Crazy Rich EducAsians: Part 2

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To say that the private education industry is booming in China would be something of an understatement, with estimates valuing the private tutoring market alone at nearly RMB 380 billion. So it’s no wonder that of the 290 richest Beijingers listed last year, 12 of them made their fortunes in after-school services and international education.

In this two-part series, we profile the folks who have cashed in on this growing demand, and are helping to keep China’s youth competitive in a global market place. Read part one here.

Liu Yachao – TAL Education Group

When Liu Yachao joined TAL Education Group – then known as Xueersi – in the early 00s, he was the company’s first math tutor. From these humble beginnings, Liu helped create the multi-billion dollar tutoring behemoth that TAL is today, having moved from director of the middle school program to Chief Operating Officer in just 12 years.

Li Yong – Yuanfudao

Li Yong got his start as a journalist, writing for such publications as Worker’s Daily, Finance and Economics Magazine, Southern Weekly, and Global Entrepreneur. His background in business served him well, and in 2012 he founded Yuanfudao, the largest tutoring services platform offering live online classes. What sets Yuanfudao apart from so many of its competitors is the fact that the company boasts a veritable education ecosystem, complete with tutors, learning materials, curriculum design, and one-off classes and lectures to help students zero in on particular problems they’re facing. Having cemented themselves as the leader in China’s online teaching industry, Li and Yuanfudao are now paying it forwarded, and just this month invested heavily in another education startup, Oda Class.

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Yi Dinghong & Wu Jingyu – Huatu

After a long and storied career as a college professor and distinguished lecturer, Yi Dinghong and his wife, Wu Jingyu, founded Huatu Education Group in 2001. Whereas many of the billionaires featured on this list have cornered various aspects of the online and after school training center markets, Huatu has its hands in numerous fields including onsite tutoring, publishing, online tutoring, and even a business school, amongst other ventures. In fact, their net is cast so wide that in addition to the regular primary and secondary school students served by such enterprises, Huatu also has programs for retired soldiers, teachers, medical professionals, and civil servants. In 2009, Huatu was the first training facility of its kind to be listed publicly on the NASDAQ.

Bai Yunfeng – TAL Education Group

As the co-founder and President of TAL Education Group, Bai Yunfeng is the third person from the company to make this list of 12 education billionaires (including Zhang Bangxin from last week’s list). Bai graduated from Beihang University in 2003, and by 2010, he and his team were the youngest to have rung the opening bell of the NYSE. Clearly Bai isn’t content to just make money, but is on a relentless pursuit of knowledge as well, and in 2017 began a doctoral program at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management.

Li Xiaoxuan – China New Higher Education Group

Li Xiaoxuan seems to keep a pretty low profile online, such that it was difficult to even find a picture of him. Nevertheless, Li founded New Higher Education Group in 2016 and has served as its Chairman and Executive Director ever since. Whereas so many of the companies and individuals on this list got into early education and online tutoring, Li saw a void in the higher education market, and thus set out to start a center which focuses on applied sciences, and preparing students for the job market. What’s more, New Higher Education also operates a teacher development program, which ensures that teachers adhere to standards consistent with the country’s educational philosophies.

Ou Peng – Sunlands Technology

Ou Peng graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Renmin University in 2000. Three years later, he started Sunlands Online Education Group. It wasn’t until 2018 that the company became Sunlands Technology. Like New Higher Education, Sunlands Technology specializes in online tutoring for degree and diploma seeking students, and offers courses in 18 majors including Chinese language and literature, human resource management, convention management, preschool education, and more. They boast a large reserve of educational content, which conforms to each students’ needs, and is funneled into their proprietary technology, Learning Outcome Trees.

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Photos: all-free-download.com, caixinglobal.com, prnewswire.com, huatu.org, pandadaily.com, guronge.com, www.xingaojiao.com

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