She is a pioneer woman in the entrepreneurial career in Japan. She is Fumiko Hayashi. Upon graduating from high school, he worked at Toray Industries, Panasonic, and Omron. After her marriage, she began working at Honda as a salesperson. There was a television series in which she was a model heroin salesperson. According to the television drama, she was the first woman in the Honda Car Dealer sales department. He didn’t even have a driver’s license. Although Japanese women worked after school, it was unusual in their period, a woman worked as a sales person at a car dealership.
In addition to the usual hardships and effort in car sales, she must have been through thick and thin because she was a woman. When you put a client in your office, a client thought she was an assistant. The customer asked him when he could meet a person who is in charge of sales. When she told the customer that she was the sales person in charge, the customer was upset. Sometimes the customer would leave. He did not lose against the pressure he was receiving and his own depression. It still took her years to get recognized as a good salesperson. Interestingly, the person who had the most difficulties tends to be successful. She was that kind of person.
His performance was outstanding. He sold so many cars that his mostly male colleagues wanted him to advise them on his sales skills. Their division grew. You could rebuild the car dealership that was struggling with sales when you joined them. Said the television drama. He moved to BMW Japan in 1987. According to an information source, BMW Japan did not plan to hire anyone at the time. Fumiko called BMW Japan and told them that they should hire her because she could sell more cars. If this story were true, she would be the only woman who was hired that way. It sold more than 400 cars in one year. Fumiko made BMW a major brand in the Japanese car market. BMW Japan promoted her to branch manager at the Shinjuku branch in 1993.
Volkswagen invited her to be president and CEO of Volkswagen Japan in 1999. She accepted the invitation and led Volkswagen Japan to become more popular in the Japanese market. In the dominant Japanese market for Japanese cars, their achievements are noteworthy in leading foreign automakers to success.
She returned to BMW Japan in 2003 as President and CEO. In her interview on the Japanese business site, Fumiko stated that only team spirit can lead to business success. Fumiko is now Mayer from Yokohama City.
