CEO Tran Quoc Bao: “Failures make me more mature”

CEO Tran Quoc Bao has lived through upheavals, acquired a lot of experience and grasped valuable opportunities to lead his property company to its current success.

Entrepreneurship
Born in 1983, Tran Quoc Bao, President and CEO of VN Da Thanh Investment Construction and Trade Joint Stock Company, and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association (VUPDA), looks more experienced and mature than his age.

After he graduated from a law university, he joined the police force. In 2006, he left the police force to start his own business. Then, his leadership temperament was well-known to many people. When he was running a State-owned enterprise administered by the Ministry of Construction, he asked to change the company’s operating model, but the Board of Directors rejected the request, after which he decided to resign and set up VN Da Thanh Company.

As a multi-business company leader, successes came easily but also went easily before market volatility. He could not control it.

Bao said: when I was under 30 years old, I sometimes held dozens of billions of Vietnamese dong, a very big amount of fund for a person who started a business nearly 10 years ago. However, due to subjective and objective reasons, I lost all my money. I was penniless even I was wearing a luxurious vest. I felt that the market was so fierce.

Nevertheless, he did not surrender to any hardship. He even pledged to pay all his debts in a year and he managed to do it.

In reality, his big failures made him braver and more mature. VN Da Thanh Investment Construction and Trade Joint Stock Company that he founded to invest in real estate investment is successful in business and branding. The company has invested in some real estate projects, commercial centres and townships in Da Nang, Quang Nam, Central Highlands provinces and headed to reach other localities in the country. Notably, VN Da Thanh opened up and created breakthroughs for the real estate market in the Central Highlands with many gigantic projects.

Inspirational
Bao was very excited when sharing with us about his start-up story. Vietnam in general and Da Nang in particular does not have many big corporations because enterprises feel uncertain.

In the real estate industry, the leader must be a person who leads, inspires and motivates employees. The measure of the success of a CEO is the very success of his employees.

In doing business, he has also drawn many lessons. For him, the current Start-up Fund is unclear. The fund needs to be standardised and regulated with clear objectives and purposes. It is important to determine where the budget is taken from.

He highly appreciated Quang Nam province for applying wealth encouraging policy to enable companies to get more riches and generate jobs for people to reduce poverty sustainably.

Tran Quoc Bao is now Vice Chairman of the Hai Chau Business Association (Da Nang City), where he shares his experience and provides a playground for other members. According to him, to develop the Hai Chau Business Association, it is essential to do the following jobs well: Reducing boasting and strengthening cooperation of members. The association is a place to share and consult on corporate governance, good models and practical experiences.

“Previously, I made money to realise my dream of owning property projects. Now, I want to create core values and settle down before making money for bigger projects to create more values for life.”

“Failure makes us more mature. I myself underwent many failures. I feel stronger after each stumble, from thinking to action. I believe that, from market lessons and experiences, I am confident to be successful with any project I choose,” he affirmed.

In recent years, VN Da Thanh has hosted many workshops on real estate and planning in a bid to share information and experience, especially in urban planning. In addition, VN Da Thanh Welfare Fund has been established and operated, funded by 30 percent of the company's profit. It is designed to provide support for mountainous and disadvantaged people.

Xuan Hoai