To be successful, failing is not such a bad way to start

Editor's note: Wei Min, 47, is the founder and CEO of Yunhuo Technology, which operates an app offering localized information on part-time job vacancies. Wei was talking to China Daily reporter Hu Haiyan.

Investment is a personal and lonely experience, but becoming a startup entrepreneur can be even lonelier.

Every startup business wants to change the world. Yet there are so many unexpected difficulties that need to be conquered, and it can be a miserable life. Every day, you need to make decisions that, you hope, ensure your companies will survive.

Yunhuo Technology is my fourth attempt at setting up a business. My first was a success, but my second and third were failures. However, the process of starting a business is a kind of enjoyment for me.

The one thing I don't like about it is the fact that I seldom have the time or money to enjoy things. To save cash, I fly economy and stay in cheap chain hotels that cost no more than 200 yuan ($30; 27 euros) a night. Before, I only flew first-class and lived in five-star hotels.

I live in a seaside villa in Hong Kong and I own a yacht, so it's not that I don't have the money for five-star hotels. It's more that, as a startup company, you need to be thrifty.

Before 2010, I worked as an oil trader for a Chinese state-owned enterprise. I quit that job to start my own oil-trading fund, which in four years saw profits soar 480 percent.

Like I say, I've tasted failure, too. I set up two personal wealth management companies in 2012, but I eventually had to shut both down because I couldn't find the right talent.

It's good to have a few bumps in the road, though. People tend to overestimate their ability when they have a successful career path in a big company. But the fact is it actually doesn't mean you'll become a successful entrepreneur. Not everyone is suited to it, or to being a leader.

Also, most people who enjoy a good start to their business tend to underestimate the difficulties that lay ahead. It was the same with me. I've become much more mature and gained a lot of valuable business management experience from my two failures.

I was born into a fairly ordinary family in Dalian, which is on the northeast coast in Liaoning province. But my motivation for starting a business wasn't making money - it was making change.

I've always held the idea that one can prove his or her value by setting up a business. It's a fantastic feeling to create jobs or change an industry. When I saw the news in 2014 about Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba listing in the United States, I was amazed by its achievements. That's when I decided to set up Yunhuo.

So far, I've invested about 10 million yuan in the initial development of the app, and I expect to spend another 30 million yuan on marketing.

Our app is a platform that brings together job seekers and local employers looking to fill part-time positions. After its launch in mid-March, the number of the active customers hit about 10,000 within a week, which is a good start for a startup like us.

Although this life is much harder than just going sailing on my yacht, becoming an entrepreneur is a lifestyle full of challenges, charm and growth opportunities.

I'll never give up the idea of creating a great company.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 04/01/2016 page8)