Source: CCTV.com

10-05-2007 17:42

The Olympic Games can provide immense business opportunities, but that can be expensive. To become a global partner of the 2008 Beijing Olympics can cost hundreds of millions of yuan in sponsorship. That's a price that would scare most businesses away. So how can small private businesses reap benefits from the Olympics?

In 1999, Xiao Yunyan made a big decision. She wanted to make a pair of shoes for every Chinese athlete at the 2008 Olympic Games. And she quickly began to act.

Xiao Yunyan said, "I had the idea in the 1990s when China made its first bid to host the 2000 Olympics. Then in 1999 I saw on TV that China was bidding for 2008. I said to myself, 'Hurry. Don't miss the opportunity.'"