Chinese 
English
Entrepreneur
周耀庭
Zhou Yaoting
Founder of HOdo Group? Chairman
of the Board of Shareholders
In
1983, Yaoting Zhou
was transferred to Gangxia Knitting Mill as the director (This is HOdo Group's
predecessor). Under the policy of reformation and opening, he performed drastic
reformation toward the small factory, actively explored "internal market
system, the joint-stock cooperative system and efficient contract system, and
parent-subsidiary system" of the "Four Linkages" management
mechanism; implemented the mechanisms of competition for the positions for all
candidates. This allows the enterprise to successfully transform into a modern
enterprise and become a typical representation of the "New South Jiangsu
Model."
Yaoting
Zhou not only pays attention to the pollution control work of enterprises but
also actively enters the ecological industry. In 1997, Yaoting Zhou caught the developmental
opportunity of yew and entered the green ecological industry. The group has
built the Yew Seedling Cultivation Industrial Park with the mastery of rapid
breeding technology of yew. The development of greening,
environmental-friendly, and medically developed health industry of yew, forming
a complete green health industrial chain. Yaoting Zhou has also always paid
attention to social welfare. On March 24, 2015, Yaoting Zhou and Haijiang Zhou
donated 10 million yuan to establish Wuxi Yaoting Charitable Foundation.
Through the professional and independent operation, HOdo's charitable causes
have been kept going. In September 2016, they again donated another 10 million
yuan to the foundation to expand the size of the fund. Under the leadership of
Yaoting Zhou,? HOdo Group has donated
more than 550 million yuan in both goods and materials over the years.
Over
the past years, Yaoting Zhou has won dozens of honours above the provincial
level. At the end of 1995, Yaoting Zhou
was elected by the top ten news media as the only "95 Rural News Figures
in China" due to his brilliant business achievements. At the end of 1997.
In 2006, he was elected as the President of the China Township Entreprises
Association. In 2008, he won the National Outstanding Township Entrepreneur
Lifetime Achievement Award. In November 2008, he was awarded the honorary title
of "30 people who have influenced China's reformation for 30 years".
In 2012, he was reappointed as the chairman of the Chinese Yew Conservation
Committee. In 2013, he was awarded the Special Contribution Award of China
Township Entrepreneurs by China Township Entrepreneurs Committee; On November
27, 2015, he was awarded the Hurun Report Lifetime Achievement Award. In
December 2016, he was honoured as a typical figure in the integrated
development of rural industries.
周海江
Zhou Haijiang
Board Chairman and CEO of HOdo Group
He was born in Wuxi in February 1966. He
has a master's degree and a doctor's degree from the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of the Board of Directors, the
Vice Chairman of the 11th ACFIC, the Vice Chairman of China Non-government
Chamber of Commerce, and the Vice Chairman of the APEC Council.
At the end of 1987, he resigned from
Hohai University without hesitation and went to Taihu Knitting and Garment
General Factory (the predecessor of HOdo Group), which was still in the
start-up stage. He became the first university student in Jiangsu Province to
resign from public office and join a private enterprise. He started at the
workshop basic-level and worked his way up to the top of the company.
In September 2004, Haijiang Zhou was
elected as the Group president by an overwhelming majority of votes, making him
the first person to be elected as president of a private company. He introduced a series of bold reformations
and innovations when he took charge, such as new corporate image, accelerating
the transformation and upgrading of the group, promoting competition for
positions, exploring and practicing the "Modern Enterprise System with
Chinese characteristics," which rapidly improved the corporate image,
brand image and performance of HOdo Group.
Over the years, Haijiang Zhou has
earned hundreds of honours above the provincial level and held many social
positions. He was awarded "Excellent Builder of Socialism with Chinese
Characteristics" in 2004. Moreover, he became the cover character of the
world-famous financial magazine Forbes and was awarded the "May 4th Medal
of Chinese Youth" in 2005. In 2006, he was invited to do a public speech
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In October 2009, he boarded the
agricultural achievement float and participated in the mass parade of the 60th
anniversary of National Day as the only representative of township enterprises.
In April 2010, he was elected National Model Worker. Furthermore, Haijiang Zhou
was elected the 2nd Council President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in
June 2016, Hong Kong, China. In June 2017, Haijiang Zhou's family was awarded "the
most beautiful family" in China 2017. What is more, Haijiang Zhou was
nominated for the Sixth National Moral Model Award in November 2017. In 2018, Haijiang
Zhou was selected as one of "One Hundred Outstanding Private Entrepreneurs
in the 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up" released by the United Front
Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and All-China Federation of
Industry and Commerce. He was selected as "Person of the Hour in 40 Years
of Private Economy". On October 1, 2019, he was invited to attend a series
of celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China
(People's Republic of China).On September 8, 2020, Zhou Haijiang won the title of "National Advanced Individual in Combating COVID-19".