Changsha adds 18,<> permanent residents a year Young people find coordinates here

For countless people who live in it or travel through here, what does Changsha look like?

The gorgeous fireworks at the head of Orange Island break the monotony of the sky; Countless energetic young people under Yuelu Mountain shouted that youth is priceless, packed up and set off; The crowd of people in Wuyi Square is like a clear wind, and the sound of laughter is endless; On Pozi Street, the aroma of food slowly infiltrates the nose, and the full of fireworks also fills the heart...

The warm new urban culture attracts countless young people to linger. In April this year, among the announced increases in the city's permanent population, Changsha ranked first with an increase of 4,18, surpassing Xi'an and Hangzhou. Previously, from 2019 to 2021, Changsha's new permanent population ranked third in the national provincial capital.

The famous film directors and producers Chen Kexin and Zhang Ji were deeply attracted by it, and invited Liao Fan, Zhang Yixing and others to participate in the movie "Changsha Nightlife", showing the vivid and hot Changsha style vividly.

Wu Aisong, a pharmaceutical college student who returned to Changsha from Beijing, joined a rising FMCG company. He believes that "although it (Changsha) does not have the prosperity of a metropolis, it has a strong atmosphere of life, especially a sense of tolerance for young people."

In recent years, Changsha has emerged a number of new consumer brands radiating across the country and more than 20 new consumer listed backup enterprises, becoming a unique source of innovation in China, with about 10,<> young people joining it and trying to find their coordinates in the city.

Choose the smallest name and pack the biggest dream

Urban fireworks are the heart of young people, and have also become Changsha's unique youth development path.

Zhang Zhixiong always wakes up early, and whenever the morning breeze blows in Changsha, he has a warm feeling. This was the initial impetus that drove him back to Changsha from Hefei, Anhui Province to start a business.

In 2008, Zhang Zhixiong, a graduate of the National University of Defense Technology, did information security assessment in a public institution in Hunan Province. "Commuting to work every day, playing mahjong at night, the days are muddy." Later, in his 20s, he resigned decisively and went to Hefei to become a provincial franchisee of a brand milk tea.

The milk tea born from the movie "Subway" was very popular with students because of its romantic factors, and soon reached 100 stores in Anhui.

Wu Wei, who was studying at Anhui Agricultural University, accidentally walked into the 10-square-meter milk tea shop outside the school gate and became a part-time employee. At that time, she had just completed her 3-month chicken breeding internship, and she was uncertain about whether to work for graduate school in the future, but she could taste delicious milk tea for free and earn some living expenses every month, which made her quite excited.

"I work very hard, I think it's fun and fresh." Wu Wei recalled the choice with a smile on his face.

Zhang Zhixiong, who is diligent in innovation, developed a lot of new products, and Wu Wei "edited" him into a "love notebook" package, which sold very well, and was promoted to the position of office clerk.

Two years of part-time work made Wu feel dependent on the industry, but his parents, who had taught all their lives, looked down on the job of selling milk tea, hoping that their daughter could become a teacher or go to a large company to do accounting.

Wu Wei said that when it came to graduation, the pressure of this ideal and reality made her undecided, so she plucked up the courage to say her thoughts to her boss Zhang Zhixiong: "I am so good, or you promote me to be a supervisor and manager or something, I can tell my parents to stay and work?" ”

Zhang Zhixiong's reply made her stunned, "He thought for a long time and said, maybe this brand is not long, go out and break in, it will be better for you."

"Obviously the company's business is booming, how can the boss say badly?" Confused, Wu Wei packed his bags and went to Beijing to seek employment.

Soon, Wu Wei received another invitation from Zhang Zhixiong - the milk tea shop that had opened thousands of houses collapsed, and he wanted to return to Changsha to start a business, and he could give Wu Da the role of a manager. Wu Wei, who was very happy, dragged his suitcase from Beijing to Changsha without saying a word. In the following years, a brand specializing in fresh fruit drinks "Guoya" became a new product that attracted the attention of young people in Changsha.

Zhang Zhixiong said that large companies such as Microsoft and Xiaomi have relatively small names, and the name "Guoya" is effective imitation. In his own store, he holds his biggest dream in life.

The first store of "Guoya" was opened near Changjun Middle School in Tianxin District. Opposite it was another milk tea shop – a tea that later became popular all over the country and quietly took root here.

Although he did not know Lu Liang, the owner of Cha Yan, Zhang Zhixiong still praised the "opponent" in the circle of friends, expressing his optimism.

Lu Liang, known as "Mr. Shallot", worked in a movie theater after graduating from university, and then switched to painting advertising paintings. At the beginning of the 21st century, Changsha's catering and entertainment industry is booming, and some restaurants pay more attention to the overall image design. The diligent and capable Lu Liang also began to be appreciated by some restaurant owners and brought it into the catering industry, from the store manager of "Devil's Taste and Devil's Claw" to his own Taiwanese milk tea shop, this young man who loved to listen to Jay Chou's songs and liked Fang Wenshan's words, and finally founded the "Tea Yan Yue" made by China Tea West.

A few ups and downs. In order to explore management experience, his wife "Wheat" also secretly worked for a period of time in a well-known catering company.

Wu Wei, who first came to Changsha to manage people, had a similar experience. A work quarrel caused her to lose a very good store manager. "At that time, I suddenly felt very defeated, calmed down and told the boss, I can't be this manager, I have to recharge."

At Starbucks, she "stole learning" for a year and carefully figured out the management details of excellent companies. In addition to working 8 hours, she dragged her tired body and got her own company to perform her job. It wasn't until she knew she was going to be promoted by Starbucks that she sincerely apologized to the store manager and left.

This experience made Guoya later decide: when hiring at more than 40 stores of the company, 20% of the positions were reserved for part-time workers, especially college students. "Employees may be initial student customers, to part-time jobs. If you stay after graduation, you may be able to manage a store. Wu Wei, who is now a shareholder of the company, said that marketing books are mostly broad theories, such as how to manage store managers well, how to manage employees when store managers, and how employees can design new solutions to attract customers, etc., are the most important ability exercises for students.

Over the years, a large number of backbone cadres of "Guoya" have been recruited and grown up in this way.

"The utopia of society", working and developing together

Common topics and interests are the hallmarks of choice for many young people employed in these well-known companies. Wu Wei, who came to Changsha from Hefei, recommended his younger siblings to come to Changsha to study at university because of "that very fun sense of life". Bogo, the head of Chayan Yueshi operation, especially cherishes the employment process from KFC to Hema Fresh to Chayan.

Bo Ge is actually a girl, but his big grinning and daring style has earned Wang Bo this domineering name. She studied food science at Hunan Agricultural University. "There are thousands of additives in the lab class, we make duck and sweet wine, etc., which cultivated my love of eating."

During college, the experience of looking for local famous food in "Changsha, where you can ride an electric car" and the end of the alley became a talking point between her and her colleagues. She joined KFC after graduation. On the evening shift of a month, a group of young people around 20 years old set out in the early morning to rush to the most famous night market, chatting and eating all the way, which became the most unforgettable years.

A few years after her promotion, she moved to the Shanghai branch of a Taiwanese catering company. The doubling of her salary did not allow her to keep working, in addition to the hard commute, the more important reason was that she did not adapt to the diet. Then enter Hema Xiansheng.

Wang Bo, who was busy killing crabs and tearing treasure fish, understood the improvement of Internet technology on catering management: "A fish from the water to the kitchen, in which pot and stove, and finally to which plate, it has tracked the whole link." In the sweet life of trying new dishes and eating seafood every day, she also said goodbye to her original slender body.

She spends most of her time on business trips, and after returning to Changsha, a milk tea and rice noodles downstairs are her favorites.

Therefore, when the headhunter told Chayan Yueshi that she was recruiting operation managers, she hurriedly agreed to this "beauty errand".

The tea face during the expansion period made Wang Bo find enough excitement: to do the hottest business in Changsha in the hottest business district. After spending nearly a year sorting out the entire structure, they frantically recruited people to open stores, and more than 900 like-minded girls and young people joined them.

At the beginning of 2020, the sudden epidemic caused the boiling catering industry to suffer a cold winter, but it also made people see the warmth. After learning that the epidemic had overwhelmed the hospital, Chayan Yueshi organized employees resting at home to deliver milk tea and materials worth 100 million yuan to the hospital. "At 3 a.m., a bunch of people came waiting in front of the store to wash the ice machine, and then drove to one hospital after another to deliver milk tea and supplies wearing lung treasures that were useless." Wang Bo recalled that everyone encouraged each other while they were scared, and later sent milk tea and supplies to the medical team in Wuhan through SF's cold chain.

Wang Bo said that these unmarried young people like lively work and life, help each other, and are willing to worry about other people's affairs. Everyone was doing things in the same direction, a feeling she didn't have in her previous businesses.

Duan Chu, who used to work in private equity and created a business in France, also came to the three-and-a-half coffee company with that common ideal. At that time, this popular brand among urban youth was far from the peak of annual sales of nearly one billion yuan.

Wu Junping, the low-key company's founder, loves to wear sneakers and jeans, like the big boy next door. He worked for the most well-known advertising agency in the country before returning to Changsha to open "No. 92 Coffee". Also returning with him to open a store and start a business were high school and college classmates of the year, and several young people were determined to use coffee as a scene to create miracles on this track.

The team is passionate about environmental protection, and in 2019, they launched a "return to home plan" for users to recycle empty cans of coffee they had drunk. This project is loved by Duan Chu. With hard work, the number of participants has reached hundreds of thousands in 4 years, covering hundreds of boutique cafes in 70 cities.

When Liu Huiyan, a girl from Chongqing, was studying for a master's degree in the UK, she bought three and a half meals of coffee from Tmall Mall. Drinking Chinese coffee for the first time while studying overseas made her feel warm, and she applied for three and a half jobs after graduating back to China. Today, her main job is to connect with the best boutique cafes in the world to bring Chinese coffee to the world. "At present, it has established peer cooperation with top cafes in 6 countries and excellent cafes in China. It's a cool job. ”

The road to entrepreneurship has not been easy. These young people have invested in research and development day and night, and have sold ear bags, coffee utensils, coffee beans, cold brew buns, and even baking and cooking utensils, but they have always been tepid. Until 2017, the team concentrated on developing ultra-instant coffee that is more convenient and can better restore the freshly ground flavor.

At the Shanghai International Coffee Festival in 2018, this category caused a sensation, and it won the first place in coffee brand sales on Tmall that year.

Liu Linzhi, secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee, observed a unique "convergence" phenomenon of local new economic groups: Huangxing Road Pedestrian Street is the birthplace of almost all new consumer brands in Changsha. The young leaders of these companies are never hostile to their rivals, but help each other. Wu Jun and Lv Liang jointly opened a brand co-branded store, located in the favorite area of young people in Changsha. Guoya's Wu Wei and snacks are very busy, and the black classic boss is familiar with it, and the boss Yan Zhou, who held up the snacks of the Yanjin shop, is very busy, and when he wants to find a brand director, he asks Wen Heyou for recommendations. Even, the shareholders or middle managers of these enterprises who buy houses must huddle together...

One industry veteran sees this phenomenon as a "social utopia" that does not exclude newcomers and is willing to work and develop together.

The world that Geng Zhi boys build: warm and unworldly

Yan Zhou, the founder of snack busy, believes that happy cities are very attractive to young people, young people are more inclusive, and it is easier for new consumer brands to "emerge".

Yan Zhou, which has opened 2000,60 stores across the country and has an annual sales of 7 billion yuan, has been selling real estate for more than <> years. After the real estate regulation, he and several colleagues started their own business.

Community snack collection stores that are positioned to meet the needs of the general public have not been affected by the 3-year epidemic. From the end of 2019 to 2022, the number of its stores expanded eightfold, employing nearly 8,<> people. The core of its corporate culture is integrity, unworldliness, and non-bureaucracy.

An industry insider familiar with a group of new economy entrepreneurs pointed out that the founders of Changsha's new consumer body are mostly "straight male style", emphasizing internal strength over form, and have their own merits in the construction of the entire supply chain and the standardized management of stores.

Cao Hui, the brand director of snacks, has a deep understanding of this: the boss seems to be "socially afraid", never accepts interviews, and focuses on management inwardly.

"The integrity of the enterprise runs through the work of all departments." For example, some franchisees carry 10,<> yuan in cash to the company's investment commissioner for the purpose of opening a store to "seek convenience", and manufacturers seek cooperation in an endless stream, but the company must strictly select according to the standards. "If you relax this string, you will not bring the best product experience to consumers, and enterprises will fall behind in the competition."

It is reported that more than 200 people in the company's store operation center went to the store to conduct standardized ratings to determine the rewards and punishments for franchisees. It is not allowed to accept a bottle of water or a cigarette. In the company, attention is paid to simplifying the hierarchy, and employees can enter the CEO's office without knocking.

"It's a very non-involuted enterprise. The boss does not advocate overtime, and if you want to work overtime, you have to apply to say the reason. It is therefore very popular with young people. Cao said.

The founders of enterprises such as Guoya and Chayan Yueshi also believe that simple interpersonal relationships and a warm corporate environment are necessary for development. Many enterprises give tens of thousands of yuan subsidies to employees to buy houses, and the middle level has company shares. Some employees even receive a monthly nanny allowance after the birth of a child.

Xiao Yu, 26 years old this year, worked part-time at "Guoya" when he was studying at the First Division in Hunan and became a manager. When she joined, she found that everyone was working in a huge office, with the founder sitting across from her.

"The boss teaches little by little like a master with an apprentice, and the head of the door calculates the rent to see the contract. Even if you make a mistake, you will not be abandoned, they will review with you and make you feel safe. Xiao Yu said that she often talks about the happiness of the work environment when chatting with classmates outside the industry: she feels like a child who has not been "beaten" by society. This feeling made her overcome various difficulties after graduation to stay in this ideal place.

Zheng Zili, a researcher at the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences who has been paying attention to Changsha's new economic phenomenon, believes that market benefits are closely related to the model of new economic development. After the advent of the information age, the rapid development of the Internet has driven the management mode of the new economy to become increasingly flattened, and timely grasp market information to make corresponding optimal decisions. These newly emerging economies in Changsha form a unique business ecology, which can coexist harmoniously with each other and is also related to the classification of the industry in which they are located. Enterprises divert and cooperate with each other, and their cooperation needs are more than the needs of competition. For SMEs to grow faster, they may be more cooperative. They are in line with foreign advanced management concepts quite quickly, and these are worth learning from all operators.

Zheng Zili pointed out that these new enterprises with huge employment volume rely entirely on their own ability to survive in the market competition, and it is easy to "thrive and die", and the government should increase support for their development and further optimize the economic environment.

Change comes faster than dreams

Yan Zhou believes that entities are made step by step, and dreams will change with the scale and stage of the enterprise.

He is acutely aware of the difference in employee values from those of early entrepreneurs: young people willing to come, and may have previously felt that it was a stable job or a good pay. But today, they will feel that where to eat well, leisure, where to get along well, and where to get along quickly, the key is to get promoted. "At the core, they are more focused on autonomous choices."

Lu Zhi is a typical member of it. From the moving position to the middle-level backbone of the shareholding, he only took 3 years.

He came to Changsha from Yueyang in 2014 to study civil engineering at a junior college, and he came to snacks very busy. "When I joined the company, I worked as a porter in a warehouse, and my monthly salary was nearly 4000,<> yuan." Lu Zhi said that at first, he did not think that he would work here for a long time, but came with the mentality of learning hard. At that time, the company only had a dozen stores, and they were busy from morning to night, and their lives were simple and fulfilling.

A year later, he was transferred to work as a new store director, forced to learn to communicate with people and help franchisees open stores. After more than a year of training, he has been promoted to supervisor and is responsible for the training and guidance of employees.

Cao Wei said that she was also surprised by the rapid growth of the company's youth: a wave of post-98 and post-00s young men, starting from warehouse movers and store tally clerks, have become the backbone of the enterprise in a few years.

He Pei of "Guoya" has a faster promotion speed. Majoring in business English in Hunan Mass Media, she was assigned to train as a store manager after cutting mangoes for a month, learning scheduling, coordinating manpower and order management. "I earn all my college tuition part-time." She said she soon became a store manager, and after more than a year, she was the "leader" of more than 200 employees.

Bogo, who had a pleasant face, claimed that he was most afraid of being called over by his boss to talk about the salary increase, "They increased it very strongly, but I begged them not to add more, I am afraid that I can't bear more responsibilities." Managing a team of hundreds of people, earning an enviable income, and enjoying the fun of work, she said, "I think it's a difficult platform in life." ”

Wen Jiliang, who came to Changsha to work at the age of 16, does not have the same high income as Bogo, but he is extremely satisfied with his today.

Wen Zhiliang, who has learned to work as a hairdresser, food salesman, and waste collector, is because of his business that he "connected" with tea Yanyue. "When I collect scrap, I find that there are always many cartons to collect in the store, and over time I find that they are very nice and often bring me a cup of milk tea." He was moved.

The first time he got a high salary, he called his wife excitedly, "Guess how much I got?" "The position has risen from the front-line clerk, and his salary has also increased. He simply asked his wife to stay at home full-time with the baby.

A number of interviewed enterprise founders told reporters that the concern and promotion of local party committees and governments is also one of the factors for enterprises to take off.

During the epidemic, leaders of the Changsha Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection specially visited young enterprises and exchanged discussions with entrepreneurs. According to the 29 problems mastered in the investigation, the relevant departments carried out the special action of "linking enterprises and solving problems", and carried out on-site supervision and handling of the problems found, and all of them were solved.

In March this year, Wu Guiying, member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee, also personally visited these young entrepreneurs, which made the unsociable Yan Zhou both excited and nervous: "Our generation of young entrepreneurs are not good at dealing with the government, and they were not very willing to deal with relations before." The government took the initiative to move closer to us, shushing and asking for warmth to help. He said that a good piece of soil is a dividend for the company, which gives them strong confidence.

Zheng Zili said that Huxiang culture is the essence of "applying to the world" and "daring to be the first", and the soil of this culture has cultivated the thinking mode of generations of young people who dare to break in, dare to do and dare to try, can keenly sense the market demand, and find the point of entrepreneurship. This has also led to the rapid development of Changsha and even Hunan's emerging economy. In addition, it is closely related to the youth culture and fashion culture that have existed and cultivated in the local area for a long time. In the 20s of the 80th century, Changsha had the reputation of entertainment capital and was loved by young people. In the 20s of the 90th century, the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government put forward the strategy of strengthening the province through culture, leading the country. Since the <>th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, local governments have accorded to the actual conditions of the province and given priority to innovation and entrepreneurship. The combination of these factors has led to easy acceptance of new ideas and cultures, and has laid a solid foundation for promoting an innovative economy.

Cao Qian, reporter of China Youth Daily / China Youth Network Hong Kefei Source: China Youth Daily