Profile information:
Mr. Võ Thanh Việt (31/03/1981)
Took the “X Star UP” course in 2014
With strengths in construction, he established Đại Khải Minh Construction Company, with notable achievements and an international vision
Details of the entrepreneurship course at YUP: https://yup.edu.vn/x-startup/
Những chia sẻ thêm từ CEO Tạ Minh Tuấn: https://www.facebook.com/smartrepreneur?fref=ts
More information and lessons from YUP: https://www.facebook.com/YUPINSTITUTE?fref=ts
THE MESSAGE OF LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS
Võ Thanh Việt, CEO of Đại Khải Minh, is 1 young engineer who started his own business
- “I first encountered lightweight materials while working on the Ngọc Sương–Cam Ranh resort. At the time, the houses in front of the bay needed lightweight walls to reduce structural loads and speed up construction… Investors' ideas were always ahead of the capabilities of young architects. After more years of practice, I found greater initiative, recognized market demand, and began proposing suitable applications in advance.
- The opportunity came when a friend who directed a Thai lightweight-material company's representative office introduced these products to me. The range could meet every need in a house. It was the final piece that allowed me to begin the project.
- My first success was persuading the Park project's B2B clients, and my first failure was persuading my parents to use lightweight materials when building their own home. I think social communications must advance much further in knowledge so that generations of Vietnamese people develop a more complete understanding of homebuilding. This project can therefore be described as a pioneer, focusing directly on that mindset. It will ease the burden on the economy, increase flexibility, and thereby improve efficiency.”
Those were his reflections to YUP! about the product that made Đại Khải Minh's name and brought him pride during his entrepreneurial journey, which began as a construction engineer.
A brief introduction to Đại Khải Minh Company
Đại Khải Minh is an architecture and construction company based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Over the past 10 years, each of its projects has demonstrated strong functional and aesthetic value, earning the trust of many domestic and international customers.
A deep understanding of customer needs, optimal solutions and high quality at reasonable cost are the strengths that have helped the company establish itself in the marketplace.
With a young, highly skilled workforce, Võ Thanh Việt's Đại Khải Minh continually strives to grasp the best of the era and put it into practice. He commits to delivering value to every customer and aspires to meet each project's latent future needs.
Mission
Đại Khải Minh provides high-quality architectural design and construction services tailored to customer needs at reasonable costs.
Vision
Đại Khải Minh will become an international-standard construction company contributing to the development of Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Core Values
- 1. Make the Project's Success Your Top Priority.
- 2. Continuously improve to meet new needs.
- 3. Make the management and operating structure transparent.
- 4. Absorb the best of international experience to apply it in the local market.
- 5. Uphold human values and sustainable development.
He shared with YUP! the stages that led to these achievements, through milestones for each year.
- 2003: He was still a young engineer who had not yet graduated and was working on the Ngọc Sương project. At this time, the idea of lightweight materials took shape in his mind as he encountered them during construction. Putting the idea into practice, he first tested these lightweight materials in his own home and advised friends on the architecture of several restaurants and cafés
- 2006: Demand for interiors became enormous. He founded Đại Khải Minh company, with wooden furniture as its main product line. At this stage, he applied lightweight materials in his business, but only as a solution. Speaking about their characteristics, he said they suited non-permanent spaces, saved costs and were very convenient. From here, he proposed a housing solution with a service package using lightweight materials.
- 2009: Đại Khải Minh's revenue declined because of the economic crisis. Customers in Phú Mỹ Hưng left one after another as the property market froze. He overcame the economic crisis by working alongside and learning from many capable people and investors to enhance his capabilities. In this way, he decided to change his approach, moving his office from District 7 to District 9 with the aim of building homes and interiors in suburban areas.
- 2014: Began trading in lightweight materials, inspired by Shera, a company selling these materials.
Đại Khải Minh currently has 7 people. But discussing figures, I learned that his company’s annual revenue reaches VND 5 billion, and he expects it to exceed 20 billion this year.
Continuous learning is a strength of Đại Khải Minh, partly motivated by customers' dissatisfaction and belief that Vietnam's construction industry lags behind other countries. However, he takes a very practical view: customers have the right to set their requirements, but as a construction consulting and contracting business, he believes one should not idealize Western architecture so much that it becomes unsuitable for our East Asian environment. In practice, studying and practicing architecture domestically is far more important than learning from foreign architecture.
However, wanting to continue farther on a longer journey, he believed entrepreneurship teachers with extensive business experience could help. This is why he came to YUP!
He shared:
The teachers at YUP! helped him strengthen his knowledge of business and entrepreneurship and apply marketing comprehensively and appropriately to his own business, such as
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Thanks to Teacher Lý Trường Chiến, he learned and clearly understood what constitutes the right business strategy.
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Applying the Business Model Canvas with teacher Trần Bằng Việt
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He recognized the importance of market research through Teacher Trần Hùng Thiện's lesson
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Regarding teacher Tạ Minh Tuấn, he considers him an important source of spiritual leadership for people running businesses and starting up
Lessons from the entrepreneurial journey:
Business is no joke and is not easy. If you want to get started, you must know how! When an architect goes into business: He needs to step outside his role as an architect to run the business well
Architects’ habitual way of thinking is always to seek an opportunity to create 1 lasting architectural masterpiece. But if that opportunity does not arise, start your own business and do it yourself instead of waiting for customers from 1 company where you are an employee!
Please send all cooperation and investment inquiries for Mr. Võ Thanh Việt to: support@yup.edu.vn or customer-service@yup.edu.vn
