Old school ties, business opportunities? (2)

New business

Deng Jiang is the founder of Tong Chuang Hui (literally, "classmate reunion"), a Beijing-based company that organizes reunion gatherings and parties. The company has been busy recently, with his 10 staff members handling six to seven orders each week to organize classmate reunions.

"The New Year's Day and Spring Festival holidays are drawing near, and they are popular periods for reunions," Deng told the Global Times.

He started the company in 2007, and it specializes in Beijing and nearby markets. Deng said he receives about 100 orders each year, and most of the clients are people who graduated from university 10 or more years ago.

After receiving an order, the company signs a contract with the class member who is in charge of the reunion, according to Deng.

The company first sends invitations to class members and teachers, and then contacts them by telephone. After the number of participants is decided, the company books hotels, restaurants and buses and also designs gifts, souvenir T-shirts and commemorative albums. During the reunion party, the company takes photos and videos to send out later.

Wen Neng, founder of Yuanhe Network, another firm offering reunion services based in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times that charges for each reunion vary from 1,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan per person, according to the different standards of accommodation, dining and souvenirs required.

Wen's company was one of the first in the sector. He started by organizing reunions for his schoolmates when he was a sophomore at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in 2006. After graduating, he started Yuanhe Network in 2008, initially relying on schoolmate connections at his university. He has since opened branches in five other cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

According to Wen, most reunions have around 30 participants. Given that the average price is around 1,500 yuan per person, the company can make around 45,000 yuan in revenue from each party.

In 2011, he received more than 60 orders in Nanjing alone, making 3 million yuan in revenue, and a high profit margin of roughly 50 percent. Deng said his company also has a healthy profit margin, of 30 to 40 percent.

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