Neptunus Group, one of Shenzhen's outstanding companies, has become a leader in China's medical health industry since its founding 27 years ago. But few people know that its founder Zhang Simin is a businessman from Jilin province.

Zhang Simin，president of the Neptunus Group.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Born in Changchun city in 1962, Zhang graduated from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 1983. When he was 27, in 1989, Zhang created the group in Shenzhen with a dream to promote the national health industry, and soon came up with the group’s first innovative marine medicine – Neptunus Golden Oyster Capsule. With his concept of "revitalizing the enterprise with science and technology" and an innovative spirit, young Zhang led his team to a rapid rise in the Chinese medicine market, and he became an outstanding representative of young entrepreneurs.

Neptunus Group has grown into a large enterprise with a relatively complete industrial chain and strong competencies in product innovation and business models. Its brand value, currently 44.785 billion yuan, has topped the national medicine industry for 13 consecutive years. With sales of 28 billion yuan in 2015 and three listed firms, the company is one of the best in the industry in China in terms of comprehensive strength.

One of the spirits of Jilin merchants, aggressiveness, is well reflected in Zhang; "breakthroughs in business are created by people", he says. This view is in accord with China's strategy of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation".

Zhang has persisted in the industry for 27 years. According to international standards, research on a first-class new medicine takes about five billion dollars and a dozen years, which have put most companies in despair. But Zhang never stops his investments in new medicine research because he believes "no innovation, no hope".

"The key part of innovation is perseverance. You must try if you think it might work out. The ones who last till the end must be those with persistence, which is one of the features of entrepreneurs. They have made achievements amid nothing but setbacks. And innovation is their gene and cell," said Zhang firmly.

Zhang has profound understandings about the ultimate model of industrial development through years of experience. He said that the US medical health industry has nurtured a dozen Fortune 500 companies in fields including pharmacy, medical distribution, chain drugstores and health care products. While the Chinese market is not in competition with the US, China has a large population, fast-growing economy and increasing incomes and the public is eager for quality and fair health care.

Zhang feels confident about the group's future growth. According to him, Neptunus is pushing forward two big innovative strategies, and is struggling towards a goal worth hundreds of billions of yuan.