feel relaxed. She used her off-hours to study, often studying until the early hours because she had a weak foundation. She would then sleep briefly and go to work on time. With this fierce determination, Jiang Peizhen self-studied all courses from middle school to university, and also studied management knowledge. No one in the factory did not admire her.

In 1979, at 33, Jiang Peizhen became factory director with the same tenacity. When she took over, Liuzhou No. 2 Candy Factory was losing 40 to 50 million yuan and was nearly on its last legs. Jiang Peizhen made decisive moves and implemented three major reforms amid the enterprise's decline:

First, break the dull "iron rice bowl" distribution system. In the planned economy era, wage distribution was severely egalitarian, leading to lazy and slack workers. Jiang Peizhen immediately linked employee salaries to production, greatly motivating workers, and output rose sharply.

Second, break the traditional supply and marketing system, with products self-produced and self-sold. In an era of material scarcity, supply and marketing cooperatives were the main channels for people to buy daily necessities like fruit candy, rubber, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt. But Jiang Peizhen broke away from the thriving supply and marketing cooperative channels and independently formed a team to sell products. This was undoubtedly forward-thinking; relying solely on the cooperative brand would lead to losing market competitiveness as cooperatives declined.

Third, lead technical personnel to France, Germany, Italy, and Japan to learn advanced technology and introduce advanced production lines. Through active exploration and humble learning, Jiang Peizhen's No. 2 Candy Factory produced China's first jam-filled candy, China's first peanut chocolate, and conquered the highest technical variety in the world candy industry—whiskey-filled chocolate.

During that period, the candy factory added new varieties at a rate of over 30 per day, forming 10 major categories and 386 varieties. Marketing personnel from the factory were everywhere in small and medium cities in Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan. Sales soared, with taxes alone exceeding 10 million yuan.

Finally, in 1988, the factory turned from loss to profit, with output value reaching over 97 million yuan, and 10 economic indicators ranked first in the national industry. People praised Jiang Peizhen's capability and called her "Jiang Laoniang."

Inspired by Zhu Rongji, overcoming all difficulties to resolutely transform!

In 1992, rampant counterfeit goods, rising raw material prices, and media campaigns promoting "eating too much sugar is unhealthy" caused sales at Liuzhou No. 2 Candy Factory to plummet.

Jiang Peizhen refused to accept this. She personally led sales efforts, walking where vehicles couldn't go, even selling candy in remote Yi ethnic mountain areas. Even so, the candy factory's days became increasingly difficult. Jiang Peizhen knew that without reform, they would eventually go bankrupt.

Just as Jiang Peizhen was anxious, she met the most prominent benefactor in her life.

On January 7, 1993, then Vice Premier Zhu Rongji visited Liuzhou for inspection. At an entrepreneur symposium, Jiang Peizhen reported the enterprise's development to Zhu Rongji and frankly stated the "difficulties" of repeated infringement by counterfeit products and unsatisfactory economies of scale.

Zhu Rongji immediately advised Jiang Peizhen: "Developing high-tech products is one path. High-tech products are not easily copied by ordinary enterprises." To take this path, she could go to Shanghai to make friends with university research departments. Once "production, learning, and research" are combined, they would form unimaginable energy.

So in July, braving 40°C heat, Jiang Peizhen took all the factory's savings—70,000 yuan—to various universities in Shanghai to find a way to save the candy factory. She immediately took a liking to the achievements of biologist Wang Yaofa.

Eventually, the candy factory successfully developed a candy with throat-soothing effects. Jiang Peizhen gave this product a nice name—Golden Throat Lozenge (Golden Throat Lozenge is candy; the throat tablet is the medicine).

After the Golden Throat Lozenge was developed, the whole factory felt puzzled: What is this? But before they could finish wondering, Jiang Peizhen made an unexpected and bold decision: transform from a candy factory to a pharmaceutical factory.

Jiang Peizhen smashed all the stoves and utensils in the candy factory and sent them to the scrap iron recycling station, resolutely determined to transform. But a funding gap of over 7 million yuan stood in front of her; she ran to 28 banks and was rejected by all.

Helpless, Jiang Peizhen cried in her office. Interestingly, after crying, she loudly sang "The Internationale": "There has never been a savior... We depend on ourselves..."

The employees' morale was boosted, and they raised 7.8 million yuan themselves. Jiang Peizhen contributed her savings of 15,800 yuan and brought a black-and-white TV. Golden Throat Lozenge was thus put into production.

At that time, throat tablets were all pressed from medicinal powder, dissolving immediately and unable to maintain efficacy in the throat for long, while throat lozenges had no therapeutic effect. Golden Throat Lozenge combined sugar and medicine, filling a market gap. At the end of 1993, Golden Throat Lozenges quickly became a hot-selling product after launch, then surged ahead, quickly overtaking the original industry leader.

Remembering the well digger when drinking water

Behind the birth of Golden Throat Lozenge is a little-known story.

That year, Jiang Peizhen went to East China Normal University in Shanghai to "seek treasure." The school organized 28 professors to showcase their research achievements. Jiang Peizhen bowed deeply to them: "I have never entered a university, but today I have realized it at once. I am here to learn from masters." After hearing this, the professors couldn't help but re-evaluate this female entrepreneur.

After all 28 professors spoke, Jiang Peizhen had a sense: her intuition told her that the biologist Professor Wang Yaofa sitting opposite was very capable, and Wang Yaofa also admired her.

Wang Yaofa recalled: "At that time, I felt that this factory director had no airs, was very approachable, and was full of enthusiasm for her career. She wanted to make the best product with Chinese characteristics, and we also wanted to produce the best results, so we hit it off immediately." Subsequently, he signed a technology transfer agreement with her for his invention, the heart-health beverage "Da Kai Xin."

For Wang Yaofa, this cooperation was not without concerns, after all, the candy factory was not performing well compared to many enterprises he had contact with. It can be said that Jiang Peizhen's personal charm won over Wang Yaofa.

Later, Wang Yaofa visited the candy factory in Liuzhou and inadvertently tasted the factory's throat lozenge. He was surprised to find that the candy contained eucalyptus oil, peppermint, and other ingredients. Jiang Peizhen said: "When visiting the United States, we found that Westerners like to eat cooling candy to soothe their throats, so we imitated it upon return." She admitted that the candy sold poorly and its effects were unclear.

Wang Yaofa told Jiang Peizhen: "You simply mixed eucalyptus oil and peppermint together; it cannot fundamentally solve the problem of throat dryness and has pharmacological defects." He then revealed that he was researching a formula specifically for chronic pharyngitis. "If used to improve your throat lozenge, the effect should be much better than now." In fact, Wang Yaofa was also considering what carrier to use for his product. The throat lozenge inspired him; he believed sugar was better than medicine. What impressed him even more was Jiang Peizhen's dedication and tenacity, so he decided to give the formula to them free of charge.

Professor Wang generously gave the formula that year, and Jiang Peizhen kept it in mind, wanting to thank him with shares and cash, but Professor Wang Yaofa took nothing and assured Jiang Peizhen that his descendants would not make intellectual property claims. Ultimately, Jiang Peizhen donated 200,000 yuan to East China Normal University and had his portrait printed on the packaging box, so everyone would know that Wang Yaofa was the inventor of Golden Throat Lozenge.

"We printed Professor Wang's portrait on the packaging box to let everyone know him and remember that he is our benefactor, and also to show our respect for knowledge and our attitude of not forgetting the well digger when drinking water."

A touching detail: Every time Wang Yaofa attended the factory anniversary, all employees stood up and bowed three times to him. This was because Jiang Peizhen had said that Professor Wang is our benefactor, and we should not forget the well digger when drinking water.

Giving most shares to employees, keeping only 3.1% for herself

There is no easy success in the world. In 1994, when Golden Throat Lozenge was newly launched, there was no market. Jiang Peizhen assured agents: "Don't worry, you help me sell the goods. If they don't sell, return them to me. I will pay you every cent owed!"

Shortly after Golden Throat Lozenge entered Hong Kong, some customers reported that the box packaging was inconvenient to carry, so Jiang Peizhen immediately switched to tin boxes.

In the same year, Jiang Peizhen saw distribution problems in the gradually profitable enterprise: although employees had pooled funds, distribution was not transparent and lacked legal protection. She therefore applied to the government to transform the enterprise from a state-owned enterprise to a cooperative private enterprise.

After more than two years of lobbying, the government finally agreed to sell 65% of the company's assets to employees, requiring employees to pay over 20 million yuan in cash. Some workers criticized that much of the 65% was bad assets, but Jiang Peizhen believed that restructuring could completely solve the distribution problem and encouraged employees to buy it: "Empty talk is useless; we must truly buy the enterprise and become its masters. If we don't accept, the enterprise cannot be restructured. For faster development, we must be willing to lose a bit."

In the end, the government sold 65% of the company's assets to employees for over 20 million yuan. Employee shareholding allowed them to share in corporate profits, greatly motivating them, and the enterprise's efficiency grew significantly. On October 9, 1995, CCTV's "Focus Report" program, under the title "Reform and Rectification, Creating Momentum for Breakthroughs," fully affirmed the reform achievements of Guangxi Golden Throat Co., Ltd.

At that time, of the more than 800 state-owned enterprises in Liuzhou, many collapsed under the impact of the market economy. As the first successfully restructured enterprise in Liuzhou, Golden Throat Lozenge survived fortunately.

Today, the Golden Throat Group has developed into a group company focusing on proprietary Chinese medicines, supplemented by health foods and health liquor, and successfully listed on July 15, 2015. From 1998 to 2016, the company achieved cumulative output value of over 3.1 billion yuan and contributed 780 million yuan in taxes and profits to the state. In 2014, the output value of Golden Throat series products alone exceeded 800 million yuan. The company has been rated among Guangxi's Top 50 Enterprises and the National Top 100 Pharmaceutical Enterprises.

According to the company's restructuring regulations, Jiang Peizhen could have taken 10%-15% of the shares, but she said that if 65% was given to employees, and only 40% remained, how could it be enough for employees to divide? In the end, she only took 3.1%. Jiang Peizhen's charm deeply impressed employees, and her grateful personality was integrated into the corporate culture.

She said: "We have over 1,000 people to feed; we must seize time and opportunities. Sometimes there are many opportunities, but life is only once. To do something in China, one must be 'hardworking, proactive, restrained, and self-sacrificing.'"

Today, Golden Throat faces the dilemma of a small throat medicine market and high market saturation. Even the tough and shrewd Jiang Peizhen is struggling to find ways to break through the ceiling of a single-category enterprise.

Although we do not know where Golden Throat will go, Jiang Peizhen's entrepreneurial legend deserves to be remembered by this era!

Source: Zhenghe Island (ID: zhenghedao)

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