Guizhou businessman Wu Chengdong could never have imagined what a great success his company would become, even exporting goods to as far away as Germany, back when he started the small and shabby toilet lid factory in Guangzhou, Guangdong province many years ago.

Knowing precious little about running a company, Wu decided to start his business after being inspired by a PhD paper concerning toilet lid factories in Zhejiang province.

Although his original motivation was merely to have some experience to add to his MBA application, an Italian company soon ordered 2,000 toilet lids from him. With his products going above and beyond the European market's strict quality requirements, he began to receive orders from businesses in Germany.

Guizhou tea gets promoted to German marketeers. [Photo/gog.cn]

Three years after entering the German market, his products had won the hearts of medium and high-end customers.

A new business opportunity then presented itself in the form of Guizhou tea and Wu's friend, businessman Wang Lei.

Having studied in Bonn, Wang was familiar with German culture and saw an opportunity to sell Guizhou tea in Germany.

Being confident in the quality of Guizhou tea, Wang carried out various promotional activities to win over the country's coffee-dominated beverage market and become the first Chinese company with its own subsidiary agricultural product band in the country.

Toilet lids made in Guizhou are exhibited in a German store. [Photo/gog.cn]

Today, Wu's toilet lids occupy 80 percent of the medium and high-end market in Germany, while Wang's tea is an expensive, premium brand. Both helped to open the market for Guizhou goods in Germany.

Wu and Wang are now working together to improve the output of toilet lids. The promising economic situation in Guizhou gives them confidence and they are preparing to open new factories in Germany.