I did not always know that I wanted to join my family business. Growing up, I saw the factory mostly as my parents’ work rather than something connected to my own future. That changed when I began to understand how difficult it was to build a manufacturing business from the ground up in Vietnam. Behind every machine were years of investment, risk, relationships, and people who had grown together with the company. I realized that joining the business was not simply about continuing what my family had built, but about finding what I could contribute to its next stage.

One of my first challenges was introducing new products and a more market-oriented way of thinking. A simple example was our tile levelling system, a small construction accessory used by tilers to keep tiles flat and evenly spaced. The product itself is simple, but developing it taught me an important lesson: manufacturing is not only about producing something cheaply. We had to understand what installers actually needed, improve material consistency, control production quality, and think about packaging, distribution, and branding. At first, some of my ideas were questioned. The older generation had built the company through experience, relationships, and practical judgment, while I often approached problems through data, branding, technology, and experimentation. Instead of trying to replace the old ways, I learned to combine both. Their experience helped me understand what was realistic; my perspective helped us explore what could be improved. I began to feel that I was earning their trust when my ideas moved beyond presentations and started producing tangible results. I became involved in the details, from materials and production processes to speaking with distributors and understanding feedback from workers who used our products. That experience taught me that trust in a family business is earned through execution, not through a title.

Looking ahead, I hope our family business can represent a generation of Vietnamese manufacturers that compete not only through low-cost production, but through consistency, transparency, product development, and strong partnerships. Even with something as small as a tile levelling system, we can demonstrate that a Vietnamese-made product can be reliable, professionally manufactured, and capable of creating real value for both workers and distributors. For me, continuing the family business is not, therefore, about preserving everything exactly as it was. It is about respecting what the previous generation built while developing the capabilities needed for the next one.