Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Tuesday, Aug 05, 2025

Meet the richest person in Taiwan, who built an $11.7 billion fortune by making shoes for brands like Nike and Vans — and started it all on a pig farm

Meet the richest person in Taiwan, who built an $11.7 billion fortune by making shoes for brands like Nike and Vans — and started it all on a pig farm

Zhang started his first shoe business on a pig farm next to paddy fields in Taiwan. Today, the founder of Huali makes shoes for Nike and Vans.

He started his first shoe business on a pig farm. Today, Zhang Congyuan is Taiwan's richest person, and he's built his $11.7 billion fortune making sneakers for some of the world's biggest brands.

The 74-year-old is also the richest self-made newcomer on this year's Forbes' World Billionaires list, an annual ranking of the wealthiest people in the world.

As founder of Huali Industrial Group, Zhang's firm produces shoes for brands such as Nike, Ugg, and Vans. Huali churns out more than 180 million pairs of shoes a year, according to Bloomberg.

For all of his success, he maintains a low profile, rarely giving interviews or appearing at public events. Taiwanese media calls him the "mysterious shoe king."

Humble beginnings


Born into a farming family in the Taiwanese countryside of Yunlin, Zhang worked in a women's shoe factory after graduating from an agricultural college, according to Taiwan's Business Weekly.

He eventually saved up enough money to start his own shoe factory in the 1980s — although he had his limitations.

"I had no money at home, so I had to live within my means. People buy good plots of land to build new buildings, I got a pig farm and a farmhouse in the countryside," he told the magazine in a rare interview last year.

Housed next to paddy fields in western Taiwan, the pig farm produced quality shoes despite its shabby exteriors, the magazine reported, citing Chiang Wei-lun, an executive of shoe box firm Goodbox.

"Zhang spent money on good materials, and his equipment was never inferior to other people," Chiang said.

By the late 1980s, Zhang had set up several other footwear ventures across Taiwan and in China's southern province of Guangdong. The competition was rife: Guangdong is known as "the world's factory," where everything from handbags and shoes to Christmas decorations is made for export.

But Zhang saw an opportunity to set himself apart, Business Weekly reported. That opportunity was vulcanized shoes — the type of shoes popular with skateboarders for their gummy, pliable rubber soles. Even though vulcanized shoes are cheap to produce, the style was not popular with shoemakers at the time because it was unfashionable and signaled low profits.

"Other people in the industry gave up on them, but I just wanted to focus on achieving good quality (shoes)," Zhang told the magazine.

When these shoes started becoming trendy in the 1990s, Zhang already had a headstart and was able to produce them for the likes of Vans and Converse. Converse filed for bankruptcy in 2001, but Zhang maintained relations with the brand, the magazine said. Two years later, when Nike acquired Converse, it was on Converse's recommendation that Nike work with Zhang.

Zhang officially set up Huali Industrial in 2004, and today, it has factories in China, Vietnam, and Dominica.

Asked about his secret to success, he told Business Weekly that "there is no mystery."

"To get to the bottom of it, it's only about whether you have the determination to do better than others," he said.

Insider reached out to Zhang for comment through Huali Group but did not immediately receive a response.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
×