From unemployed to enterprise owner
You Jiqiang benefits from micro-enterprise platform
BY JIANG YUNLONG
Editors note: In this issue, our column China Story continues to focus on Chinas supply side reforms. Here we explain how You Jiqiang, a villager from Liangfeng Village, Guanba Town, Wansheng Economic Development District in Chongqing, went from coal miner to self-employed entrepreneur with the aid of an interest-free loan.
Coal mining is dangerous and labourious, but it used to be the best paid job in the area, recalled You Jiqiang who worked as a coal miner in 2014, he did not expect that he would one day become a successful entrepreneur.
In late 2014, the coal mine where You Jiqiang worked saw its business declining. Soon, he was laid off. He had to return home and live on a monthly allowance of only a few hundred yuan.
To solve the problem facing laid-off workers like You Jiqiang, the Industry and Commerce Department in Wansheng District set up the Liangfeng Dream Village micro-enterprise platform. Through this platform, laid-off miners and their spouses are encouraged to set up micro-enterprises without going through complicated formalities. Additionally, they can enjoy entrepreneurial subsidies and discount loan interest rates.
Having learned that he could receive a subsidy of 30,000 yuan from the government if he started a micro-enterprise, You Jiqiang opened his Fun Family Inn. His wife, who used to cook at local restaurants, came back home and became the chef at their new family inn.
On top of all this, You Jiqiang took a government training course and learned how to cook and receive guests. When the 15-day training was over, You Jiqiang not only knew how to run the family inn, but also received his entrepreneurship subsidy.
At first, some people came to spend weekends at the inn. Now, many guests stay at the family-run hotel for several months. From May to August, when it is hot in urban areas, all of You Jiqiangs 22 rooms are occupied.
I earned 80,000 yuan in 2015 and 150,000 yuan in 2016. There is a world of difference between coal mining and running my own business, he said.
The Industry and Commerce Administration offered me an interest-free loan of 150,000 yuan this year, You Jiqiang said. Thus he invited his sister to come back from where she was working. With the loan, he expanded his business so as to receive more guests this year.
If it hadnt been for the initial 30,000 yuan, would I be running the family inn? Perhaps I wouldnt have had the opportunity. Nor would I have had the courage to try. You Jiqiang said.
Now, You Jiqiang plans to install air conditioners in all of his inns rooms so as to attract guests in winter, a plan he thinks will double his family income.
