Shi Yuzhu - China's Entrepreneur

Today's Financial Times had an interesting profile piece on Shi Yuzhu. During the late 90's Asian financial crisis his company Giant neared collapse, partially due to cost overruns associated with the Zhuhai tower he was building. Two problems he experienced were 1. government revisions of his blueprints, 2. an inability to access capital or credit due to the financial crisis.

He was seen as the poster boy of capitalism's dark side. The evils of capitalism being "rampant excesses and reckless risk-taking." All of the apartments in the unfinished skyscraper had been pre-sold. Rather than resort to bankruptcy, he took on the debt himself and paid the investors back a total of Rmb 250m ($36.5m). This was achieved by starting a new venture from scratch and honorably making good on his promise.

In 2001, three years after losing everything, he had banks knocking on his door wanting to make him loans with no collateral. His word was all that was needed.

All too often we see deceptive business practices seem to succeed. We are presented with the dichotomy of being a "sheep or a shark." It is refreshing to see good business practices rewarded with success. (Buffet is another good example.)

While I am reticent to mix business with religion, there are a lot of good points made by various religious figures throughout history so I will mention one here anyway. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus said, "I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as shrewd as serpents but as harmless as doves." There may be a lesson for entrepreneurs here.