Chinese Bodyguard Entrepreneur Sees Big Profits From Protection
19 October 2018 21:29 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - China has seen increasing demands for bodyguards. The increasing number of the rich and widening gap between the poor and the rich has made bodyguards in great demand.
China's newly wealthy are not generally targeted by criminals and kidnappers - as happens in countries such as Venezuela - but anger is growing about the widening gap between rich and poor.There have been isolated incidents of people attacking luxury cars involved in accidents with less well-off citizens.
One businessman, who asked to be identified only by his family name Zhang, said he approached former soldier Chen Yongqing after a friend was kidnapped and killed. Zhang now employs 18 bodyguards hired from Tianjiao."Apart from the security in my company, they are also responsible for the safety of my family," Zhang said. "Society is not stable nowadays."
Indeed, Chen Yongqing has big ambitions for his bodyguard training school, charging 500,000 yuan (50,317.54 pounds) a year for each protector, as China's rich and famous look to bolster their safety and sense of importance."When we started our business, most of our clients were celebrities," Chen, 30, told Reuters. "Most of our clients now are rich entrepreneurs. It's all related to their business because I think bodyguards are also a status symbol."
Chen's company Tianjiao, which he says is China's first professional academy to train former soldiers and others as bodyguards, is doing so well that he is considering a stock market listing. Tianjiao has hired trainers from Israel and Russia, and is looking to France and Britain as well, Chen said, although the company also works closely with the Chinese military.
"We provide a better platform for retired soldiers, of whom there are thousands every year, so they can get a better job. It would be a waste of talent if these soldiers work as security guards for 2,000 yuan a month," he said.
REUTERS | TRIP B