When Zhang Congyuan started his sneaker business more than three decades ago, he couldn’t afford a regular factory, so he converted a pig farm next to paddy fields in western Taiwan.
Today, the founder of Huali Industrial Group is worth more than $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Huali, which counts Nike Inc., Converse Inc. and Vans Inc. among its customers, produces more than 180 million pairs of shoes a year.
Huali’s shares have surged 162% since going public in Shenzhen in April, propelling Zhang, who owns 87% of the company along with his family, to the top of the island’s rich list. He’s now wealthier than more famous names such as Terry Gou of Foxconn Technology Group, which makes iPhones for Apple Inc. It’s another example of a Taiwanese entrepreneur minting a vast fortune in contract manufacturing.