A young entrepreneur's story: taking up mother's chiropody tools

In 1998, Yu passed away. Chen said publicly at her mother’s funeral, “I will continue my mother’s work and continue to make a contribution to this business, effectively passing on and developing the craft.” In August 1998, with the help of the Xi’an Women's Federation, Chen’s first chiropody training class started. “My mother wished to open training classes while she was alive. There were lots of workers who had been made redundant at that time and my mother had always wanted to give them help and enable them to make a living,” said Chen.

Restricted by the small scale of the class, Chen got the idea to establish a school. However, the road to this dream was filled with hardship and helplessness. Both fund raising and selecting a location for the school were tough issues. With help from various parties, Chen received 50,000 yuan in financial aid from the Youth Business China (YBC) program and founded the “Yu Sumei chiropody training school”.

Currently, Chen has been engaged in improving marketing strategies and management skills under the guidance of YBC instructors while continuing to pass on her mother’s craft and skills to newcomers. To date, nearly 100 trainees have graduated and have all landed jobs. Chen expects more “Sumeis” to emerge from the business, relying on sophisticated skills to become excellent “chiropodists for the people.”

Chen Yan holds a photo of her mother Yu Sumei working