Every morning, I woke to the sight of plastic pipes in our warehouse backyard. At night, I fell asleep to the sound of them being loaded onto trucks. Only later did I understand that the rhythm of my childhood was sustained by my parents’ years of work.
My father started out gathering goods at local markets. Over more than 35 years, he built Lan Thanh into a trading business with annual revenues exceeding a trillion Vietnamese dong. Some call him “the big brother of the industry.” To me, he is the man who had the courage to start again after building so much.
His courage to begin again shaped my understanding of inheritance. Both my parents made the opportunities I have today possible. I wanted to discover what I could contribute in return.
As I became more involved, I noticed a familiar pattern in Vietnam’s plastics industry: established materials, familiar sales channels, and competition centred on price. Whether in tenders or wholesale negotiations, conversations kept returning to how much cheaper a product could be. I began wondering what it would take to give customers another reason to choose us.
For me, PVC-O offered an answer. Developed in Spain, this pipe technology caught my attention through the strength and ease of installation I witnessed, and through its potential to replace conventional materials in suitable applications. I saw an opportunity to bring a different choice to Vietnam.
The harder task was helping others see what I saw. Much as HDPE had once needed to earn acceptance, PVC-O would require patient explanation and practical evidence. I learned that my enthusiasm for a technology meant little unless I could address the concerns of those expected to use it.
Price was central to those concerns. Introducing European quality meant working with partners across the supply chain to make trial adoption financially realistic. I had to learn to connect technical possibilities with commercial realities.
Securing exclusive distribution rights in Vietnam and Molecor’s agreement to transfer technology marked an early success in my journey. Our work to introduce PVC-O into a water supply project in Ben Tre is helping bring that ambition closer to reality.
The next challenge is earning wider understanding and trust. I am finding my own place in the family business through that work: negotiating and helping a new idea find acceptance.
The sound of pipes being loaded onto trucks is still familiar. But now, I think about where those deliveries are going, the communities they will serve, and the choices that put them on those trucks.
By bringing new technologies to Vietnam’s water supply and drainage industry, I hope to help my country grow and see that progress take shape, one project at a time.
My father started out gathering goods at local markets. Over more than 35 years, he built Lan Thanh into a trading business with annual revenues exceeding a trillion Vietnamese dong. Some call him “the big brother of the industry.” To me, he is the man who had the courage to start again after building so much.
His courage to begin again shaped my understanding of inheritance. Both my parents made the opportunities I have today possible. I wanted to discover what I could contribute in return.
As I became more involved, I noticed a familiar pattern in Vietnam’s plastics industry: established materials, familiar sales channels, and competition centred on price. Whether in tenders or wholesale negotiations, conversations kept returning to how much cheaper a product could be. I began wondering what it would take to give customers another reason to choose us.
For me, PVC-O offered an answer. Developed in Spain, this pipe technology caught my attention through the strength and ease of installation I witnessed, and through its potential to replace conventional materials in suitable applications. I saw an opportunity to bring a different choice to Vietnam.
The harder task was helping others see what I saw. Much as HDPE had once needed to earn acceptance, PVC-O would require patient explanation and practical evidence. I learned that my enthusiasm for a technology meant little unless I could address the concerns of those expected to use it.
Price was central to those concerns. Introducing European quality meant working with partners across the supply chain to make trial adoption financially realistic. I had to learn to connect technical possibilities with commercial realities.
Securing exclusive distribution rights in Vietnam and Molecor’s agreement to transfer technology marked an early success in my journey. Our work to introduce PVC-O into a water supply project in Ben Tre is helping bring that ambition closer to reality.
The next challenge is earning wider understanding and trust. I am finding my own place in the family business through that work: negotiating and helping a new idea find acceptance.
The sound of pipes being loaded onto trucks is still familiar. But now, I think about where those deliveries are going, the communities they will serve, and the choices that put them on those trucks.
By bringing new technologies to Vietnam’s water supply and drainage industry, I hope to help my country grow and see that progress take shape, one project at a time.
