Rising to the challenge of a new enterprise

Li Da (left) with his father Li Zhongjian, who founded the Tung Fong Lighter Industrial Co Ltd. Li senior is famous for playing the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, whom he resembles, in the TV series Dongfanghong (East is Red) and other films. [Photo / China Daily]

SHANGHAI - After spending one year at university in France, Li Da felt that he had learned and seen enough to make a life decision: turning down his father's offer to take over his business.

In doing so, Li has sent shock waves through the private clubs, tea houses and foot-massage parlors where the swashbuckling first-generation entrepreneurs of Wenzhou, Li's hometown in Zhejiang province, love to gather and exchange tips on punting in properties, stocks and coal. Having built a fortune on their wits and daring, these aging entrepreneurs want nothing more than to hand over their businesses to their children.

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But something that seems natural in the minds of these Chinese entrepreneurs doesn't necessarily proceed as smoothly as they expect. This is because not all of their children are as compliant as they are expected to be.

Li recalled that his father was willing to send him to any university he chose on the condition that he would come back to work at the family-owned factory that produces cigarette lighters in many sizes and shapes in bulk. After graduating from the University of Paul Valery, Montpellier, Li stayed in France to work in Paris.

Embracing the French life-style, Li broke the news to his father that he had no interest in his family business. Instead of returning to his father's cigarette lighter business, Li, who is 24 years old, has now started his own bakery in Wenzhou, specializing in French bread.

"I don't want to join my father's lighter business because I am not a smoker keen to devote my passion toward lighters and I fail to see the potential development of the lighter industry as a whole," said Li.

As the potential second generation of Tung Fong Lighter Industrial Co Ltd, Li Da changed his mind about inheriting his father's company during his second year in France.

Taking a part-time job in a French bakery for more than a year, Li discovered an interest in and talent for baking and making pastries.

"France is famed for its baking industry. Bread and cakes are essential elements in daily life, so I firmly believe that learning baking skills in Paris was the wisest decision I ever made," said Li.

Encouraged by his supervisor in the bakery, Li obtained the baking certificate for cakes and pastries in France after working for one year.

Li worked at his father's lighter company for one year after returning from France in 2008 but he insisted on opening his own bakery, where his interests lie.

"My father has run the high-end lighter company for nearly 20 years and the company has already developed its own business model that is unchangeable," said Li.

Li added that the global anti-smoking trend would decrease the market for lighters, especially the expensive types manufactured by his father's company.

After discussing matters with his father, Li left the lighter company and opened his first bakery, V.Seize Donut, last December, bringing the original taste of French pastry to the city of Wenzhou.

"I've visited well-known French bakeries in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing as well as inviting my former supervisor in Paris to come over to make sure the taste of all my products is typically French," said Li.

"It's still quite a challenge for Chinese residents to take a liking to the simple square shape of French pastries with their limited number of toppings so I had to create cakes and bread with a more acceptable appearance to customers," said Li.

Li's former supervisor from Paris flies to China quarterly to give proper training to bakery staff to ensure the quality of his products.

"The baking industry is one of the newest concepts introduced into the China market within the last decade. It suits me, a member of the modern-thinking second generation, to explore the potential market," said Li.

Li senior is famous for playing the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, whom he resembles, in the TV series Dongfanghong (East is Red) and other films.

He acknowledged that the lighter industry is in decline and so was quite happy that his son had found an alternative occupation. At the moment, Li Da's plan is to develop his bakery into a national chain.