Some of China's most successful businessmen are found in Ningbo, like William Ding, founder of NetEase, who has a net worth of 29 billion yuan ($4.6 billion). (Photo : www.therichest.com)
Businessmen in the Zhejiang city of Ningbo have set up successful ventures in the Internet, media and investment sectors, expanding beyond the traditional manufacturing sector, but still need innovators to develop, the Time Weekly reported.
The report quoted Wu Xiangpeng, vice president of Ningbo City College of Vocational Technology, as saying that Ningbo businessmen are good at securing resources for their business.
According to the report, city officials will focus on the sector of Internet finance in deference to the "Internet Plus" strategy introduced by Premier Li Keqiang urging industries to integrate Internet technology.
Wang Mian, deputy director of Ningbo's office of finance, said on Sept. 11 that the city plans to expand in five Internet finance areas, build two platforms and build 1,000 firms in the sector.
An annual ranking published by a local business society showed that William Ding, founder of Web portal NetEase, is the richest man in Ningbo and estimated to be worth 29 billion yuan ($4.6 billion). The report said that Ding characterizes the dreams shared by the people of Ningbo.
According to the report, Ding's NetEase was built in Guangdong, but the company signed a framework deal with the Ningbo City government. Both parties will collaborate in developing cross-border e-commerce, financial services and game industries, the newspaper added.
Another successful Ningbo business tycoon, Zhu Min, founder of the investment firm Cybernaut, is dubbed the godfather of angel investment, who started his two businesses during his time in Silicon Valley. His company WebEx went public in 2000 and was sold to Cisco for $3.2 billion in 2007.
The report said that Zhu's successful investments in China included Focused Photonics, Spreadtrum Communications, and education website Teacher.com.cn. He sold Teacher.com to Guangdong Qtone Education and earned him nearly a 10-fold return.
Zhu said that the pioneering spirit of Ningbo businessmen make them stand out, but he said this spirit seems to be waning.
"In the internet era today, there are not many people from Ningbo who are leaders in the field. Falling behind the trend will be a crisis for Ningbo business people," Zhu said.
Focus Media chair Jiang Nanchun, another Ningbo businessman, went into business while he was still a university student. His advertising firm listed on the NASDAQ in 2005 and he is reportedly planning a stock listing of the company in China.
Wu said that the financial sector in Ningbo, still in an early stage of development, has to find a way to bring the private capital to other sectors.
