Lin Hongwei, a 2007 MBA student at Business School of Hohai University, currently serves as the Vice Chairman of Nanjing Goldman Sachs Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. Alumni Lin Hongwei, who graduated from the Water Conservancy major, once served as the Deputy General Manager at Jiangsu Anxia Engineering Project Management Co., Ltd. He is now the Vice Chairman of Nanjing Goldman Sachs Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. On the morning of March 31st, Lin Hongwei accepted an interview with our alumni department reporter and shared his insights on the current real estate industry with us. The main content of this interview is as follows:
Reporter: For most students, the real estate industry is a relatively unfamiliar industry, but it has been exceptionally active in recent years. Could Mr. Lin please introduce us to the current situation of the domestic real estate industry.
Lin Hongwei: The real estate industry is a capital intensive industry, and obtaining a piece of land requires huge financial support with a high threshold. Taking Nanjing as an example, it is difficult to obtain land without five or six billion yuan. Therefore, it is necessary to have a certain amount of primitive accumulation in order to enter this industry. The era of huge profits in China's real estate industry has passed, and now it is a relatively stable period. However, current real estate companies generally choose projects with a return on investment rate of over 15%, as investing in new projects requires a lot of time and effort. If the return is not significant, doing this project is meaningless.
Reporter: As far as we know, Nanjing Goldman Sachs Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. has been established for less than two years. Can you introduce the reasons why your company chose Nanjing as its entrepreneurial site?
Lin Hongwei: When it comes to the establishment process of Goldman Sachs Real Estate, first of all, I would like to mention Xiaomi. Most of Xiaomi's nine co founders were hired from Google and have considerable experience and strength. This is also one of the reasons why Xiaomi is relatively successful. Similarly, Goldman Sachs Real Estate was founded by my senior brother and I in 2011. At that time, I worked for a company in Changzhou that ranked among the top five in terms of comprehensive strength in the province, and my senior brother also made many achievements in real estate related projects. The same work experience brought us together and established this company. In addition, the naming of Goldman Sachs also has its roots, as its senior brothers have worked at Rongsheng Company and Fengsheng Company respectively. Therefore, the name Goldman Sachs aims to surpass the past and oneself.
Goldman Sachs chose to start in Nanjing due to the consistently high growth rate of its migrant population. Where there is growth, there is demand, and the market is huge. Secondly, the policy in Nanjing is quite unique, as buying a house allows for settling down, and many college students who stay in Nanjing have a greater demand for buying a house. Thirdly, compared to first tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the housing prices in Nanjing are relatively low. As an ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, Nanjing has a profound cultural heritage and relatively complete transportation and other infrastructure, making it highly attractive to foreign populations, especially high-level talents. Fourthly, the overall development of the real estate industry is good. Gong Fangxiong from JPMorgan Chase has also pointed out that the next decade will be a golden decade for the real estate industry. China's urbanization level is still improving, and housing is a rigid demand, so there is still room for the real estate market. However, developing in Nanjing also has certain drawbacks for startups like Goldman Sachs, mainly due to the large number of central and foreign enterprises and fierce competition. Our development strategy is rooted in Nanjing and aimed at second - and third tier cities in Jiangsu Province.
Reporter: With fierce competition in the real estate industry, what do you think is the reason why your company has been able to develop at a high speed?
Lin Hongwei: The company's main projects in Nanjing, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou are Youth Apartments, aiming to create the first home for young people. The current model adopted by the company is mainly crowdfunding for building houses, which has similarities with fundraising for building houses. Crowdfunding for building houses establishes a youth fund, which combines the fund and the construction agency. Homebuyers need to participate as shareholders of the fund, and finally entrust the development company to carry out the construction on their behalf. Through this new model, our goal is to make housing prices 20% to 30% lower than those in the surrounding areas. Under this model, the supervision of funds is stricter, and the quality of construction companies is better. The company will launch its first such project around August, focusing on creating a unit size of about 60 square meters to meet the needs of young people for their first home in big cities. Goldman Sachs has always adjusted projects based on the needs of the people, rather than following the rules of buying land, building houses, and selling houses. Goldman Sachs also attaches great importance to property management in the later stage, as it is a long-term profit and an accumulation of the company's reputation and credibility. So while Goldman Sachs is comprehensively improving the quality of housing, it is also focusing on improving the level of property services in the later stage, aligning with Landsea, New City, and others.
Reporter: The rapid development of an enterprise not only requires correct strategic planning, but also the superior leadership ability of leaders. So, what do you think is the core of enterprise management?
Lin Hongwei: As is well known, the real estate industry is now a blue ocean, and the formulation of target strategies is very important. Only a clear company positioning and innovative work ideas can make the company stand out. In addition, choosing excellent partners is also very beneficial for the development of the company. For example, when Shanghai Jiashu Company entered Vanke in 2001, it was still a small company, but now its annual profit has reached 45 billion yuan. It has grown with Vanke's growth. Large enterprises like Vanke have already achieved excellent refinement and quality management. If your partner is such a large enterprise, it can shorten the time for your own business development exploration. Finally, the reasonable construction of the company structure, the complementary personalities of co founders or partners, the cultivation of employee loyalty, the scientific selection of personnel, and the employment mechanism will also play a crucial role in the development of the enterprise.
Reporter: How busy are you currently at work, but you still choose to pursue an MBA at Hohai University? How did you consider this?
Lin Hongwei: People still need to constantly learn throughout their lives. I studied water conservancy engineering in college, but after graduation, I did not engage in this field of work. I went to Sade Thermal Power first. It's a 9-to-5 work unit, and I don't really like jobs that are too conventional. Later on, I realized that consulting companies had more prospects, so I restructured a consulting company with a few friends and gradually grew from a very small scale. At that time, I wanted to expand the enterprise, but gradually a bottleneck period emerged. A long time ago, I had the idea of returning to campus, studying again, and recharging myself. I chose to pursue an MBA at Hohai by chance. In 2007, I happened to see the recruitment advertisement for the MBA program at Hohai University in the elevator and thought it was quite good, so I signed up. At that time, it was still the first edition of the Changzhou campus. The learning effect this time was very good, with a lot of interaction with the teachers, and the theoretical level has indeed improved a lot. My classmates come from different industries, and the MBA program at Hohai University provides me with a good platform for communication. The alumni resources are also very abundant.
Reporter: How do you balance work and family relationships while achieving success in your career? And how do you manage your free time?
Lin Hongwei: My child is now in sixth grade, and I insist on sending him to school every day. I believe that parents must communicate with their children, pay attention to changes in their thinking, and guide them accordingly. Although I am currently too busy with work, I force myself to take a break every weekend afternoon, go out with friends to play golf, badminton, and do some exercise. If I finish work early, I will go for a walk in the park. I like to read books in my spare time. Now, with the development of information technology, there are many subscription accounts on WeChat that are also very good. I suggest that you also pay more attention to some good subscription accounts on WeChat, read more, pay more attention to current affairs and politics, broaden your knowledge, and improve your cultivation. This will be very helpful in external communication.
(Reporter from Business School Alumni Department: Chen Ye and Zhang Jiayuan)
