Building a business from nothing, Hoàng Khải went from a Hanoi-born young man who spent 16 years singing and playing music to a “silk king” with an enormous fortune. The turning point in the million-dollar entrepreneur's life was his risky move from Hanoi to Saigon to build a career 20 years ago.
Recently, entrepreneur Hoàng Khải shared the calculated risk that helped him acquire his present enormous wealth: “20 years ago, when I was still living in Hanoi, I was successful and had quite an interesting life. But I would never have had the chance to become the Hoàng Khải I am today if I had not risked moving to Saigon to build my career, leaving behind my modest successes in my birthplace. Who knows—when you seek your future in life, it may still be wide open and repay what you have sacrificed.”.
Leaving the conservatory to pursue business
His family Hoàng Khải once lived on Hàng Gai Street, Hanoi, is now also the location of a Khải Silk group branch.
As the eldest of 3 brothers, Hoàng Khải began helping his parents early, transforming the family business from an embroidery shop into a store specializing in silk souvenirs for tourists visiting Hanoi.
On a trip abroad, seeing the development of countries such as Thailand and Singapore, Khải wanted to make his family's silk shop more professionally run and luxurious.
At 25, he decided to leave the conservatory and open the first Khải Silk store on Hàng Gai Street. As a pioneer, Hoàng Khải quickly succeeded, helping Hàng Gai and Hàng Bông develop into streets full of silk souvenir shops in Hanoi.
Positioned in the premium segment, Khải Silk’s products were all designed by Mr. Khải himself and outsourced to silk makers in Vạn Phúc or Đà Nẵng.
In addition to developing a chain of standalone shops, Mr. Hoàng Khải opened showrooms and retail outlets in 5-star hotels targeting wealthy tourists. Khải Silk became a well-known brand in Hanoi.
Khải Silk store at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort
The famous entrepreneur recalls: “Our family was still very poor then. By chance, I heard a foreign friend working and living in Hanoi asking where to buy silk to take home as gifts for relatives, because in Hanoi in the 1980s it was very difficult to find meaningful gifts.”
At that moment, a thought flashed through Hoàng Khải's mind: ‘Why not find silk-producing regions and open a store selling to foreigners who live and work in Vietnam and to tourists?’
From Silk to Real Estate and Upscale Restaurants
The Khải Silk brand's success in the high-end silk market helped Hoàng Khải accumulate capital and begin buying property in Hanoi and elsewhere.
The entrepreneur had a knack for real estate, investing in one of Hội An's luxury resorts in the late 1990s: Hội An Riverside Resort. A few years later, Hoàng Khải sold it at a profit once the hotel was operating successfully.
In 2000, the owner of Khải Silk Group decided to move south, shifting his business operations to Ho Chi Minh City. Continuing to invest in real estate, Khải quickly recognized the potential of Phú Mỹ Hưng. Using capital accumulated while in Hanoi, Hoàng Khải began buying and reselling dozens of apartments in this urban area, making substantial profits when the property market peaked in 2006–2007.
From real-estate investment, Khải began expanding into upscale restaurants after traveling abroad and realizing that Vietnam then had no truly world-class restaurant. Hoàng Khải’s first upscale restaurant was Au Menoir de Khai on Điện Biên Phủ Street, although very beautiful, it took 2-3 years before customers came.
Drawing on his existing business relationship with the Phú Mỹ Hưng urban development, Khải persuaded its management to lease land at a low price for him to build an upscale restaurant there.
With the same premium positioning, Phú Mỹ Hưng partnered with Hoàng Khải to create the Chinese-style Ming Dynasty restaurant. This was followed by a grand villa in Islamic architectural style, which the entrepreneur often calls Tajmasagon Castle, rising in the same urban area.
Tajmasagon Castle in Phú Mỹ Hưng, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City
Besides the two restaurants mentioned above, this group owns other upscale restaurants, such as Nam Phan specializing in Vietnamese cuisine, Cham Charm, London Steak House, and Khai's Brothers...
Not only in addition to restaurant and traditional silk businesses under the Khaisilk brand, the Khải Silk group operates TajmaSago as a resort and owns an upscale shopping center called Saigon Paragon.
Mr. Hoàng Khải continues to diversify with the idea of the 18-story The Khai building, shaped like the strip of silk associated with Khaisilk, and the 20-story The Prince, inspired by stacked books, right in the center of Phú Mỹ Hưng.
Entrepreneur Hoàng Khải and the 20-story building soon to break ground in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City
But Achievements Do Not Always Come Easily. Hoàng Khải Once Shared Candidly: “Looking at me, everyone imagines a life of one dream following another, but few understand that life usually brings more hardship, sometimes in relentless waves. Happiness and comfort are not always right beside us. I remember 6 years ago, around 2010, when economic conditions were extremely difficult. Cash-flow pressure sometimes drove me crazy and made me want to abandon everything just to be done with it!”
“In business, everyone wants successes of their own, but the most important thing is not to take it all; share a little of that success with others”, Hoàng Khải added.
Luxury, optimism, and sharing
Through many ups and downs and difficulties, optimism seems to have helped Hoàng Khải weather those storms.
Recalling the Difficult Days of 2010, Hoàng Khải Said: ‘Now everything has turned bright and rosy… Looking back, I realize I chose to live and work optimistically”.
With a mindset of receiving without taking everything, sharing is also an important part of Hoàng Khải's life. He regularly visits orphans and travels by bus or economy class to contribute money to poor children in remote areas.
Mr. Hoàng Khải is also one of the few entrepreneurs who enthusiastically and regularly shares his thoughts, views and everyday stories on social media.
Hoàng Khải himself once admitted to being extravagant. He developed ultra-luxury hobbies from an early stage.
In 2007, a Rolls-Royce Phantom suddenly appeared outside the Sheraton Hotel on Đồng Khởi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. People immediately recognized its driver as Khải Silk Group Chairman Hoàng Khải, at the wheel of the million-dollar car.
At that time, the Rolls-Royce Phantom was considered the most expensive car in Vietnam. To this day, the entrepreneur continues adding more spectacular vehicles to his collection.
Hoàng Khải's taste for luxury is evident in his real estate style. Besides spending millions of dollars on The Khai and The Prince buildings, he revealed that both would have a “very Khải” style, saying: “If you build over every bit of land allocated to you, the building will have nothing impressive about it.”
At The Khai building, besides investing in a 7-bedroom penthouse, Hoàng Khải built 3 floors with a separate elevator called Lightning and a seawater-filled swimming pool on the 20th floor called Infinity (Unrivaled). Inside the penthouse, a staircase leads directly to the Cloud (White Cloud) Spa, offering a panoramic 360-degree view of the city atop The Khai building.
His taste for luxury is also reflected in his personal belongings and distinctive culinary pleasures.
Collected
