Ambition and Passion

It is such a long story about Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Chairman and Managing Diretor of Ton Dong A who was born in Hue City to become one of the most successful businessmen. His success was initiated by his ambition and passion.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, founder of Ton Dong A Corporation has built up his prestige with partners in the local and international market of construction material. “Trung always meets the deadline”, said one of his partners. Trung is impressed everyone by his professional and courteous working style. He always has a very welll-scheduled work plan. He has appearance that is both strict and friendly with squared-face, high forehead and the bright eyes as well as tender voice of Hue and courteous smiles. This encourages the opposite persons to communicate frankly and friendly.

Ton Dong A brand appeared on construction material markets more than 10 years ago and continuously improved its prestige. The story of this famous brand’s founder has been caught attention.

Graduating from Hochiminh City Polytechnic, Faculty of Construction, like other students, Nguyen Thanh Trung started looking for a job to earn a living. He joined the Company of Design Survey Planning (owned by Vietnam Rubber Corporation) with the good position and salary. He gained chances of learning and promoting his proffession under the guidance of leading technical experts. He was promoted to be a Manager of Construction Composition. The above achievements seemed enough for a young and graduated student. However, at that time, Trung nurtured a dream of producing his own product with his own brand name. It was that wish that encouraged him leave the friendly working environment in a state-owned company where he found so familiar for 8 years, to set up his own business.

Then he experienced years of working in various fields: He cooperated with a cousin to build a beverage factory, setting up an agent to deliver the construction material for foreign companies. The collaboration relationship with his cousin stopped in 1996 when he decided to establish his own business. Being passionate with construction sector, he wished a construction-linked product type. Primarily, he thought of constructing houses. However, the house construction market showed up not many chances. This forced him to find out another market niches. He made surveys on bricks, interior decoration materials… and finally, he found the answer: steel sheet production. “The market of steel sheet was nearly forgotten in those years.” said Trung. “Steel sheet products made in Vietnam have low quantity and quality compared with products imported from overseas. I thought of the higher construction demand in Vietnam and great potential development of this steel sheet market”. As the first step, he imported raw materials and gave to the local steel sheet producers to learn about the market demand. After 6 months, he was determined to officially enter the market. This was deemed a risky decision as he had not much experience in this field. However, he took the risk as a good chance to make his dream come true.

The first days of the business witnessed the most difficult obstacles. The company had about 5 staffs who shared his ambition. They contributed capital to buy material, machinery and setting up business. At the preparation phase, three of five decided to withdraw capital contribution and quit the company. Trung accepted his leaving as he understood the risks which were not easy to face, even though he sometimes found himself lost confidence. “At that moment, sometimes it appeared the thought of giving up because I was too tired and stressful. Everything was in the very first steps, machines are incompletely equipped, some of my co-workers decided to leave, the others felt confused… I think it is the determination of manufacturing my own products that helped me overcome the obstacles”

One of his difficulties is money. He and his spouse agreed on “using everything we have” to maintain the business. They also prepare the back-up plan in case of bankruptcy. Thanks to their desire, Ton Dong A Limited Company was remained and strongly developed to become Ton Dong A Joint Stock Company nowadays.

The name of Ton Dong A (“Steel sheet of East Asia”) reflects Trung’s ambition: his products are not only sold in the local market, but also entered the international markets. Products made by Ton Dong A Corporation now appear in all provinces nationwide. It also exports to countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Middle East, South America and Africa. In the future, Ton Dong A will equip the most advanced and environment-friendly technology to produce the high quality, and gain chances to enter the larger markets. This marks a new milestone of the Company after one decade of operation and is deemed a prospect of the next decade.

 “I don’t remember the agents and constructions works that used Ton Dong A material at the first period. However, as I travel, I look at the buildings, houses, I find the logo and products of Ton Dong A, I feel very excited. Especially, as I travel overseas, I hear some customers insist on purchasing Ton Dong A products, I am very proud”, Trung shared happily.

Trung said that a business owner must have the knowledge of finance and accounting to master the operation of the Company. He has strived to learn accounting and finance. Self-study was not easy, as he managed to learn while working. Self-study requires the significant strive and determination. He studied from books, partners, daily management works. He joked about his English self-study: “I am from Asia, I speak English with… Asian style and assent and I am not ashamed that I don’t speak with American accent. The most important is I am self confident and willing to speak in English to improve myself”. “The fact that I want to “contend with” other Vietnamese entrepreneurs who are already good at English and the pressure of dealing with foreign partners that urged me to learn English well”.

Trung also focuses on improving human resource quality. Trung affirmed: “the key element for a corporation to gain success is the qualified human resource”. He said “The thing is Ton Dong A is usually thought a family company. This means the management positions are handled by my family members or relatives. In fact, I define a very clear rule: My Company is a place for working. There is no custom of “old men are the powerful men”, or “relatives are offered privileges”. I created the best chances for talented staff”. In reality, he always strives to create an open-minded and transparent working environment for all staff with clear regulations of promotion, salary increase, and preferential policy for talents. Thanks to the above regulations, employees stick together and have a strong attachment with the company. Some staffs have worked at the company for 10 years and find themselves proud of working at the Company. He confides with his staff that one person does not live forever but a brand does. This require the ward hearts of the individuals to build up the brand. He always believes in human power, the thing is how to explore the potential power.