Huawei CFO Meng Wangzhou speaks of ‘twists and turns’, need for ‘hard work’ at rare public appearance in southwest China

Name: Huawei founder shares his relationship with family and his personality
Uploaded: 2022-09-02T14:30:13.000Z
Duration: 5 min 11 s
Description: Huawei founder shares his relationship with family and his personality

Huawei’s chief financial officer said ‘unprecedented challenges’ face the company in her speech at alma mater Duyun No 1 High School

She said Huawei has continued to provide incentives to its employees, while dealing with various problems

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Huawei Technologies Co chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou speaks to students at Duyun No 1 High School in the southwestern province of Guizhou on September 2, 2022. Photo: Duyun No 1 High School

Iris Deng

Published: 10:30pm, 2 Sep 2022Updated: 8:33am, 3 Sep 2022

Huawei Technologies Co chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on Friday made a rare public speech in the southwestern province of Guizhou, where she brought up the struggles faced by the company and how talent and continuous hard work can solve problems.

That motivational speech was delivered to students at Duyun No 1 High School, the alma mater of Meng as well as her father Ren Zhengfei, the founder and chief executive of Shenzhen-based Huawei.

“At the moment, Huawei is enduring and facing unprecedented challenges, and it is a journey full of twists and turns,” Meng said, without elaborating. “The core [means] to solve all problems lies in talent, and we will always adhere to an open attitude towards talent.”

Meng, who also serves as Huawei’s rotating chairwoman and deputy chairwoman, also told her audience that the company has continued to provide incentives to employees and build cafes and libraries on its campuses, while dealing with various problems, according to the speech published by the school.

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Huawei founder shares his relationship with family and his personality

“The future is not built from thrift, but created through continuous investment and hard work,” she said.

The uplifting message from Meng, 50, provided a sharp contrast to Ren’s leaked internal memo, which went viral on Chinese social media last week. His message painted a gloomy picture of a world heading into economic recession, while calling on Huawei employees to focus on the company’s survival and give up on wishful thinking.

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