Three professional managers recently started their new careers in three villages in Tianjin's Ninghe district, becoming the first batch of "village CEOs" in North China.

The people are selected via public application nationwide from business professional managers with quality backgrounds. They will cooperate with local village officials and residents and contribute strategies and experiences accumulated from their career posts as professional managers to agricultural businesses, technological upgrading and agricultural product sales to local villages in a bid to boost local incomes.

Ninghe's move follows trials made since 2019 in East China's Zhejiang province — in Chun'an county of Hangzhou, which has taken the lead in China to scout for such professional managers to devote to agricultural businesses — as well as other districts.

Their salaries could be as high as 180,000 to 200,000 yuan ($26,000 to $29,600) per year in Zhejiang.

In Tianjin, the "village CEOs" have opportunities to share a bonus from the rising incomes of residents.

Competition for the "village CEOs" in the city's Ninghe district was tough. Three people were selected out of 59 applicants, including some graduates from Tsinghua University and Nankai University.

Wang Yuhao, who was selected to work in Mutouwo village, dropped a highly paid job in Zhejiang and decided to make a contribution to his hometown in Ninghe.

Sun Lu, a professional marketing manager, was chosen to join Penguan village, which has been renowned for its porcelain products for centuries.

Yue Zhensheng, previously an e-commerce businessman, was selected to work in Renfengzhuang village and will lead his previous e-commerce team to boost local e-commerce in agricultural products.