Preserving the character of Quang Tri people

Know how to adapt to succeed

“Starting a business in the South is not an easy journey. The investment and business environment is vibrant, favorable, and open, but it requires a lot of knowledge, experience, and especially adaptability. What I have today is probably thanks to correctly recognizing market demand, choosing the right investment direction, and knowing how to overcome barriers,” said Nguyen Van Duc, Director of Hoang Minh Duc Wood Production Company Limited, in a thick Quang Tri accent as the car took us through the crowded traffic from Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Giao district, Binh Duong province, where Duc’s company has a wood production factory.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duc (right) checks a stage of laminated panel production - Photo: HN

On the 50km journey, my conversation with him was interrupted many times by phone calls to resolve work between this businessman and his partners and company employees. “The work was running according to plan, but this morning we had to deal with some issues regarding raw materials in Tay Ninh. The wood sizes were uneven, and the volume exceeded our transport capacity, so my colleagues called to ask for advice. Someone from the countryside came in, so we were a little late, but normally I would have been at the factory by now,” Duc shared.

The factory of Hoang Minh Duc Wood Production Company Limited is located in the middle of a vast green rubber forest. Taking me around the 20,000 m2 factory and office area with many types of machinery and equipment with a total investment of nearly 240 billion VND and 200 technical staff and workers busy producing veneer, plywood, laminated boards... to serve the domestic and export markets, although Mr. Duc did not talk much about the company's formation process and production process, I understood that this was the result of a long journey of overcoming difficulties, creativity and high adaptability of this businessman from Quang Tri.

“To have products, such as the batch of laminated boards supplied to wooden furniture manufacturing enterprises for export, the company purchases raw materials from liquidated rubber forests in Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh... then carries out the production stages, producing the products. The company's technology and production process are currently invested in quite modernly, the team of technical staff and skilled workers ensures that all products made meet the requirements of partners, so the production and business of the enterprise are stable,” said Mr. Duc amid the noisy sound of machines.

What is admirable about Mr. Nguyen Van Duc is that he always cares about the lives of 200 workers in the company, most of whom come from the Western provinces. In addition to the salary of 10 - 12 million VND/person/month, the policies are guaranteed according to the law, in 2024, seeing that many workers have to rent temporary accommodation, Mr. Duc decided to invest in building a 2-storey, 50-room housing area with a total cost of 3 billion VND in the company campus for nearly 150 workers to live for free.

“Having a solid, spacious and free house, only having to pay electricity bills based on actual usage, makes us workers very excited because we save a significant amount of money every month to do other things. Going to work is also very convenient because it is only a few steps away from the factory. Being cared for, all workers feel secure in sticking with the company,” Ms. Thach Thi Kieu, from Soc Trang province, said excitedly when we visited the room she is living in with 3 colleagues.

In recent years, Mr. Duc has devoted a lot of resources to participating in charity activities, such as participating in and sponsoring many tennis tournaments of the Association of Hai Lang, Trieu Phong, and Cam Lo districts in Ho Chi Minh City to build a fund to support the poor and poor students in his hometown. In 2020, to join hands to support Quang Tri province, which was severely damaged by floods, Mr. Duc's family organized visits and gave gifts to people in Dong Ha city, Vinh Linh, Cam Lo, and Dakrong districts with a total cost of about 200 million VND...

A production line of Hoang Minh Duc Wood Production Company Limited - Photo: HN

In 1989, from Dong Ha town, Duc entered Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics. His poor hometown of Lap Thach (Dong Le) and the years of struggling to make ends meet in Saigon urged this young man to study hard.

In 1993, Mr. Duc graduated from university and then joined a company specializing in providing school equipment for the Ministry of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City. After 25 years of working in many positions at this company, in 2021, Mr. Duc decided to quit his job to seek new experiences for himself.

“With the experience and skills accumulated, my family and I decided to establish Hoang Minh Duc Wood Production Company Limited in November 2021. The field of manufacturing veneers, plywood, and laminated boards is currently very vibrant with the competitive participation of many domestic and foreign enterprises. The core thing is that we have to adapt quickly, take quality, reasonable prices, and respect customers to build the reputation and brand of the enterprise,” Mr. Duc confided.

- With your potential and experience, do you have plans to invest in production and business in Quang Tri?

- Wherever Quang Tri people go and whatever they do, they always have a deep affection for their homeland. The area of ​​large timber plantations in my hometown is quite large, so I am also nurturing the idea of ​​implementing production activities in Quang Tri. Contributing to the development of my hometown has always been my wish - Mr. Duc shared.

The person who brought the Bidrico drinking water brand far and wide

Although he was very busy, when he heard that someone from Quang Tri was coming, Mr. Nguyen Dang Hien, Chairman of Tan Quang Minh Production and Trading Company Limited (Tan Quang Minh Company) immediately enthusiastically arranged for me to meet at the company's "headquarters" in Vinh Loc Industrial Park, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Hien (white shirt) introduces some Bidrico brand drinking water products - Photo: HN

Born in 1953, leaving his hometown in Co Luy, Hai Ba commune, Hai Lang district, coming to Saigon in 9th grade, witnessing many people struggling to make a living because they could not get a proper education, the young man Nguyen Dang Hien told himself that only by studying really well and accumulating a lot of knowledge and skills could he succeed in life.

After graduating from university, Mr. Hien worked in many jobs and then became a lecturer at the Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City. After that, he held the position of head of the business department and manager of a large food processing company in Saigon. In 1992, realizing that the beverage market had great potential for development, this native of Quang Tri decided to open the Hoang Minh beverage production facility specializing in producing Bidrico-branded beverages with an initial capital of 10.5 million VND, the predecessor of Tan Quang Minh Company.

“When the company first started operating, it only had 26 workers, not many machines, simple technology, and almost no experience in management, production organization, and market development. Meanwhile, the beverage market at that time had many big names in the world producing and supplying products in Vietnam.

To solve this problem, Tan Quang Minh attaches importance to understanding consumer tastes and market developments to develop products, along with improving management processes, marketing, human resources and expanding distribution. Over the past 33 years, Bidrico has gone through several stages of development. From 1992 to 1996, the company focused on producing a series of specialized products to serve the rural market because at that time many large beverage companies were focusing on the urban market.

In the period of 1996 - 2000, Bidrico changed its product designs and brands, improved product quality to establish a foothold in towns and cities. In the next period, Bidrico approached and expanded the market to large cities. Also during this period, the company had a new approach to consumer tastes, continued to change designs, researched and produced more health-enhancing products, especially fruit juices.

Since 2007, Bidrico, along with affirming its domestic brand reputation and carrying out the mission of "Elevating Vietnamese brands", has exported its products abroad, present in demanding markets such as Japan, the US and Europe... At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2017 hosted by Vietnam, Bidrico's purified water products were chosen as the drinking water used throughout the conference," Mr. Hien said.

Visiting the factory specializing in producing soft drinks and health supplements under the Bidrico brand on an area of ​​15,000 m2 with 12 modern production lines imported from France, Germany, Sweden, the US..., seeing with your own eyes the team of over 700 technical - technological staff, workers, and managers busy producing and distributing dozens of types of drinks to the domestic and international markets, you can clearly see the success of Tan Quang Minh Company.

Bidrico brand drinking water products are produced using modern European technology - Photo: HN

At the same time, he affirmed the sharing of businessman Nguyen Dang Hien in the story with me when he said that, in order for Bidrico to go far, he himself must always preserve the hard-working character of Quang Tri people, make the greatest effort to accumulate knowledge and skills, thereby leading the Tan Quang Minh leadership to be loyal to the philosophy of always being creative and innovative; the quality and excellence of the product is an unlimited commitment; business interests and community support are parallel goals.

Not only focusing on business development, every year Mr. Hien and Bidrico organize charity activities, support poor students to overcome difficulties to study well, actively participate in the gratitude movement, many of which are organized in their hometown of Quang Tri.

He also made many contributions to the development of the business community when he held the position of Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association; Member of the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association; and for many years worked as Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Industrial Park Enterprises Association...

In recent years, Mr. Hien has devoted much effort to connecting and uniting Quang Tri businessmen in Ho Chi Minh City to support the province in promoting and promoting investment in Ho Chi Minh City; researching and investing in production and business projects in Quang Tri.

“Green growth - Sustainable development is one of Bidrico's key goals and we are studying the possibility of deploying production activities in Quang Tri,” Mr. Hien shared.

In Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, there are currently many businesses owned by Quang Tri people operating effectively. Starting a business far away from home, amidst many difficulties and challenges, is also the time when the character of Quang Tri people is awakened and promoted, contributing to the formation of many successful Quang Tri businessmen in the Southern land.

Huy Nam

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/giu-cot-cach-nguoi-quang-tri-193345.htm