People who left the State to become business owners

I took the time to listen to all 6 articles "Once a government employee, successful in the private sector" on Hai Duong electronic newspaper (baohaiduong.vn). I don't know how many more articles there are in this series, how many more characters there are, but that's enough for me to imagine the brave people who escaped from the "cover" of the state to live a life of struggling in the business world.

From the series of articles, I saw the shadow of a village teacher like Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy Trang who later became the owner of the fashion brand Karoll. Her own “transformation”, leaving the teaching platform to become an entrepreneur was a bold decision, although there were times when Ms. Trang had many concerns and worries, and was nostalgic about the profession. After moving to the private sector and becoming a business owner, she still felt nostalgic when passing through the school gate.

Then there is the story of engineer Le Van Dinh, nicknamed “Mr. Dinh Thanh Cong”, who used to work in the field of science and technology in Hai Duong province, but left to join the private economy. He left the state-owned enterprise and established a private enterprise to fulfill his plans after accumulating enough knowledge through civil service work and serving in state-owned enterprises. He knew the weaknesses of the Hai Duong cement industry, so he soon made a breakthrough in environmental protection in production for sustainable development.

I met a young man named Mai Xuan Thinh who quit his job at a leading bank in Vietnam to grow clean vegetables even though at that time he had no knowledge of farming. The idea was simply that society needed clean vegetables and clean food, but his homeland's land was barren. He learned agricultural knowledge by himself, and he hired experts. He carefully built up each customer, from schools, restaurants, and then expanded to export. From growing vegetables, he rose to become a distributor...

The story of former military officer Nguyen Van Anh becoming the owner of 3 businesses also has many interesting details. He was quite successful with the Vietkiga black garlic brand, then he changed his business direction to find new opportunities. Breaking out of his own shell and knowing how to accept failure are the great lessons he learned to be successful.

Many people have a natural talent for business, and when they work for the government, they still do business. But they cannot concentrate on anything. Public affairs are neglected, and business is not completed. Reading the series of articles in Hai Duong newspaper, I see one thing in common among the characters: they are brave enough to break away, brave enough to step out of their “comfort zone”.

They always observe life, learn about the needs of society, analyze every detail of a house to see what materials can be provided. They accumulate knowledge and experience when working in the state, know the obstacles, difficulties and how to solve them; know the weaknesses of state-owned enterprises to overcome when working in the private sector; always commit, always be creative.

They are determined to focus on one thing according to their strengths, for life, for their children. Sometimes they walk on two legs, never thinking of quitting their government jobs, but then there comes a time when they need to be decisive, to focus on one thing according to their strengths and do it to the end. They have a strong will to make their own career.

Not afraid of hardship, they started from small jobs, saving every penny, every shipment. Once they step out of their “comfort zone”, they are not afraid of failure, “when one door closes, another will open”. They understand that production is difficult, consumption is even more difficult...

The stories in the press only reflect a part of the vibrant life. But surely those are typical characters. In reality, there are many people who have left the public sector to work in the private sector and they have succeeded at different levels. Some people just have a coffee shop, a pho restaurant or work for a business…

Currently, our country is implementing a revolution to streamline the apparatus and preparing to issue a major policy on private economic development, considering the private economic sector as the leading driving force for growth. These two things go together at the right time. Shrinking the public sector and expanding the private sector. This is truly new and very welcome.