The date October 13th of this year falls into Saturday, a beautiful day for Vietnamese entrepreneurs to have more time to celebrate their day, and may have more time to think about the job having chosen.
Nearly a hard and exhausting year is about to pass. Most numbers of formed plans for the year 2012 are being considered by many businesses to correct following the decrease tendency. The pressure of costs increases, narrow source of capital and low buying power continue to obsess even on entrepreneurs who are accomplished and experienced the most. There have been many people accepting to leave the game, postponing big intentions to find jobs, trying to survive themselves and their family first. And the rest, including luckier ones, continue striving to face with difficulties, continue to hope.
All entrepreneurs have tried to do all the things they can in their limit: cutting investment items that are outside the main operation; cutting out waste in their human resources; selling sellable assets; accepting to sell goods and services at cost prices and even under that; bringing personal asset to support businesses; saving spending as much as possible, etc. All of these things are only to direct to the goal of survival. “Having to survive first” is the saying that we are usually heard from entrepreneurs recently.
With the question “what is the biggest worry” if having to be in the situation of going bankcrupt then the most popular answer, so interesting, is “the later lives for employees”. It seems like Vietnamese entrepreneurs love and take care of their fellow-workers so much. What is the next worry? That is the no-sympathy sight of society for the failures. When entrepreneurs get failure then their mistakes, even so small, in both business and personal life, are all exploited, sneered at and criticized. All of their previous contributions suddenly become valueless and being no longer remembered. Along with going bankcrupt or being brought to ruin they may from heroes become offenders.
“Group benefits” is the phrase appearing very usually recently and attaching with entrepreneurs, although we can assert that the great majority of Vietnamese entrepreneurs don’t know, or don’t have any relation, with such “group benefits”. “Great aristocratic family” is also a phrase about entrepreneurs that is very often used but with bad meaning in majority. Are entrepreneurs always the ones who are rich, arrogant, haughty, wasteful, exploiting, ready to spend money into exclusive entertainments?
Along with the innovation, development and integration of Vietnam into the global economy, there have been two generations of entrepreneurs succeeding each other to shoulder great responsibilities of the country. Each product going to the hands of customers, each job being created in businesses, each cent of tax that businesses contributing for government, etc all carry heavily the effort of entrepreneurs. At the position of just knowing to work as an employee, selling manual labor, now we have hundreds of thousand of entrepreneurs who have enough abilities to transact, trade, co-operate fairly with international entrepreneurs. Some of our entrepreneurs have led their businesses to the complex level that can compete with multinational brand names.
I am lucky to have known many entrepreneurs who have had stable and comfortable life but still working hard with the hope of asserting Vietnamese products, Vietnamese brand names, of Vietnamese people in global market. They enthusiastically participate in community activities, social programs, charity organizations, by the money of their own pocket but don’t need anyone to know. They are so worried to face with the unreasons in society day by day but still keeping the belief on the development of the race, the nation. They create many good examples for Vietnamese pupils, students to have more motivation to strive to follow. Not many people can understand how lonely entrepreneurs are in our everyday thought to bring about such values for society. Not many people can understand that behind the shining cover attaching with the word “Entrepreneur” is how much worry, pain, personal sacrifice to keep jobs for employees, to keep stably businesses. Let’s look at the number of jobs that Vietnamese entrepreneurs are creating for society. Let’s look at the contribution of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the Gross Domestic Product. To me entrepreneurs are lonely heroes. And therefore when they face with difficulties then the share and sympathy of all backgrounds in society are very useful for them. Really hope that there will be a change in the awareness of everybody about true Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the occasion of Vietnamese entrepreneur day on October 13th!
Dr Mai Huu Tin – President of Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs’ Association
Chairman cum CEO of U&I Investment Corporation
(*) The original writing of Dr Mai Huu Tin – Youth Newspaper published on October 13th 2012
Translator: TM (Unigroup)
