The China Network Construction Center is part of Tianjin Zhongke Network Technology Co. Ltd, whose business is focused on website construction for enterprise promotion online. It also provides services in domain name registration, website hosting, and basic network platform. The company was founded on April 15, 2003. Over the years, the company has managed to adapt to and succeed in a business climate that is going through various changes. The company has, despite several challenges, expanded its market presence and deepened its services. The vision of the company is to operate around a "sincere and pragmatic, long-term service" concept. IT is utilized to build the link between Tianjin enterprises and international ones.

This interview was conducted with Duan Yanfen, legal representative of Tianjin Zhongke Network Technology Co. Previously, she has been engaged in enterprise management work and founded seven other enterprises. Duan established Zhongke in 2003.

Is this the first company that you have started, and what drove you towards it?
"Life should be as candles, burned from the top to the end, which is always being bright." This is a famous word from Xiaochunv, which inspired me. The law of my life does not allow the candle to burn out halfway. Since I was laid off from my previous job, I have never let down my pace of steps. On April 15, 2003, I started the network company. It stands till today.

I spent the best time of my life in the enterprise. When you get older and more established, many people can not accept the reality of corporate failures. The same goes for me. I did not want to give up after failures with my previous companies. I wanted to do something - but what? I considered what to do for a long time. After doing some market research, I saw the prospects of IT industry and decided to create an IT enterprise.

Someone may ask why I set up a network company. I would say, first of all, networking is a prospective industry, which only has less than a ten-year history in China. Secondly, I am a person who came from a failed enterprise. In China, you can see many enterprises like that. If a company wants to be invincible, it has to use advanced technology to promote production and services. The Internet is a good way for them to develop. My company wants to be a pioneer to pave the way to help countless Chinese companies to give them wings to fly on the information highway from Tianjin to the World.

How did you finance your start-up operations and how long did it take for the company to become self-sustainable?
The initial financing came from my personal savings along the years. I was fortunate to cooperate with two young people - Zhao Xuelei and Zhang Xu- who are also members of the company's shareholders. We successfully founded Tianjin Zhongke Network Technology Co. Ltd. We have received a lot of help from the community, especially the help from the TWBI [Tianjin Women's Business Incubator].

I wanted to construct a platform for young people to enable them to get more capital when graduating from university. China Network Construction Center is just this kind of firm, which grants young people the great opportunity to pursue their goals. In the company, everyone is able to act as the boss to develop business for the company, and to make great contributions. Six months after the company was founded, it achieved self-sustainability.

What are your major products and services and how are they uinque? What is your competition?
It is not difficult to start a business. What’s difficult is to survive and develop. Six months after the investment, the company had a normal operating income, and reached self-sustainability. Our main products are network-construction for enterprises, including network development and database management. We mainly focus on the service. Our server is kept running for 24-hours. Problems are solved immediately. This has been highly praised by customers. Each product in our company requires good communication with customers in order to meet their different needs. We focus on top-end customer service, and provide the service with good security and stability, which is our competitive advantage.

How do you measure the success of the company?
In the whole process of starting and maintaining the business, we are happy. Although we have not had considerable profits, we are satisfied because we know how to develop our company, what the role our company should play in the market, and what the direction the company should head for.

Who are your clients and how many do you have? How are you focusing on expanding your user community?
We target the developing small and medium-sized enterprises which focus on using information to expand their reputation and credibility. Internet is the most convenient way to communicate with customers, which saves those enterprises a lot of human power and resources. We also help some enterprises to gradually become aware of the network’s function. We have more than 300 fixed customers. As expanding the customer base, we have tried to provide a multi-shape network platform, for opening up new business.

Are you planning to patent your product and do you see any obstacles in doing so?
In January 2007, we went to the Tianjin Software Certification Association to apply for the product certification. Because of the complex process and cumbersome requirements of documents, we were only approved for a copyright for one product.

What was the biggest challenge in stating an innovative business in your country and how did you overcome that?
Many people would think that the technology is most important in the first year, market in the second year, and management in the third year. I believe the management is most important no matter when. In a business what is constant is the need to study and learn. The market, environment, policy, technology, and people's minds are all changing. The only thing that does not change is change. We have to keep learning to face the changes. In the last few years of our business, we paid too much in “tuition fees”. Blindly expanding the scale of company trapped us into difficulties. One time, TWBI helped to organize different classes and invited experts to give us analysis of our problems. We realized how to efficiently utilize management. Due to the timely adjustment of our enterprise’s development direction, the company was able to gradually come out of difficulty. We understood that we should have walked on the road which was suitable for our development.

Who are the shareholders in your company?
The shareholders of Tianjin Zhongke Network Technology Co. Ltd are Yanfen, Zhang Xu and Zhao Lei.

How have you benefited from business incubation?
My company has benefited a lot from the Tianjin Women's Business Incubator. In early 2004, my company encountered some problems. I went to the TWBI for consulting, and joined the business incubator. In the cradle of TWBI, our entrepreneurial team received strong support from the centre. The experienced professor who came from the University of Finance and Economics gave us a long-term guiding consultantcy as well. TWBI gave us a number of opportunities to participate in different trainings and expert assessment. In the business incubator, we have been able to grow. It makes us never feel lonely. Our confidence has increased.

Do you have some specific lessons that you know now and wish you would have known when you started your business, and which you would like to share with fellow entrepreneurs?
Many lessons can be learned by our business. No one else can take your journey for you, and the failure must be experienced by ourselves. What I want to share with other entrepreneurs is firstly to have self-confidence, be prepared to bear hardships, and have a long-term plan. Based on that, according to the needs of the market and changes in the market, adjust the strategic objectives, prepare sufficient funds, and do a good job in management.

How do you plan to internationalize your product and if so, how?
Internet has no regional and international boundaries. My company's product platform is just about to go abroad to the world. I want to inform the world about China and Tianjin by using the IT technology. My company is ready for the construction of the information highway for Chinese enterprises.

With hindsight, are there any particular lessons or message that you wish you would have known when you started up your company?
The characteristic of the internet is that it changes very fast with high rate of elimination through selection of market. It is also a young people-intensive industry. Management is extremely important. I really hope that this could be realized when I started my company.

Do you feel that you had the necessary advisory and support network when you started your company?
When starting the business, we did lot of market research and analysis. The realization of a business plan should not solely depend on the imagination; it depends on having the courage and wisdom to make decision. It is necessary to have a scientific attitude to the market, to analyze customers, to develop products, and to manage the operational leadership of a strong team. We are deeply grateful to all the staff of TWBI, who have given us many valuable advices and offered courses. TWBI helped us build the courage and confidence to challenge the market. We are going to be successful with the hope and courage of TWBI. I believe what man can accomplish can be accomplished by women too, and can even be done better!

What is your message to funders/supporters and what is your message to the users of your product?
It takes time for an enterprise to develop. With the time passing and the accumulation of experience, our company has already gained some experience. We have very clear direction for the development. The funders of our company should be relieved. For our customers and product users, we can also tell them that we will keep introducing new products according to their needs. We will do a better job through online communication, interaction and other services.

I hope that more people will understand IT and the Internet, pay more attention to the high-speed transmission of information, and use our products better. Our enterprises will be bigger and stronger with good service through the Internet.