"The most valuable wealth I inherited from my father was the craftsmanship pursuit of doing the best in every pair of shoes," says Zheng Laili, an entrepreneur from Wenzhou, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province.
Zheng Laili is the daughter of Zheng Xiukang, founder of Kangnai Group Co., in Wenzhou. Zheng Laili now serves as the company's president. She joined Kangnai in 1998, in an entry-level factory position. She rose through the ranks, to become a core leader of the company, as she gained experience and greater familiarity with the shoe-making process.
In recent years, Zheng Laili has spearheaded the company's digital transformation. She has been an outstanding representative of the second generation of entrepreneurs in China, and she has guided Kangnai as it has achieved "step-by-step excellence" through innovation.
Zheng Laili has been honored with numerous awards, including being named a National March 8th Red-Banner Holder and an Outstanding New Generation Entrepreneur in Zhejiang Province. In 2023, she was elected a deputy to the 14th Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress. In 2024, she was appointed part-time Vice-President of Wenzhou Women's Federation.
In 1998, after she graduated from Tianjin Institute of Finance and Economics, Zheng Laili accepted an internship with a world-renowned accounting firm in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong Province. She was offered a position with the firm, given her outstanding performance, after she completed the internship. That left Zheng Laili in a quandary; she felt it was a good opportunity, but her father, Zheng Xiukang, asked her to return home and help him build and expand the family business. Zheng Laili recognized the responsibility of inheriting her family's business, as well as the opportunity οf transforming from an employee to an innovator. Eventually she chose to return home and work with her father.
She returned to Wenzhou, joined Kangnai, and worked as a leather cutter in the workshop. The job was anything but easy; in fact, the leather was extremely thick, so she had to use all of her physical strength to cut it to specification. Blisters grew on Zheng Laili's hands, and that concerned the workshop director, who suggested to Zheng Xiukang that she be given another, less-demanding position. Instead, Zheng Xiukang gave Zheng Laili a pair of gloves.
As she became familiar with the production workflow, Zheng Laili realized many of the tasks could be automated. She recognized the benefits, and challenges, of transforming the footwear industry — a traditional manufacturing sector — into a high-tech sector. She also wanted to break external gender biases, with her capabilities; essentially, she wanted to prove her value, but through her actions.
In 2001, Kangnai had more than 60 employees with responsibility for making production plans. Despite the low error rate, human errors were unavoidable. To that point, no one in the footwear industry in Wenzhou had adopted an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to streamline production. Using her university education in computer science, Zheng Laili quickly identified areas for improvement in the shoe-making process. She worked with a software company, in Shenzhen, to develop a tailored ERP system. In 2001, after the system was implemented, Kangnai achieved 100 percent accuracy in its production planning, and it reduced to two the number of its production planning staff.
After the company's successful integration οf ERP, Zheng Laili spearheaded further upgrades, including the company's approval, financial and sales distribution-requirement-planning (DRP) systems. The latter system involved more than 2,800 national terminals.
Each department that could benefit from computerization underwent upgrades and improvements. In recent years, all of the systems used by Kangnai have been migrated to mobile platforms.
By standing on an intelligent foot-measurement device for about 30 seconds, a customer can quickly, and accurately, determine the dimensions of his or her feet, which aids in shoe selection and/or customization. If the customer wants to customize the shoes, the measurements will be transmitted to Kangnai's "smart factory," and he or she will receive a comfortable, well-fitting pair of shoes within seven days.
"Although some may view us as a traditional industry, we are undergoing a metamorphosis into a high-tech sector, through brand enhancement, technological innovation, IT infrastructure development and smart manufacturing," Zheng Laili says. Kangnai plans to invest 100 million yuan (US $14.1 million) in IT infrastructure and smart factory construction. The company is leading the sector in upgrades.
In addition to running her enterprise well, Zheng Laili also contributes to poverty-alleviation and public-welfare projects. She has led her company in donating more than 56 million yuan (US $7.9 million) to in-need people, and she has founded several foundations to support poverty-alleviation and disaster-relief efforts.
"The craftsmanship of making a good pair of shoes, and the spirit of being proactive, daring to lead and creating excellence in every step, are ever-lasting. The valuable experience left by my father gives me the courage to continue to innovate and start new ventures, which, in turn, will infuse fresh vitality into the traditional industry," says Zheng Laili.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly July 2025)
Editor: Wang Shasha
