A wind power farm run by China International Energy Source Group. The company also plans to build a wind farm with an installed capacity of 5 million kilowatts in West China. Photos provided to China Daily

Though he has had his share of missteps in his long career, Wu Guodi has resolved to continue taking risks while using each failure as an opportunity to grow, Hao Nan reports.

Counterintuitive though it may seem, Wu Guodi said it is the mistakes he has made in his 40-year career that are the keys to his success.

Wu said that learning from mistakes and growing through challenges has made him into the entrepreneur he is today.

Born in 1960 in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Wu showed great business acumen at an early age. He fished in the sea starting at age 12 to hone his mental toughness amid the tempestuous gales and surging waves. He also tried various businesses from 6 to 18 years old.

"I went through many tough problems but was never afraid, because I believe solutions are always over difficulties. I will dominate over the problems and solve them one by one in effective means," Wu said.

Difficulties have inspired his potential and the entrepreneur also values the spirit of reflecting on the past to learn from mistakes.

The capstone of his business career came in 2005, when Wu was elected the board chairman and Party chief of China International Energy Source Group - also known as CIEG - a large industrial giant that owns dozens of joint ventures. The group's investment covers such fields as oil, gas, mineral resources, new energies and marine bunkering.

Gratitude is another word that Wu often speaks of.

As a corporate leader, Wu said the best way for expressing thanks is to give back to the society. The group donates a large sum of its profits to public welfare initiatives or new energy research annually.

"We regard environmental protection as the top priority in all the company's projects," Wu said. "We now spend half of our energies working on the research and development of new energies."

He said that CIEG and its joint ventures have together built a wind power plant with an installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts in Jilin province. It also plans to invest 60 billion yuan ($9.9 billion) to build a wind farm with an installed capacity of 5 million kilowatts in West China.

"Nobody knows when we can recoup our investments, but our company is willing to invest in the field, with money that we earned from the traditional energy industries to respond to the central government's call and benefit Chinese people," he said.

Also, the group plans to operate 200 methanol gas stations this year. In 2020, the company's methanol gasoline production will reach 20 million tons, with an annual sales income exceeding 100 billion yuan.

CIEG also attaches great importance to continually making profits for its shareholders with its sound business performance.

The group started to implement the diversification of equities in 2008, when many other company holders tried to keep control of the venture.

"The initiative aims to create a supervision system and establish a transparent management structure. It can also help reduce the risks of getting the company into trouble with some leaders who do not quite understand the market," Su said.

The company's shareholders include State-owned companies, foreign-capital enterprises and private corporations. Half of them are Fortune Global 500 companies and time-honored businesses with a history of over 100 years.

CIEG also features an advanced risk-control mechanism.

This high awareness of risk control is a result of Wu's own experience. A joint venture under his leadership was once cheated and lost billions of yuan.

"Li Ka-Shing said he spends 90 percent of his time studying failure, and I can't agree more," he said. "Now, the world-class risk defense system used by the group comes from analyzing the mistakes of the past 30 years."

Contact the writer at haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/12/2014 page7)