A Strenuous Journey
The hardships came to Nguyễn Duy Hà right from the very first days after finishing high school. Eager to pursue his passion for pedagogy, he entered the university entrance exam but failed. Determined to try again but unwilling to rely on his family, he left Bac Ninh for Ninh Binh to learn welding as a way to make a living.
In 2002, he moved to Ho Chi Minh City to turn his dream into reality. However, after two more attempts, success still eluded the young man from the Quan họ countryside. At that point, Hà had to change direction, taking on all kinds of jobs — from marketing, tutoring, and motorbike taxi driving to welding — while studying at Ho Chi Minh City College of Foreign Economic Relations. Still, the desire to conquer the university entrance exam lingered within him. Yet, ironically, two more attempts only brought two more failures, and he finally had to accept reality.
“After nearly three years at college, I temporarily dropped out to open a tutoring center. That was also the time I was struggling to find my life’s direction. A series of questions arose: What was I born to do? If I didn’t go to university and work for someone else, what would my life be like…,” Hà recalls pensively.
After running the tutoring center for two years, Hà returned to complete his studies and obtained his college degree in 2007. Returning to his hometown with the diploma in hand, he embarked on various ventures: a tutoring center, a café, then a transport company. Yet none lasted more than a year. It was during this time that Hà realized he could not succeed by relying solely on manual labor.
The turning point came when he read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. From there, Hà identified his life mission and business direction. For many, failure is something to hide. But to Hà: “I treasure my repeated failures and consider them teachers that taught me invaluable lessons. The biggest thing I learned from all those failures was my lack of realism. I stepped into life with passion and fire, but without practical grounding. To succeed, one must go through hardship and challenges. Success without failure will eventually lead to failure — that’s the rule.”
From Ideas to Money
Determined to rise from failure, in 2010 Hà founded SBI JSC, a company specializing in transportation. At first, his only goal was to generate immediate income to support himself. He saw the influx of FDI (foreign direct investment) into northern provinces such as Bac Ninh and Bac Giang as an opportunity to stand up and start over.
At that time, he had no capital and no trucks. Hà decided to borrow VND 40 million at daily interest rates to start his venture. At the same time, he reached out to transport companies that had trucks but no work, proposing partnerships. With access to vehicles, Hà confidently pitched to foreign companies. His knowledge from college helped him approach these demanding customers, who were often skeptical about Vietnamese enterprises.
“In the beginning, I struggled desperately with money because the daily interest was high. But it was through these difficulties that I realized the core value of money. Money is an idea, not an asset. If the idea is feasible, the money will come,” Hà shares with a satisfied smile, noting that after five years his company had grown to own 50 trucks.
From there, Hà decided to pursue his true path: logistics. Since the beginning, his target customers had been foreign-invested enterprises, known for good liquidity and focus on import-export. His long-term goal, however, was always to go global, not remain limited within Vietnam.
“Starting up in logistics, I paid a heavy price because I lacked experience. At one point, I even suffered significant losses. But from that, I recalculated, built more professional steps, and gradually gained profits,” Hà recalls.
Even now, challenges remain. SBI is a small company competing with numerous foreign giants in logistics. Moreover, when foreign companies enter Vietnam, they often bring along their own partners. To penetrate this market, Hà believes the only way is through real capability and credibility: “We must get the job done and build trust to be accepted.”
Looking ahead, Hà plans to position SBI with more professional operations, aiming to establish overseas agencies, particularly in Singapore and the US, and open representative offices across Vietnam. In June, SBI opened an office in Bac Giang, with more to come in Thai Nguyen and Ho Chi Minh City.
In addition, Hà continues to seek partnerships with other logistics companies to complement SBI’s weaknesses. “For areas where SBI is weak and cannot perform, I will find better companies to cooperate with and learn from. Currently, our biggest weakness is finance, so our growth leverage is limited, and progress is slower than planned,” shares the entrepreneur, who was named among the Top 10 Outstanding Young Startups in 2016.
