Chief executive officer of Lap VietNam Co., Ltd

I was born at a time when the country had just been completely liberated; life was difficult due to the “subsidy period”; although living in the rice granary of the western region on a fertile land, life was extremely lacking and destitute. However, my grandparents' and parents' families were both merchants. Though being small business households, they still facilitated me to acquire a learning perspective right from the time I began to become aware of life. In 1983, when I was 6 years old, my mother bought fruits such as longan, guava, mandarin, plum, jackfruit, etc.; each time about 20kg - 40kg to divide into small portions of 0.5kg each. I was the one who went around An Huu market to sell these portions of fruits, and I gave all the money I earned to my mother. Once I sold jackfruit that had been cut into pieces and saw many people eat and throw away the seeds. I had the idea of asking for the seeds back after they had finished eating them; then I brought them home to wash and cook, then skewer them and take them to the market just to sell again. I didn't expect this idea to be warmly received because it was indeed a good idea; and was thrilled to be supported by those around me because I was small but rather smart. At that time, I was very proud of myself and stand tall in front of my friends and peers; they didn't dare to do it because they were just afraid.

This is an impressionable age - the stage of life awareness formation. It was also the time when my family went bankrupt because my mother followed those tempting her to borrow usury money to go to Cambodia to smuggle jeans, Lao sandals, cassette tapes, and other products. But when she returned to Vietnam, she had to pay her debts. I remember very clearly because it was also the first time in 1987 that my mother took me to Cambodia. Although I liked it very much, I felt that my mother was so destitute, desperate to earn money; and all the family's savings we’ve accumulated before had to be paid off because of debts, including our own house that was also foreclosed.

After my family went bankrupt, my parents fled to Saigon to live in my aunt's house with her two younger sisters. My younger brother and I took refuge in our grandparents' house, about 2km from my house, to continue our studies because I was in 6th grade at that time and my younger brother was in 3rd grade. The feeling of family separation; not having the love and care of out parents everyday; and added to it, there was no money for school, living expenses, let alone pocket money. Sometimes seeing our friends have their entire families with them and their siblings around, or when they have allowances to buy gifts, these made us deeply heartbroken. However, living with my grandparents was also a great consolation and encouragement for us two brothers. In the years 1990-1991, there were many trucks carrying wood from the Central Highlands. At that time, I saw the neighbors around me running after the trucks with crowbars to pry off the bark of forest trees to sell. I realized that this was an opportunity and I followed to pry off the bark to sell. At the same time, whoever sold it cheaply, I bought it and brought it back to sell at a higher price. Although the work was labour-intensive and extremely dangerous, during such period could I partially cover the cost of education and support both my grandparents and my parents – the latter were hiding from debts.

This is the biggest turning point in my life. Because according to the discussion of the family on my grandparents' side, it was decided to sell the garden to bring my grandparents up to Saigon to take care of them, because at that time my grandparents were also nearly 90 years old. And this is also the period when riding the Xích Lô (Cyclo) earned a lot of money and my father took a job as a cyclo driver; my mother had a fruit stall at Truong Minh Giang market and I thought our lives would eventually be fine. My siblings were reunited in Saigon and continued our studies. At that time, my father was so determined "No matter what, I will take care of my children, until they don't want to study anymore even if I drive the cyclo every day," and that was the indispensable motivation for me to continue to live my life positively and so my studies were not affected much.

My family and I lived in my aunt's house, and my she resided in the United States. She would occasionally send money to support our living expenses and business ventures. Unfortunately, my mother again incurred a significant debt due to loan sharking and participation in pyramid and ponzi schemes, plunging our family into financial hardship. My siblings and I would return home from school each day to an atmosphere of gloom and despair. Due to my mother's history of debt, our extended family on my father's side asked us to vacate my aunt's house. Fortunately, my paternal family provided us with a small house in Go Vap, though not too spacious but enough for us to shelter and educate ourselves. However, my mother accumulated more debt and was forced to sell the house to repay it and purchase a smaller one. This cycle of debt and house sales continued every few years, eventually leaving us with no other option but to rent. When we could no longer afford rent, we resorted to living with relatives.

Upon graduating from high school, I found employment as a factory worker at Viet Thang Textile Mill through a friend's recommendation. During this time, I harbored aspirations of being selected for labor export to South Korea. However, my work experience revealed that without proper education and skills, I would be unable to provide for my family with my meager salary. Determined to escape poverty, I decided to pursue higher education while working. Fortunately, I achieved the 12th highest score out of nearly 800 students in the entrance exam for the International Business Administration program at Hoa Sen University. Upon receiving the news of my admission, I was overwhelmed with both joy and worry about the financial burden of tuition fees and the loss of my income to support my family. However, fortune smiled upon me when I shared my aspirations to study and lift my family out of poverty with my Aunt Tam, who had generously supported my family in the past and now extended her assistance to cover the exorbitant tuition fees of the private university at the time.

While still pursuing my studies, French-invested companies in Vietnam prioritized recruiting graduates from Hoa Sen University. I was fortunate to be the first to be hired into a professional work environment at Proconco (Viet - France Cattle Food Production JSC) Company. This marked a turning point in my life, as I received extensive training in the skills and knowledge necessary to excel as a professional employee and effectively handle work-related situations. I remained with Con Co Feed Company until September 2000, after nearly two years of dedicated service.

I continued my studies in Business Administration at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City until 2005. During this period, I also pursued a degree in Pharmacy at the University of Pharmacy Ho Chi Minh City. Fortunately, I was simultaneously employed by DKSH Group, which offered a relatively high salary at the time, enabling me to explore more opportunities for personal development.

The pharmaceutical company under my management officially shifted its focus to the research and production of cosmetics. The debut product, IORY5, marked the company's entry into the market in 2005 and quickly gained widespread distribution across supermarkets like MaxiMark, CoopMark, and distributors in numerous provinces and cities throughout the country. Since then, LAP Vietnam Pharmaceutical Company has continued to grow, maintaining a team of over 50 pharmacists, chemical engineers, and staff members.

This period marked a severe crisis for the company. We faced challenges on all fronts, including fierce market competition, a shortage of qualified personnel to support business operations and production, and particularly, intense competition from rivals in the product output market. This was the most turbulent time in my personal and professional life, as well as for the entire company. However, by the end of 2015, I made a bold decision to completely change our business direction. We withdrew entirely from the traditional sales market and focused on building a new 800m2 factory that met cGMP standards, the first of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City. We prioritized developing and concentrating on contract manufacturing for partners who had strong online sales channels at that time. Thanks to our strategic direction and product quality that met market demands, the manufacturing plant has grown tremendously, reaching an area of over 5,000m2 today. In 2013, we founded the K3 cosmetics brand, later followed by K3 PERFUME. K3 Perfume was born from grander ideas for the Vietnamese beauty industry. However, due to market conditions and the lack of suitable manufacturing raw material options, we were unable to produce products of sufficient quality to compete. If the quality was low, we would be easily ostracized by the increasingly developed and demanding market as well as fastidious customers. During this time, we focused on research, contract manufacturing, and providing semi-finished products for other companies.

K3 PERFUME is now officially receiving substantial investment, as the time is right for both market development, product advertising channels, and truly reputable global suppliers. LAP Vietnam Company has officially partnered with Robette Factory in France, established in the 19th century and one of the world's top suppliers of natural perfume ingredients. Currently, we have several other suppliers, including Only Fragance - France, Lipo - Switzerland, Iwase - Japan, BJC - Korea, and Lidex - Korea, a supplier of professional machinery. Additionally, we source our food-grade alcohol from sugarcane, making it absolutely safe for users. Our future direction is to focus on developing a reputable and high-quality business with a team of skilled and technically proficient employees to meet the needs of even the most demanding contract manufacturing and consumer customers. We are committed to developing the K3 Perfume brand into a strong force, with the mission of becoming a representative of Vietnamese perfume in the global market. We also aim to establish a research center to train perfume creators.