Businessman Le Tu Minh - The man with the ”magic wand...”

Businessman Tu Minh and his wife (standing in the middle), who wore the Friendship Medal, on the night of the program "Russia in my heart".

Dynamic, love to explore new markets...

After completing his PhD thesis in Political Economy during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Le Tu Minh started to establish his first company in Russia. The change from studying to doing business was initially difficult. In 1993, while confiding in a delegation of Vietsopetro officials who were on a business trip to Russia, Le Tu Minh grasped the development situation of the Vietnamese oil and gas industry and was concerned about the monopoly of Russian companies in providing equipment for the country's young oil and gas industry. He met and gathered a number of former Soviet technical and scientific officials who had worked in the Vietnamese oil and gas industry, to find a way to buy equipment from Russia to bid for Vietsopetro. Many difficulties appeared: low capital, 100% cash payment, limited technical knowledge and transportation in Russia at that time was really difficult... But with perseverance and diligence, the first bids were successful, the shipments arrived in Vietnam intact. Then contracts followed contracts, the demand for orders was very high, it was just a pity that there was not enough money, he had to borrow from outside with very high interest rates to ensure the order was fulfilled. After nearly 1 year, the work not only brought good profits but also broke the monopoly of Russian companies. Many items had prices reduced by more than 60% compared to previous years. Once, the leadership of Vietsopetro asked him to help the enterprise buy a special shipment from a factory in Ukraine. This was an exclusive type of goods, the Vietnamese side knew very well that the factory sold at a very high price, but the important thing was that their delivery was very slow, not enough time to handle the incident outside the drilling rig. Le Tu Minh had to ask another Russian oil and gas company to buy domestically and then transport it to Vietnam. As a result, the shipment was on schedule and the price was only 30% of the price that the factory sold to Vietsopetro. Since then, Vietsopetro has had solutions to bring the purchase and sale contracts back to the real value of the goods, breaking the monopoly with high monopoly prices for many years of Russian and former Soviet companies. And from there, the bidding knowledge was accumulated and became his negotiation skills.

Returning to do business in Vietnam was a big decision and an important turning point in the career of businessman Le Tu Minh. The days of doing taxi business, liquefied gas business, and new markets opened in the years 1996-2000 in the country were very good. Although the business was favorable and effective, he realized that those markets were small, complicated and difficult to manage. It was necessary to find a new, broader field.

In 2000, the first time he came to Singapore, he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the houses, buildings and planning here. When will his homeland have such beautiful urban areas? The question kept nagging him and he began to research, shifting to the real estate sector, an open market with a lot of potential. At that time, Phu My Hung was considered the most beautiful model in Vietnam. He thought: We must create Phu My Hungs in different cities. A rather early mindset and he chose the difficult path: Projects to build houses for sale.

The work of every business always requires efficiency and he really likes the saying: Saving a penny is making a penny… He is the person who directly trains the bidding team and directly participates in bidding. I asked:

If you only choose one word to describe the management focus, which word would you choose?

Deadline, he answered very quickly.

Then he said, in the 2000s, when he was confused about the management issue, suddenly his golfing friend talked about the topic of Deadline. The statement awakened him and he immediately directed the Board of Directors: Must build and complete the Deadline process within a week and has become a principle, a focus in management.

Understanding that labor creates value, if you want to get rich, you have to work, he worked diligently 10-12 hours every day. He started working at 9am in the morning and stopped at 6pm. After dinner in the evening, he worked online with the architect from 9pm to 12pm-1am. Saturday and Sunday were for golf and friends. His partner commented that behind his gentle appearance, he was a very tough and cold person when it came to delays and deception, no matter who it was, but he was very kind and ready to forgive if that person admitted his mistake. It seems contradictory but it is not when knowing that he is building a management process according to international standards by contracting with Big4 giants to implement.

Active in social activities

Not only focusing on getting rich, Le Tu Minh has interesting scientific and social activities. He is currently the President of the Student Association of the University of Economics - National Economics University, Hanoi and is a founder and companion, keeping the fire burning for the Lenin Military Political Association, including senior officers who studied in the former Soviet Union for nearly 30 years. Originally a Doctor of Economics, he still spends time participating in state-level topics, including the topic of open economic zones with Associate Professor Vo Dai Luoc, his beloved teacher.

A simple person in life, strict with himself and his children, but generous in social work. Not doing charity on a large scale, he only focuses on the field of education, sponsoring book writing, gratitude, orphans, scholarships for students and strategic work. He spent billions to invite the Academy to research and write a development strategy for Thua Thien Hue. In early 2021, he donated his pension book to the orphanage that he invested in building and sponsored operating costs, a place to raise orphans and disabled but talented children to create conditions for them to contribute...

With the concept that charity must first start with caring for the children, their families and friends. It would not be charity if it only costs society, but abandons the children and their relatives. He has been doing charity work regularly every year with a fund built from the beginning of the year and up to now he has donated hundreds of billions of VND, in the areas of Quang Ngai, Long An, Hue, the Central Flood Fund, Truong Sa... voluntarily and quietly. The Vietnamese Talent Scholarship Fund of IMG Company annually awards scholarships of 150 million VND to students, and this fund is currently the largest in scale.

In particular, Le Tu Minh is very passionate about the Hue Talent Orphanage Center project. The center is located on Road 14 - Ancuu City Urban Area, Hue City, with 3-star hotel standards, bedrooms with fans and air conditioners. The center selects orphans from all over the country to raise and train them until they graduate from university in the country and abroad. Every day, the children study at high school, the rest of the day they study English, Math, Music... to train and discover their abilities. Answering the reason for establishing the orphan center and raising these children, Le Tu Minh pondered: I am successful thanks to society and when I am successful, I must be responsible to society. Everyone has a kind nature. Money, whether little or much, must be used for a purpose. Spending too much is not good, you cannot take it with you to the grave, giving too much to your children will reduce their enthusiasm for getting rich and their responsibility to themselves and society. Making money is a need for a better life and to realize your dreams. Giving it away is also a plan.

Businessman - artist

On the evening of January 17, the song "Step to Glory" by DN Le Tu Minh won second prize for the best songs of 2020 of the Vietnam Musicians Association.

Regarding life balance, perhaps this is a very special feature of Le Tu Minh. Many people still think that it is difficult for business people to write poetry and music, because these seem to be two opposite fields. However, surprisingly, Le Tu Minh is very excellent in this field. His poetry and music career is clearly shown in the book "Return", a book with 2 parts: Poetry and music. Part 1 is titled: Poetry is a medicine to balance and sublimate life. And perhaps this is also his perspective on life. I really like his poems, gentle but profound. The first is the poem "Return", the poem that gives the title of the book. Return is the feeling of children far from home, wishing to return to their fathers and mothers, in the love of teachers, in the friendship with the sounds of "you and I" and the dreams of childhood after the hardships of life. Returning to soak up the sweat on the golden rice fields, the bustling sound of cicadas in the garden of the grandmother and returning to the kind hearts. And although the homeland still has many hardships, although life still has many things to cry about, our Fatherland cannot be replaced. The profound poetic ideas imbued with morality were captured by musician Tuan Phuong and set to music in the song "Return". Then came the poem "My house on the back of the hill", a poem depicting the beautiful scenery of the peaceful Central Highlands countryside, which was set to music by musician Duc Trinh into a very good song of the same name.

The translation of poetry is also interesting, if the poem "The Mouse Council" by La Fontaine was translated delicately, the poem "The Mouse and the Frog" was adapted to a very mischievous ending: The crippled mouse because of his love for girls, infatuated with the green frog, jumped into the lake and almost drowned and promised not to be stupid anymore, but at night he thought about it and: If he met a green frog, the mouse would still jump into the lake. It can only be explained: That is love. I could not hold back my tears when reading the poem: “Wake up, Mom”, the poem written about the last days with my mother in the hospital and she also passed away. The day he sent his mother off, he wrote the poem: “Bringing my mother back to her resting place” with the pain of a child who lost her mother. Those who have lost their mother will feel it in their flesh and blood in each verse of the poem. However, the philosophy of life is expressed in the poem: “A little bit”, the poem has been included in the curriculum of the Buddhist Academy. Part 2 of the book is about music. The songs were partly translated by him from foreign languages, mostly Russian, into Vietnamese, and partly composed by famous musicians for his poems. It is surprising that he affirmed that he is not a writer, poet, not a musician and not good at foreign languages, but his translations are very close to the original, logical in thinking and humane. The parts he adapted are to be closer to Vietnamese culture and to suit current thinking. Five of his songs have been included in the content of “Songs that go with the years”, two of which were selected for the program “Things that remain forever” organized by Vietnamnet every year on September 2. The songs: Return, My house on the hillside, Hello mother, Ash tree… are loved by all ages.

Businessman Le Tu Minh (left).

And perhaps I have to mention a very meaningful event. On May 11, 2019, I was invited by Le Tu Minh to participate in the art program: Russia in my heart, a program co-organized by the Vietnam Musicians Association, the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Association, and the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association to celebrate 70 years of Russia-Vietnam friendship and 25 years, the Vietnam-Russia cross year. The program included Russian songs translated by him into Vietnamese. The whole hall was silent and moved to listen to the Russian melody and lyrics of Hello Mom, The Cranes. It was unique, the first time there was a program that translated foreign songs by an author, the best and most touching program about Russia that I have ever seen. On the same day, Le Tu Minh was awarded the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Medal and for his contributions, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit for 60 years of Vietnamese music by the Vietnam Musicians Association.

At the end of the performance, I held my friend's hand tightly: Very excellent and very worthy. Hanoi night is sparkling with stars, with cool breezes blowing from the Red River. Looking at Le Tu Minh wearing a tie seriously, I remember the time in Moscow, when I won a Vietnamese award and was invited to the stage. At that time, I forgot to wear a tie, Le Tu Minh took off the blood-red tie and put it on me himself, and I returned it to my friend after 25 years.

Not as noisy as the big rivers, but whether big or small, all rivers flow and flow to the sea with alluvial particles. Le Tu Minh, a face of Vietnamese business - someone I liken to having a "magic wand", because when he touches anything, it turns into gold and quickly reaches the top in that field...!

To be successful, you must have a teacher and to be successful, you must have a good teacher. That is the thought that runs through Le Tu Minh's business path.