Ren Zhengfei

Born on October 25, 1944 into a rural family where both parents were school teachers, Mr. Ren Zhengfei spent his primary and middle school years in a remote mountainous town in Guizhou Province. In 1963, he studied at the Chongqing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture. After graduation, he was employed in the civil engineering industry until 1974 when he joined the military's Engineering Corps as a soldier tasked to establish the Liao Yang Chemical Fiber Factory. Subsequently, Mr. Ren had taken positions as a Technician, an Engineer, and was lastly promoted as a Deputy Director, which was a professional role equivalent to a Deputy Regimental Chief, but without military rank. Because of his outstanding performance, Mr. Ren was invited to attend the National Science Conference in 1978 and the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1982. Mr. Ren retired from the army in 1983 when the Chinese government disbanded the entire Engineering Corps. He then worked in the logistics service base of the Shenzhen South Sea Oil Corporation. As he was dissatisfied with his job, he decided to establish Huawei with a capital of CNY21,000 in 1987. He became the CEO of Huawei in 1988 and has held the title ever since.