Jeffrey Kang, or Kang Jingwei (, born February 6, 1970), is a Chinese

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

-based Cogobuy Group, the largest corporate procurement

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

platform for IC components in China with worldwide sales and distribution.

Early and personal life

Kang was born in the

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

on 6 February 1970. He has two children with his wife Nan Ji and currently resides with his family in

Overseas Chinese Town Overseas Chinese Town (OCT, ) is the colloquial name for a cluster of scenic spots in Nanshan District of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, around the Window of the World Station, Overseas Chinese Town Station, Qiaocheng East Station and Qia ...

(OCT),

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. In July 1991 Kang received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from

South China University of Technology The South China University of Technology (SCUT; ) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. The university is co-sponsored by the China Ministry of Education and the Guangdong Provincial People's Government. The university is a mult ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, Guangdong. In 2006, Kang was ranked among the richest people in China by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', with a net worth of

CN¥ The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

17 billion. In 2015, he joined the ranks of ''

The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...

'' defined in

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terms by ''Forbes'' at age 45. Kang's total calculated executive compensation listed in his firm's annual accounts for 2014 was CN¥2,933,000 (c. US$500,000).

Business career

Kang started his career in China's telecommunications sector as a sales engineer in charge of the components business for Matsushita Electric Industrial now known as

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

from 1992 to 1995. In 1995 he invested US$50,000 to start his own company called the Comtech Group, to act as a distribution channel for the sale of electronic components in China. In 2002, the Comtech Group went public and was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

(

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

) as Viewtran (ticker: VIEW). In 2011, he established the first online platform for selling IC components in China, Cogobuy, which went public on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is repor ...

in July 2014 with an annual turnover of CN¥84 billion in 2014.

Honors and awards

* 2015:

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

Entrepreneur Of The Year Award, China

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Jeffrey 1970 births Living people Chinese computer businesspeople Businesspeople from Chongqing Businesspeople in information technology Chinese company founders 21st-century Chinese businesspeople