Yani Wei is the founder of Armin Biotech, a company that sells a variety of patented medical and skin-care products including medical ointment and patches, handmade soaps, face moisturizers, and serums. Yani started the company in 2011. In 2021, the company now has more than three hundred franchised and company-owned retail stores in many cities in China. It also sells products to Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore.
In 2011, Yani started an online cosmetics business adventure with a couple of friends. In 2013, her partners decided to pull out investments when they could not reach an agreement on a critical business decision. Many employees left the company when it started to delay salary payments. At the end, Yani was left with a total debt of 300,000 dollars and an office filled with unsold products. To pay off debts, Yani decided to sell her apartment. She also wanted to take business courses and visit companies in the industry in other cities, which might take a couple of months. When she shared the thoughts with her husband, she got a strong objection, after all she was a mother of two small children. But Yani was a strong woman and she knew the business would die if she did not bring in any new ideas or professional management skills. Seven years later, she still felt the pain when her daughters held onto her legs and asked her not to leave. She cried through the entire trip to the airport.
In June 2014, Yani started a new product brand called Armin Diary with a patented Lithospermum formula. In 2015, Yani added another new product line of handmade Lithospermum soaps, which became extremely popular as well. In 2016, the company’s Lithospermum products were selected by the government as one of products that were to be presented to foreign officials as gifts. By the year of 2020, Yani had more than three hundred stores, both franchised and company-owned, in many cities across China, and her business lines spanned into multiple areas.
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