Today, Haiphong Paint is not only a pioneer of the Haiphong business community and of the Vietnamese paint industry but is also a leading private company in the country with three paint plants and eight subsidiary companies. It is little known that this achievement is originated from a near-bankrupt three decades ago. The key to the miraculous successes of Haiphong Paint is President and CEO Nguyen Van Vien, who has overcome mechanism barriers and market challenges to grasp opportunities for his company.
Resolute to overcome challenges
Nearly three decades ago, Haiphong Paint faced numerous difficulties like product backlogs, no sales networks and no clear development roadmaps and hundreds of workers did not have jobs and income. At that time, the presence of Nguyen Van Vien at Haiphong Paint was considered a new factor entrusted by the government of Haiphong City, and all employees.
Right after he took on the plant, he found out that its paints had signs of mouldiness, cracking and deposition. He immediately gathered best engineers to find out reasons and solutions to those phenomena in the shortest time. He even travelled across the country to find right directions for his products. After his survey trips, he decided to produce marine paints for ships and offshore works. At that time, he and his engineers successfully found the causes of those phenomena. However, hardships to the company were not over and his leadership calibre was re-emerged. He said “At that time, I thought that we had to go to study. I cooperated with scientists and scientific centres in the country to perform research and development. After that, I decided to purchase technological know-how from famous paint companies.”
However, purchasing technological paint know-how was not easy as many paint companies turned down our offers because of our poor production facilities. After a lot of attempts, Japan’s Chugoku was convinced. Indeed, self-confidence helped us to overcome hosts of difficulties and achieved successes. We also received active supports from the municipal government.
Reviving a near-bankrupt plant is very difficult but developing it is much more difficult. Therefore, steering the ship of Haiphong Paint forwards not only bases on knowledge, wisdom and bravery of Captain Nguyen Van Vien but also on his perseverance. This very perseverance was the main prerequisite to the success of Haiphong Paint. Especially now when everyone can actively grasp market information, persistence is really necessary. For that reason, he did not agree with a popular saying that “being rich is not difficult" because he felt that “being rich is very difficult.” The difficulty lies in the sustainability of richness.
Constant innovation
In 1987, the Party Committee of Haiphong City hosted a contest to recruit the director for Haiphong Paint Company. Nguyen Van Vien was a deputy director of a division of the Hanoi Department of Industry at that time, a position with bright prospects of career promotion, while Haiphong Paint was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was said to be unwise with this application but his boldness and determination amazed others.
He also took the lead in investing in modern production technology and equipment in the 1990s. In early 1994, while many companies were struggling to find out development directions, Haiphong Paint had successfully launched new products. He replaced oil-based paint with ALKyd resin-based paint, using technology and equipment imported from Germany. The company's products quickly occupied the market and served shipbuilding, transport and industrial sectors. The company also spent a lot of money on personnel training and foreign language training. Currently, the company has nearly 50 researches, aged 35 on average. Remarkably, Vien is now holding a record number of technical innovations in his company for 20 years. He has possessed 20 innovative and creative theses, received Nguyen Binh Khiem Award, Haiphong Science and Technology Awards, and received certificates of innovation from the Confederation of Labour. And, he has successfully applied ISO international quality management system, a proof to his engagement in science.
Apart from innovative thinking and bold investment for production development, Vien is also very sharp at corporate governance, which was evidenced by the company’s equitisation process. Vietnam initiated the privatisation of State-owned enterprises more than 20 years ago but the process was so slow that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had to announce a verdict in early 2014 that business leaders would be fired for failing to equitise their companies. In the meantime, Haiphong Paint marked its 10th year of going public on January 1, 2014. Achievements and valuable lessons served as an important basis for a small business entity to become an industry leader in the process of international integration.
With his tireless effort and constant creativity, Nguyen Van Vien will surely lead the ship of Haiphong Paint to the vast open sea and become a trusted partner of domestic and international partners.
Ngo San
Vietnamese
