That is the view of entrepreneur Tạ Minh Tuấn, who was named by Forbes among the most influential people under 30 in Vietnam and Asia in two consecutive years.
At 33, Tạ Minh Tuấn is currently Chairman of TMT Group, with more than 20 member companies and organizations. These include CircleDNA Vietnam genetic testing technology; Digman, the country's largest 3D-printing business; Tago, Vietnam's largest mental well-being platform; entrepreneurship training business YUP Education; Light Charity; and the “Angel Feet Dream” charitable fund…
Speaking with BizLIVE, TMT Group Chairman Tạ Minh Tuấn said that despite simultaneously helping lead many businesses and organizations, even during the pandemic he found a suitable path by proactively preparing options and applying new technologies.
At the end of 2020, it seemed that Vietnam had successfully and proactively overcome the challenge of COVID-19. Yet subsequent events showed that the pandemic’s impact was greater and more complex. Did the way 2021 unfolded take you by surprise?
The world is always changing, and we should respond proactively to those changes. To do so, we greatly need to develop stillness, balance, observation, and insights drawn from multidimensional wisdom, both external and internal.
When COVID first emerged, I saw many people say the pandemic would be over in a few months. So they built their businesses and developed strategies on that assumption: the pandemic would end in 3 months.
At the time, I met and spoke with many TMT Group businesses and entrepreneur students, saying specifically: unless we plan on the assumption that the pandemic will last through this year (2020), or even through next year (2021), we are either too optimistic, too confident or too naive, romanticizing the problem. Sometimes people become so optimistic that… they lose their way. And the distance from confidence to… suicide is very short.
So we build all our strategies in this spirit. We can say that an epidemic this prolonged and severe was not outside our expectations.
Regarding work, we were prepared, and TMT Group's businesses could partly be considered among the final 5% affected by the pandemic. They were accustomed to online work and digital transformation, depended little on production and supply chains, and some had a remote-working culture from their very first day. That was both our advantage and our good fortune.
In everyday life, your experiences through the pandemic must have been unprecedented; could you share…
As for life, I know many people have been terribly shaken by the pandemic. Yet everything has two sides. During social distancing, I did not feel trapped, suffocated, frustrated, or uncomfortable, because I was already accustomed to stillness.
Some days I looked up and no longer saw a sky clouded by pollution from the chaotic traffic below. That had disappeared, leaving a deep blue, crystal-clear, beautiful sky. I smiled, sometimes feeling fond of these experiences and finding these lockdown days meaningful. They let me and everyone look back at ourselves, rediscovering inner balance and peace both within ourselves and in society.
Although TMT Group has not been greatly affected by COVID, as you say, surely it has taken steps to adapt to the circumstances? More broadly, businesses in general must have learned much through this crisis…
For businesses, the first priority is mastering cash flow. For example, at Digman, a 3D printing company among the largest in the country, the owner and I monitor cash flow very closely.
We forecast cash flow for the next 3 to 6 months to determine the shortfall relative to current cash reserves. Once that amount is identified, we need a corresponding strategy using a “divide and conquer” approach: divide it into smaller amounts, with a separate strategy for each. By implementing all those strategies together, we can cover the shortfall.
To date, the business has fully overcome its cash-flow difficulties and continues to strengthen its foundations and innovate its business model for the next stage of development.
Next, turn danger into opportunity and view COVID as a chance to accelerate digital transformation or “go online.” Take SSpace, a company specializing in training and technical software solutions that teaches managers worldwide from corporations such as IKEA… When COVID hit, they moved more of their programs online. Although teaching technical software online is very difficult, they still did it.
They set several sales records during COVID itself. During social distancing, the CEO continued meeting and working remotely, tirelessly, with many corporate clients, preparing the foundations for growth in the new normal.
Of course, we also need to monitor changes in customer behavior and insights, and in the market, to develop suitable products, models and directions. One example is Tago, currently the largest platform for mental and emotional care in Vietnam.
Tago has operated 100% online from its founding, from providing products and services to customers to teamwork among employees. During the pandemic, Tago achieved its highest growth ever.
As you said above, turning danger into opportunity. But seizing opportunities and turning a business around during the pandemic surely cannot be easy…
Problems always come with solutions; within danger there is opportunity, and vice versa.
I have spoken at length above about difficulties and opportunities, from society's macro-level factors, cash flow and products to markets. Here, however, I want to focus more on the human factor.
This is the time for what is called “entrepreneurship” (the entrepreneurial spirit) is truly brought into play. Although both translate into Vietnamese as “doanh nhân,” there is a major difference between “entrepreneur” and “businessman”.
If you trade something, you can also be called a ‘businessman.’ But what distinguishes an ‘entrepreneur,’ in my view, is three factors.
First is “pioneer”—the pioneering spirit. Daring to commit, pioneer, and create breakthroughs, innovations, or necessary changes in society.
Second is “innovation”—creating innovative, disruptive products, models, or methods that can completely change the game.
Third is “take risk”—a willingness to accept risks, adventure, and danger, while not “gambling.” There needs to be a balance between wisdom and boldness, between thorough preparation and courageous action.
Thus, COVID is an opportunity for this type of person to continue ‘shining’ and become a new hope for society. But only when they learn the lesson of balance: true inner peace brings true prosperity.
Regarding the Government’s companionship and support during the recent period and at present, what are your views?
In normal times, I think the best way for the Government to support businesses is to reduce unnecessary difficulties, burdens and effort in paperwork, procedures and administration. Simply focusing genuinely on this would help the startup economy truly take off.
During COVID, I understand that the Government did what needed doing. Of course, if everything had been carried out with greater strategy and vision, the situation might have improved sooner.
This means business thinking can be applied to running the State apparatus. Businesses cannot develop sustainably without strategy. The same applies to the State and epidemic prevention and control.
For example, even when we were doing well at preventing COVID, with very few F0 cases in the community and praise from around the world, we should already have been thinking about vaccinating the entire population. We should not have waited until everything became a crisis and infections soared before scrambling into action, even though our actions by now have been very urgent and forceful. In that sense, we are very strong at responding, tactics, action and guerrilla approaches, but still lack strategy, vision and long-term sustainability.
Likewise in business, a company cannot wait until it runs out of money to raise capital; it must do so beforehand. As the saying goes, “Dig a well before you die of thirst.”
So for TMT Group and yourself, you must by now have planned your vision and mindset for next year and beyond?
We continue our mission: “Make Vietnam a great place to live.”
For our businesses, we focus on growing the value we contribute to society. This can be reflected in legitimate growth in business indicators such as revenue and profit… What matters is doing business without leaving harmful consequences, while continuing to contribute to the community's shared sustainable development. Enjoy this journey with joy.
At some point, we can do everything with true awareness. Business is the same. We can do business with better understanding and greater awareness.
Then transformation begins with the owner and extends to the collective. We discover that true happiness lies on the path itself, not in achievements awaiting us at the destination. We have pushed ourselves too hard and pursued the destination so intensely that we forgot to enjoy true joy and happiness. Business success is not bad; it is fine, provided that we are truly peaceful within.
Beyond business, you are also an active philanthropist who runs a charitable fund. What are your thoughts on transparency and the disclosure of bank statements for charitable donations, an issue currently attracting considerable public attention?
Philanthropists also greatly need to apply the spirit of an entrepreneur and a meditator to their charitable work and social activities.
The entrepreneurial spirit means that even charity requires market research (into beneficiaries): where does the real problem lie, what do people need help with, and how can we best help? It requires specific planning, not spontaneous, indiscriminate distribution of gifts and money. Innovative thinking can create better, more effective ways to help life and people. And there must be transparent, accurate, and clear reporting.
The spirit of a meditator means that those doing charity must balance love and wisdom. Love is genuine only when accompanied by wisdom. Wisdom is wisdom only when accompanied by love.
People doing charity need both, to know what to do, maintain balance and a still, clear, wise mind, overcome seemingly disheartening difficulties, and spread compassion to more people through their charitable model.
Finally, what message would you like to send to fellow entrepreneurs on Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Day, October 13?
I wish Vietnamese entrepreneurs continued development of their good qualities and virtues through their businesses, so we will have ever more “happy entrepreneurs.”
Thank you for the conversation.
