Business

‘No one owns Huawei but its employees’

Published

5 years ago

2020/12/28

By Jiang Xisheng

Sweden’s telecom regulator, PTS, recently excluded the country’s operators from using Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, justifying the action by saying that any vendor based in China posed an automatic threat to Swedish national security.

Such misconceptions could prevent Swedish households and businesses from enjoying the benefits of Huawei’s innovation. Unfortunately, they are reinforced by the press. For example, an editorial column published in Dagens Industri on November 10 suggests, “China should open Huawei for foreign ownership” . This recommendation, while undoubtedly well-intentioned, displays a profound misunderstanding of how our company is structured and managed.

Huawei was founded in 1987, and I joined in Huawei in 1989. Back then banks were reluctant to lend money to small start-up companies. Huawei had to raise capital by selling shares to employees, an arrangement that continues to this day. Employees buy shares with their own money, and receive annual dividends based on the number of shares they hold. They also elect members to form a Representatives’ Commission on a one-vote-per-share basis. The Commission elects the company’s Board of Directors. Such a profit- and risk-sharing system provides Huawei with the funds it needs for long-term growth and lays the foundations for its governance and management.

Being privately held frees Huawei from the short-term pressures faced by publicly listed companies, whose shareholders expect them to meet quarterly earnings targets. Liberated from such external pressures, Huawei can maintain its long-term focus on research and development, while shareholding employees can reap higher rewards.

Currently, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei holds about 1% stake of Huawei; the rest is held by Huawei’s union, the platform through which employees own the company. It is common and legitimate for companies in China to set up trade unions to serve as their shareholding platforms. Although the media likes to describe this arrangement as opaque, it is actually not so different from what one finds at employee-owned companies elsewhere in the world, including John Lewis Partnership (a department store group in the UK) and Essilor (a French-based international ophthalmic optics company).

In fact, our ownership structure is embraced by many Swedish companies today. Last year’s European company Survey, shows 11% of all companies in Sweden’s private sector have employee share ownership schemes – more than double the European average. Perhaps the model appeals to Sweden’s egalitarian sensibilities: Employees are paid differently based on the work they do, but there is a transparent profit-sharing mechanism in place. People feel empowered, care about the quality of their work, and continually think about ways to improve the business. Some European experts have concluded that Huawei is implementing “employee capitalism.”

Detractors allege that we became a global leader through government support. In fact, the company has succeeded for the opposite reason: we operate independently and follow the logic of business, not politics. From its inception in 1987 until the early 2000s, Huawei competed with Chinese state-owned enterprises, many of which later shrank to insignificance or disappeared completely. This result should not surprise capitalists, who understand that in most cases, state-owned or -controlled companies tend to lose their competitiveness due to bureaucracy and low efficiency. This is particularly true in the high-tech industry. Why has China’s tech industry developed so fast and so well? Perhaps in part because, since the 1980s, China has opened its market to, and provided a level playing field for, companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, and other foreign companies.

The PTS statement reminded me of China’s period of political turmoil in the 1960s and 1970s. Because my family were classified as landowners, I almost missed the chance to attend university. I hope the PTS can perform an objective, fair, and fact-based assessment, and make decisions that will benefit the whole of Sweden. Huawei’s door is always open for Swedish politicians, researchers, journalists, and others to visit company facilities and its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Room, and exchange ideas about the system the company has built over the past three decades.

In the meantime, the facts remain unchanged: No government entity dictates Huawei’s business or investment decisions, and no one owns Huawei but Huawei’s employees.

Jiang Xisheng is Chief Secretary of the Board at Huawei.

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Business

Wealth Trust Securities to raise Rs. 500.8 million via IPO

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/10

Thilina Walpola

Left to right: Timothy Speldewinde, Independent Non-Executive Director; Anarkali Moonesinghe, Non-Independent Non-Executive Director; Priyanthi Abeyesekere, Deputy CEO; Senaka Weerasooria, chairman (Non-Independent Non-Executive Director); Romesh Gomez, Managing Director/CEO (Non- Independent Executive Director); Tarusha Weerasooria, Non-Independent Non- Executive Director; Shanti Gnanapragasam, Independent Non-Executive Director; and Tivanka Perera, Vice President – Asia Securities Advisors (Pvt) Ltd.

The recent announcement of Wealth Trust Securities Ltd.’s Rs. 500.8 million Initial Public Offering -IPO- comes at a moment when Sri Lanka’s interest-rate environment is gradually easing, allowing well-capitalised primary dealers to expand their trading portfolios and secure long-term positions in government securities.

Company chairman Senaka Weerasooria told journalists in Colombo that the IPO is not merely a capital-raising exercise, but a reinforcement of the disciplined structure that has defined the company since its inception.

He noted that WTS enters the public market with what is already one of the most robust capital bases in the industry, and with “absolute confidence that investors are joining a journey that has consistently returned value.”

Weerasooria said the capital infusion will further solidify WTS’s ability to absorb volatility, particularly amid cyclical movements in Treasury yields.

Despite maintaining a conservative trading outlook, the company has managed to average a 31% ROE over the past twelve years — a figure management repeatedly highlighted as evidence of resilience across both tightening and loosening rate cycles.

Managing Director and CEO Romesh Gomez said that in recent months the direction of policy rates and market liquidity has begun shifting favourably, creating clear value-accretion opportunities for disciplined portfolio expansion. With additional capital, he noted, WTS has greater room to capture advantageous auction positions, broaden secondary market activity and align its investment scale to emerging market windows.

Gomez acknowledged that FY25 reflected compressed performance due to systemic realignment, with revenue at Rs. 4.6 billion and PAT at Rs. 1.2 billion. However, he pointed out that profit sustainability, even through a difficult cycle, speaks to strong operational controls. The A- rating with a Positive outlook continues to stand, reinforcing the company’s position as a stable counterparty in a specialised sector.

Asia Securities Advisors, managing the IPO, pointed out that the offer price of Rs. 7 presents meaningful upside when benchmarked against underlying valuation metrics. The move into the listed environment, they noted, enhances governance visibility — a point increasingly valued among institutional investors participating in the Government securities market.

By Ifham Nizam

Business

BoardPAC achieves Carbon Neutral Certification for the fourth consecutive year

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/10

Thilina Walpola

BoardPAC, the global leader in digital board meeting automation, has secured the Carbon Neutral Certification for 2024, marking the fourth consecutive year the company has achieved this milestone. The certification, awarded by the Sri Lanka Climate Fund (SLCF) under the Ministry of Environment in October 2025, underscores BoardPAC’s commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible corporate governance.

BoardPAC’s operations, spanning over 40 countries, were assessed against the ISO 14064 – 1:2018 standard, and the company’s organization-level Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions were successfully offset, reflecting its ongoing commitment to reducing its environmental impact.

Business

Uber marks 10 years in Sri Lanka: Moving People, Powering Livelihoods, Impacting Communities

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/10

Thilina Walpola

Uber today marked ten years of operations in Sri Lanka, a decade in which the platform has reshaped how people commute, and how thousands of Sri Lankans earn a livelihood. Over the past decade, ride-hailing has become one of the most transformative shifts in Sri Lanka’s urban mobility landscape, providing safe, reliable and affordable transport at scale.

Chathuranga Abeysinghe, Deputy Minister for Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development, Government of Sri Lanka, graced the milestone event as the Chief Guest. U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung attended as the Guest of Honor, joined by Akanksha Singh, Head – South Asia Markets, Uber, and Kaushalya Gunaratne, Country Manager – Mobility, Uber Sri Lanka.

As per the 2024 Sri Lanka Economic Impact Report, compiled by global policy research firm – Public First, Uber and Uber Eats together generated over LKR 160 billion in economic activity in Sri Lanka within a single year. Since its entry in Sri Lanka in 2015, Uber rides have covered over 1.15 billion kilometers – equivalent to nearly 3000 trips from Earth to the moon! Over 320,000 Sri Lankans have earned through the platform as drivers.

Uber has also supported the tourism ecosystem, enabling more than 700,000 airport trips, connecting visitors seamlessly to their destinations. Over the last year, we’ve further intensified our service in the Western and Central provinces and expanded our offerings in the Southern and Northern provinces – bringing its services closer to more communities across the country. Uber has emerged as one of the most preferred ride-hailing platforms across the island, offering affordable, reliable, and safer rides at different price points.

Deputy Minister for Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development, Government of Sri Lanka, Chathuranga Abeysinghe, said, “Over the past decade, Uber has become part of the fabric of daily life in Sri Lanka – not only by helping people get where they need to go, but by enabling thousands to earn an income with dignity and flexibility.