Behind the desk of TNI King Coffee CEO Le Hoang Diep Thao is a large world map. On the map, flags marking the presence of Vietnamese coffee brands are increasingly numerous. To achieve such wide coverage, the female CEO must work at high intensity.

- What is your working day like?

Ms. Le Hoang Diep Thao: I work 25/24 hours a day. I have always been passionate about my work. Someone said that businessmen live and rest only on planes.

The only time I had a long time at home during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 was when I wrote my autobiography "The Queen of King Coffee". The book talks a lot about my 25-year journey in the coffee industry and is dedicated to my children.

Ms. Le Hoang Diep Thao answered VietNamNet's interview. (Photo: Nguyen Hue )

- Reading your autobiography, I saw you shared about bringing King Coffee to the US, Korea, China and then returning to Vietnam. Why not the other way around, from the domestic market to the world?

The desire of Vietnamese entrepreneurs always urges me to do something to conquer the world. During the process of building Trung Nguyen and G7, I have made efforts and made my mark and reputation in the international arena. When starting over with King Coffee, I started from large, demanding markets before returning to my homeland, returning to the roots of coffee.

In October 2016, I opened King Coffee in the US, then in Korea and then in China. In July 2017, I brought the brand to the Vietnamese market. By the end of 2021, we were present in 120 countries and territories. We have a broad coverage strategy before going deep.

- What are the company's future plans?

I often say, wherever there is Internet, I will introduce King Coffee there. We have a super-app (big application), creating a coffee ecosystem on the application.

The application is available in Vietnam with nearly 100,000 users. We will expand to several countries around the world such as the US, UK, Korea, and China, helping users access coffee information and transactions on the application.

Brand identity is what the female CEO cares about. (Photo: Nguyen Hue)

- It is worth noting that King Coffee's identity color is the color of the basalt soil of the Central Highlands, where you were born and where you started your association with the coffee industry. But how do you feel when the first brand you ever helped build no longer retains that color?

Ms. Le Hoang Diep Thao : In any case, identity is something special for a brand, not only for Vietnam but also for the world. People will ask, who are you, where are you from and what do you have to convince and attract me? A brand must come from its origin and identity.

From the beginning until now, in the red basalt land, indigenous farmers such as Ede and Gia Rai still maintain the custom of offering sacrifices to Giang, praying for favorable weather when the coffee crop comes. They are happy and very happy when the crop is good.

That is the identity that remains in each Central Highlands coffee bean. We need to introduce that aspect of Vietnamese coffee to the world, not follow and imitate Western coffee.

Let’s talk more about the origin of the name King Coffee. “King” means king, and a king must take care of everything in the industry. That position is not happy. In addition, when the King Coffee brand goes to other countries, it still keeps the name and does not have to change it to the native language when reading or writing.

In 2015, I registered my trademark in 179 countries and territories, enough room for the business to develop long-term.

For Ms. Thao, the brands Trung Nguyen, G7 and King Coffee are like three children. (Photo: Nguyen Hue)

- In her autobiography, she wrote: The story of my life is like water flowing through a coffee filter. It is extracted from the essence of the beans to create a cup of coffee, with a rich flavor like experience. So what is that experience here?

At some point, people want to leave behind the values they have gone through and contributed to the next generation. Those values are what I want to share with young people in my next startup, so that the next generation has a more systematic way of thinking, vision, methods and better ways of doing things.

Through my experience, I want to help young people confidently start their own businesses, creating a new generation of future entrepreneurs.

- Trung Nguyen and King Coffee are two big names in the Vietnamese coffee industry. You have been present in the process of building these two brands. If people say that King Coffee's success is partly due to the great reputation of Trung Nguyen before, how would you respond?

I think I am like a mother with 3 children. Trung Nguyen is the eldest, followed by G7 and now King Coffee. So, I feel normal. Understand that each brand has a mission, I myself have my own mission and so does King Coffee.

I have never thought of discrimination, everyone has their own independence and uniqueness to rise up. In the time I lived, I just wanted to try to do the most difficult things to open the way for the next generation, for the children to follow in my footsteps more easily than me.

Part 2: From a female operator of the 108 switchboard to the General Director of a major coffee brand

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