Quoted from President of CT Group speech on Group 25th Anniversary Celebration (29/06/1992 – 29/06/2017)
Today, thousands of CT Group’s staffs and partners are happy to share in the warm and very happy atmosphere to valued guests, I would like to send my big and deeply thanks to all of our leaders, partners, clients.
At this moment, I am deeply moved to look back at the past 25 years journey full of hardship and difficulties but also full of excitement and joy.
From 1982 – 1992 was the time of. Subsidy, full of hunger and difficulties, we came to doing busisness from necessity driven by the need for minimum essentials. Such was 10 years that had willed my young self into today. I was young, with barely anything to start at a time when private businesses were not yet supported by legal framework. I started out with a small ice cream cake factory. Then around 1985 I started to venture in beer crafting to then started a catering service for university students when I entered University in extreme humble conditions. 1992 was the year of milestone. In a small house in District 3 was the first time that my partners and I had seriously thought about a business strategy and that was when Saigon Trading Ltd. got established in 1993. I remember our first brochure was only 4 pages in blue color just like the color we had for our CT Group logo loday. We then changed our company name to C&T Ltd. the wake of the challenges of the 21st century. What was interesting was that we were able to identify our diversified business model from the very first day with a philosophy: in a developing country, business opportunities exist everywhere and lost everywhere. We had set 3 values for our serves from that day: Humanity – Environment – Communication and until this day, our business model has still proven its correctness.
Although we had already been in business for 10 years prior to the establishment of Saigon Trading, but at establishment, we couldn’t help but stumble many times as exports business was full of risk at the time. I still remember the days that I drive in rain to buy coconut fiber in Mo Cay, Ben Tre province when we were the first business to ever produce environmental friendly net that made of coconut fiber for exportation to Korea. My partners and I still remember the beautiful drive ways of Korea, remember the crazy deals we made with Ngoc Thao, L/C fertilizer deals that pay in delay with Samho, or rice export experiences to Ucnaina with extreme danger. In those days, all experiences were new challenging experiences. But through all, in 1996, we have owned a coconut fiber factory in Ben Tre, a rice factory in Long an, a car and construction machine sale yard in Go Vap, a telephone and ginseng distribution system, etc. 1996 was also the year that we eagerly embarked into a new field of business: Korean cosmetics (for the brands Amore and Laneige) which within only 5 years we were able to dominate the market and to became the direct competitors for LG Vina (representing Debon brand in Vietnam) and Shiseido. With 35 subsidiaries across the country from Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Hue, Nha Trang, Saigon,Can Tho, to Long Xuyen . Those subsidiaries’ owners were partners to then became our very close friends. And today I am very happy to have some them here today, and for that I would like to invite Ms. Huong from Ha Long city, one of our exclusive agent in Quang Ninh.
(Thank you Ms. Huong).
It is very difficult to forget the dangerous roads along Ha Noi, Quang Ninh, Yen Bai, Long Xuyen and Can Tho that I have travelled. And I also couldn’t forget how partnerships turn into friendships. We still remember that afternoons where we drive pass the mountain cliffs to watch kitchen smoke coming out from small houses on the mountain sides. We then traded real estates, hotels, fashion, restaurants,… Together with that we spent a lot of time for social activities, helping the poor. Time passed by, but the memory is staying like it has just happed yesterday. Some of them are here today and could possibly be happy as well. We have lived a meaningful life. I remember those wonderful time we were together, those long trip, those staying late at night in Phu Rieng, those mornings in Sadec, those late flights without sleeping to prepare documents for the meetings with partners from different countries, those snail mails sending through fax machine, those sleepless night at construction site, together with our friends who never gave up…
Time passing by, our hairs have turned white, we are all good friends and that’s the valuable assets which life has given to us . We call it “trade with happiness”.
Today, we are a group of 36 companies and a thousand of employees. However, we still carry on the enthusiasm which is never changed since the date of our start up.
This moment, the historical moment celebrates ¼ century passing by, we are honor to welcome the prizes from our Prime Minister, Vice President, People Committee. Our hearts are all having the same beat and nothing can stop us from working harder, contributing more for our country, our people …We are not allowed to think about ourselves and forget there are many people who need us to help.
We have said in 20th year anniversary “Never forget the boundary between good and bad. The only thing helping us to become a successful business is that we should be a good friend, a trustful partner, a hard working citizen, say no with bad things…developing your own society as a basement to develop our people to be more strong, independent and happy following “Lễ – Nghĩa – Nhân- Trí – Tín””
We promise we will stay strong with our mission to develop a better society within our organization, becoming a strong, independent, and happy personnel who is smart, high responsibility with the society and the country. We will contribute to build long-tern plans for SaiGon in order to make it become more beautiful, more developed so that it is deserve the name Vien Dong pearl. We will soon be proud to stand along with other developed countries .
We would like to thank all the guests, the leaders who have spent your valuable time attending our anniversary and share the happiness with us.
