ENTREPRENEURS WORK TO LIVE MEANINGFUL LIFE

Nguyen Hang "No less than 3 times, when she knew I intended to write about her, Nhi stopped me. She said she was shy, she had nothing to say, she was "too small" compared to other businessmen. My appointments with Nhi were never work-related."

This time was the same, just having dinner, chatting about all sorts of things… But the more we talked, the more I was attracted by Nhi’s sincere temperament. In a very natural way, Nhi led me from one surprise to another about her thinking, her views on life, and her professional philosophy.

That is also the reason why I definitely chose her as the character on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Vietnam Entrepreneurs' Day. She is the Chairwoman and General Director of Thanh Binh Phu My Joint Stock Company Nguyen Thi Thao Nhi, the investor of the first specialized industrial park in Vietnam.

Stories not for the Press

Once, Ms. Nhi called me, full of emotions. That was when Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung mentioned the billion-dollar Tesla factory project in China, which took less than a year from the start of construction to the inauguration and operation. They also took 2 months to build a shopping mall like AEON in Vietnam or an urban area in the UAE with a total investment of 20 billion USD with a scale of 600 hectares, 500 buildings built within 5 years. She said she understood the concerns and enthusiasm of Minister Nguyen Chi Dung. But it is not that Vietnamese enterprises cannot do that, but because they are tied up with many procedures. Like her Phu My 3 specialized industrial park, the infrastructure is complete; electricity, water, gas, telecommunication cables are connected to the fence; type A wastewater; 1/500 planning is available, the enterprise has also been granted an investment license but still has to wait for a construction license to be able to start building the factory. To get a construction permit, you need to have an environmental impact assessment (EIA), fire prevention and fighting... This process takes a long time and takes a lot of time.

"While we can do it in parallel and then check if the EIA and fire prevention and fighting are correct? Currently, the infrastructure is all there, but from the time of granting the investment license until the time of granting the construction license, it takes several months. So it's not that domestic enterprises can't do it like others, but they can't do it if they want to," Nhi confided.

Chairwoman and General Director of Thanh Binh Phu My Joint Stock Company Nguyen Thi Thao Nhi, investor of the first specialized industrial park in Vietnam

The first time Ms. Nhi called me, she was worried about the situation of "industry filtering" in attracting investment in some localities. "Think about it, if we still wear clothes, we still need to weave and dye. If our children still use books, we still have to produce paper... these are all polluting industries. Even the semiconductor industry that the Government is attracting investment uses a lot of electricity and water. Wastewater from semiconductor production also contains pollutants; the input of semiconductors is electroplating... So can we still attract investment in the semiconductor industry? If we stand on the perspective of industry filtering, heavy industries and basic chemical industries will certainly be eliminated. But without these industries, how can we have a foundation for industrial development? Therefore, the problem is to find ways to manage pollution to reduce emissions, not to filter it or eliminate it," Ms. Nhi said. Ms. Nhi's calls to me were not a reflection to the press, even though her industrial park is where heavy industries such as petrochemical refining, metallurgy, gas... are developed. She just called once, then that was it, sometimes for several months without contacting me again. Just like when I made an appointment to go out to eat, she never asked why. When we were done eating, she didn't ask either. After talking for 3-4 hours, the restaurant closed, we said goodbye and went home, she didn't care why I made an appointment to meet her, even though the number of times we met up to now could be counted on one hand.

Perhaps, she considered me a friend, a younger brother she trusted, and had nothing to do with work. Because in fact, she had proactively "gone green" more than a decade ago, not waiting until now. She said she did things differently from others.

And it was different! Like the story of her "upgrading" the wastewater treatment in Phu My 3 specialized industrial park to type A, while the regulations only required type B. At that time, many people discouraged her. Firstly, by doing so, the cost of wastewater treatment in her place was higher than in other industrial parks, affecting investment attraction. Secondly, after treating type A wastewater, she also collected it to a centralized lake for monitoring and treatment.

Up to now, the total investment capital attracted to Phu My 3 has exceeded 4 billion USD. It is expected that by 2027, the total capital may reach over 6.7 billion USD. The average investment attraction rate is 9-10 million USD/ha of leased land. A very impressive number in Vietnam.

“They said that doing so would be very risky for me. But I would rather take the risk than let them discharge into the environment, people would be at risk, and I would become a sinner. I am very scared,” she said thoughtfully: “Japan has paid a great price for the environment. If we don’t do well, we will have to pay the price later. Thinking about that, I am determined to upgrade the level.”

Thanks to her “fear”, Phu My 3 specialized industrial park is one of the few industrial parks that operates a centralized wastewater treatment plant that meets type A standards before the production projects come into operation. It is said that up to now, Ms. Nhi is still compensating for the loss of this project. In return, when talking about green industrial parks, people immediately remember her, businesswoman Nguyen Thi Thao Nhi, the investor of the first model industrial park in the cooperation and development agreement signed between the leaders of Vietnam and Japan in November 2011. Not only has she been successful in attracting multinational corporations from economies such as Japan, Korea, Europe, the US, mainland China, Taiwan... with a total investment capital of more than 4 billion USD, she has also become a trusted friend, receiving respect and love from foreign investors, especially Japanese partners.

"I would rather take the risk than let them discharge into the environment, people will take the risk, I am the sinner, I am very scared. Japan has paid a big price for the environment. If we do not do well, we will have to pay the price later. Thinking about that, I am determined to improve my ranking."

But Ms. Nhi does not stop there. She said that green must be symbiotic, meaning that one's output is another's input. One enterprise's waste is another's input. For example, if one enterprise takes steam from another, it will no longer need to invest in vaporization. To do that, it is necessary to find corporations that know each other, and their operations must support each other. "If we don't know each other, if one goes bankrupt, will the other close down? Therefore, when symbiotically optimizing resources, we must find two equivalent enterprises. This is very difficult, but I am trying to do it," Ms. Nhi said firmly.

She also cherishes the idea of building three wind turbines in her Phu My 3 industrial park. "My industrial park has a flexible location, right next to a river and a large river, so it is very favorable for developing wind power. I am studying Power Plan 8 and related mechanisms. If we can do this, it is truly green," Ms. Nhi said excitedly.

Strange fear of trillionaire businessman

It feels like Ms. Nhi “takes care” of Phu My 3 specialized industrial park like her own child. The more she sees it develop and succeed, the more she wants to perfect it. She even makes it difficult for herself because of goals that are too high and too complicated. Like the “green symbiosis” that Ms. Nhi is nurturing, no one forces her to do it. However, when I asked why she doesn’t take advantage of the brand and reputation to expand many other green industrial parks, to stay ahead of the trend of the times, to catch the new generation of FDI capital flowing into Vietnam… Ms. Nhi waved her hand. She said that she used to work in the finance and banking sector, had seen many debt settlement files, had witnessed the ups and downs of many businesses, so she was afraid. “We have only had a few decades of innovation and development, and businesses have not accumulated much capital, so most of them have to take short-term to support long-term. I think I can do it, I can do it, but if unfortunately there is a crisis, I cannot control it, I cannot balance my finances, then I will die. So I will do as much as I can”, Ms. Nhi explained.

She also said she does not know how to communicate and promote. If I succeed, I should shout to let many people know, but I do not. I just take it slow, just do my work quietly. Then she said that she is a woman, she is not as good at communicating as men…

“My “style” is like that, I accept going slowly, but whatever I develop will be sustainable. Whatever I do is very clear, very clean, very decent, my life is also healthy, dear”, Ms. Nhi smiled.

Phu My 3 Specialized Industrial Park (BR-VT) is one of the few industrial parks that operates a centralized wastewater treatment plant that meets type A standards before production projects come into operation.

Ms. Nhi has many fears, which do not sound like a businesswoman at all. She talks about her fears innocently, without any hesitation. Like when she went to survey the area where she was applying for investment policy for an industrial park in Can Tho. She saw that there were still many people living around, and the land was still growing rice. So she was afraid again.

“Before I built the Phu My 3 industrial park, it was a swampy, salt-marsh area, full of mangroves and parrots. Then I came in, I built, I attracted investment, and created economic value for that land. This is agricultural land, if I don’t do it, people can still grow 2-3 rice crops. I am very afraid of touching people’s lives without being sure of bringing them a better life,” Ms. Nhi wondered.

But in the end, she was convinced by the enthusiasm of Can Tho’s leaders. “They said that if we only do agriculture, how can we develop? Can Tho still does agriculture, but we need industry for people’s lives to improve. Since they are passionate, I will contribute a little bit of my effort,” Nhi explained.

However, she still asked to let the people stay instead of moving them. “I don’t know if it will be better, but if I move the people, I won’t feel secure. But industry also needs people, so I let them stay. Now I am under pressure to make it better, to bring a better life to them, as the provincial leaders are passionate about, and so that I don’t commit a crime against that land,” Nhi said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao Nhi surprised many attendees at the workshop "Industry filtering or emission reduction" organized by Thanh Nien newspaper with her understanding of green growth, especially in applying rules and standards to green industrial parks according to world trends.

Then she smiled and said, her fate is hard! People invest in industrial parks, rent out land and that's it. She has a whole department serving customers in the industrial park. She herself goes from Ho Chi Minh City to Ba Ria-Vung Tau every morning to work and then returns in the evening. On the day of our appointment, she was nearly an hour late because of traffic jams. A billionaire businessman, no one is as hard-working as her.

"The Japanese, Korean, EU general directors... come to see her for advice when they have something to do. Then they tell each other, if there's anything, they just come to see Ms. Nhi. After a while, I get used to it, I consider their work as my own. Conversely, if I ask them for something, they happily agree right away," Ms. Nhi smiled innocently, with a bit of pride. I have witnessed Ms. Nhi many times leading a delegation of Japanese business leaders, representatives of organizations such as Jetro, Jica (Japan); Kotra, KoCham (Korea) attend conferences, seminars... She is petite but has the confident demeanor of someone who is in control of her destination, making others pay attention and follow.

Businessmen of all times have the desire to contribute.

Although fortunate to have met many businessmen, Ms. Nhi still gave me very accurate and unique insights into stories and issues that are not new but never old in the market. She said that society often thinks that business people are only for money. Of course, doing business requires calculating profits and losses, because businesses still have to support many people. But in reality, there are many jobs and projects that if not done, businessmen will certainly have more money. But they do it because they want to create value for the community, for society and for the country, not for money.

“I look at the way Mr. Duong (Mr. Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of Thaco) develops Chu Lai, that is the way we have to learn. He has created an entire ecosystem, creating conditions for many other businesses to develop with him. You see, he is so rich now, why does he need to invest in agriculture and struggle with it? It is clearly not for money?”, she asked me back.

Nhi admits that there are times when she herself feels down, thinking about developing new projects, having to do diplomacy, meetings, running around, she feels tired. After all, she herself doesn't have many needs. But then she looks around, sees so many people still working like crazy, she picks herself up again.

“At times like these, I respect even more those who have great positions like Mr. Duong, Mr. Vuong (Chairman of Vingroup), Ms. Thao (Chairman of VietJet Air)... Everyone knows that making cars is very hard, but Mr. Vuong is still determined to do it. I don’t know about other people, but clearly that is an example for me to strive for. Not to strive to be rich like them, but to strive to have the same will as them,” said Ms. Nhi.

I asked: “So what do you do it for?”. She answered simply: “First, I do it for myself. I do it so that I no longer have a depressed mindset. Because if I don’t work and have a depressed mindset, I will become weak. If I am weak in spirit, I will become weak in strength. Second, I do it because of passion. Without passion, I will not have the motivation to overcome difficulties and think about developing, expanding, and creating jobs for workers. Third, I do it to prove my ability, that is the pride that every entrepreneur has. Next, I do it for what I have built, to nurture so many people who follow me. If I don’t do it now, how can I improve the lives of my brothers? And further, even bigger, I do it to contribute to the community and society. Entrepreneurs of all times have the aspiration to contribute to the country.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao Nhi and Chairman of Beijing BOE Audio-Visual Electronics Technology Group signed an agreement for BOE to invest in building a factory worth 277.5 million USD at Phu My 3 Specialized Industrial Park.

Ms. Nhi said that in the past, she used to work in civil real estate, also buying this land and selling that land, making a profit and then buying more but it didn't make any sense. When she invested in an industrial park, from a worthless swamp, factories sprang up, roads opened, foreign investment capital came in, creating jobs for workers.

"One day, I stood and looked out, workers went to work like bees leaving their nests, I felt that life had meaning. I felt more love for life and just kept doing it", she recalled and then asked herself, answered: "So why do I do it? Because life is meaningful, all of life is meaningful. I think that businessmen have enough will to work crazy because they see their lives as meaningful, not because of money".

... After being reminded for the third time, Ms. Nhi and I had to get up and go home. In my head, I kept thinking of the saying "ripe rice bows its head, deep rivers are quiet". But the moon and the sun will shine on their own according to the laws of nature. And I don't regret meeting you too late anymore.

"So why do we do it? Because life is meaningful, all of life is meaningful. I think businessmen have enough will to work crazy because they see their life is meaningful, not because of money."