Profile

Zhang Li, a MBA alumni of Tongji SEM 2009, Chairman of Shanghai Jokoson Environmental Engineering Co., LTD. 

Pioneer for “Clear Water and Green Hills”

Twelve years ago, after graduating from college, Zhang Li started to work for a German-funded enterprise in Shanghai, which is the largest industrial cleaning equipment supplier worldwide. “For any project that can make 100% perfect, the German company always requires itself getting the full score even though customers require 90% only.” Zhang said that the German enterprise culture of preciseness and meticulousness, powerful execution, strong logic and innovation made great impact on her career, and she also tried to make the best of herself. Due to her excellent performance, Zhang Li was promoted to the Vice President of the company starting from the Secretary of the General Manager within six years, during when she gratifyingly attained her master degree of Tongji University. 

Zhang went to Italy for advanced study of “City and Environment” courses through an exchange program in Tongji after attainment of master degree in 2011, that two years before the “Haze” concept officially entered Chinese public view, while environmental protection was already a worldwide issue, and the environmental protection industry was in the ascendant. Western developed countries put tremendous investment in the environmental protection industry, and many excellent manufacturing enterprises attach great importance to factory environmental management. In the domestic, green hills and clear water is the golden mountain. And in the new era of ecological civilization, the vision of building a beautiful China has been officially brought into the national agenda. Zhang Li asked herself, why not start a business of China’s industrial pollution control? 

After return from Italy, Zhang Li talked about her ides with her research supervisor on starting a business for industrial clients specializing in overall environmental solution service, including disposal of waste of ground and from height, solid waste and liquid waste. Zhang Li’s idea was supported by her mentor, and under whose recommendation, Zhang applied for and successfully obtained the ninth grant fund of Shanghai University Student Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation Tongji Fund. ” I feel geniality to start a business in Tongji.” In 2012, Shanghai Jokoson Environmental Engineering Co., LTD established by Zhang Li joined Tongji incubator. The business is about environmental engineering, while she majored in  management in Tongji that has little connection with the Environmental Institute. After entering Tongji incubator, they were invited to join Shanghai Tongji Environmental Protection Industry (League) Promotion Center so that they could seamlessly connect with the school subjects and play alliance advantages. 

Zhang Li’s team started from a private house in the pioneering stage of the company. They could not find any decoration team willing to work overtime with the approaching of Chinese Spring Festival. In order to start business right after the Spring Festival, Zhang gave up chance of reunion, and after a new year call to her parents, she did the painting and tidying work together with her partners till midnight. During the following five years, Zhang Li’s company moved for four times, service points increased from one to more than 20, and five domestic branches and overseas office were set up. Nowadays, Jokoson has built a service network covering 80 cities nationwide. 

The initial orders of Jokoson were all obtained through Zhang Li’s on-site visits. Initially, only large state-owned enterprises and foreign companies had the need for industrial environmental services. Zhang’s first order came from a global Top 500 foreign company with oil mist disposal demand. Over the past five years, depending on its technical strength, Jokoson has provided integrated environmental solutions for industries such as tobacco, electric power, chemical industry, municipal sanitation,etc.. In terms of operation philosophy, Zhang Li insists on communicating with clients for 50% of the time, for she believes that the customer demands is the greatest motivation for r&d and innovation. 

Embrace the Future of Environmental Protection Industry

Referring to Jokoson’s core competitiveness, Zhang believes that it’s not only the environmental protection equipment and technology, more important is that Jokoson provides overall environmental protection plans. Jokoson put forward a concept of “overall advanced cleaning service” in allusion to the working spot environment of China’s manufacturing industry. Using advanced cleaning equipment, Jokoson provide industrial customers with comprehensive no-secondary pollution environmental disposal solution in the scope of height to ground, and gas, liquid and solid, helping enterprises to improve work efficiency and meanwhile to create a safe and healthy working environment for first-line employees. 

The aim of Jokoson is to minimize the pollution generated in the process of industrial production in China. It has provided indoor industrial environmental disposal solution for over 80 world Top 500 enterprises in the past few yeas, including Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, China Space Ministry, IKEA (China), Jiangsu Electric Power, SKF Bearing, Western Electric, Shanghai Steam Turbine, Novartis, etc. 

Over the past five years, Jokoson has developed from several employees to over one hundred nowadays, with more than 50 experienced high quality experts and engineers. It possesses independent intellectual property rights, patent inventions and software copyrights and has won many honors in environmental protection innovation and entrepreneurship competition domestically and abroad, and sales of this year is expected to exceed 100 million yuan. Zhang believes that the biggest achievement in the past five years is not how many orders they take, but the fact that many domestic enterprises start to pay attention to environmental pollution. At present, Jokoson has completed two rounds of financing and is expected to land on NEEQ. Zhang hopes the company to go public in Hong Kong in the future so as to have more opportunities to reach mature companies abroad. 

Public Welfare to Reward Alma Mater

In May 2017, Zhang Li donated 11 million yuan to alma mater at the 110th anniversary of Tongji University, setting up “Tongji University Jokoson Fund”, consisting of “Jokoson” Development Fund of the Communist Youth League Committee of Tongji University , “Jokoson” Special Fund of Environmental Science and Engineering College of Tongji University and “Jokoson” Special Fund of School of Economics and Management of Tongji University, which is used to for young talent cultivation, key disciplines construction and teaching staff construction, etc. 

Zhang Li stated in a speech that entrepreneurs of the generation after 80s had sentiment for alma mater who endowed her the spirit of “helping each other in the same condition” and shaped her of the quality of innovation, sharing and tolerance that played an important role during her pioneering period. Since the start of the business, it has obtained great help and support from alma mater in incubation and cultivation, and in participation in innovation and entrepreneurship competition for personal experience, even in the development of Jokoson today. Jokoson can’t go so far without the backup force of “Tongji University”. Through this donation, Zhang Li hopes to encourage more young students to work hard, to create more social values and to contribute for the development of the school. Meanwhile, Zhang Li also hopes to influence the subsequent entrepreneurs by herself, and carry forward the entrepreneurship of Tongji – “helping each other and being grounded”.