People still call Dinh Hong Ky – General Director of Secoin Investment and Trading Services Company that because of his breakthrough successes in the field of manufacturing unburnt bricks for the construction materials industry in Vietnam. 40 years old and 17 years of experience, he has been with his company since its inception. Until now, he still remembers that difficult time and thinks: “It taught me what maturity is”…
The difficult early days…
Born in the trend of national innovation, Secoin was officially established on March 22, 1989 by Mr. Dinh Xuan Ba (Vice President of Vietnam Informatics Association, Head of Informatics Department of Hanoi University of Science and Technology) as General Director, operating in the field of informatics with only the largest intangible capital being brainpower and scientific relations. At this time, the young man Dinh Hong Ky had just graduated from the Faculty of Automatic Control – Hanoi University of Science and Technology for one year and had many plans for his career path. Moreover, Secoin was facing many difficulties in the process of building a brand from scratch. But like other members of his family, Dinh Hong Ky plunged into that bumpy and arduous path with an endless passion to determine to “pursue and revive a spiritual product that contained so much of his father’s dedication”. The thought of having to make every effort to make his father’s passion come true, so that Secoin company would not only stand firm but also grow and develop more and more, made Dinh Hong Ky not allow himself to stop, even when he himself had no more hope. The company’s first headquarters: No. 9 Da Tuong – Hanoi, at one point had to become one of the first places in Hanoi to introduce and sell electronic components, office equipment, consumer electronics, and even took on the task of renting video tapes and selling radios to “take short-term to support long-term”. It was even more difficult when at this time the domestic market was facing many difficulties, without the excitement of the market economy. Secoin’s domestic business partners were also not strong enough to help the company regain “balance” after so many ups and downs and storms. Secoin was forced to change direction to operate abroad with the motto “Reaching abroad to exploit domestic potential” to target the international market. But in Hungary, Germany, Russia… Secoin company with its IT field still could not operate effectively. At this time, in Vietnam, Dinh Hong Ky not only had to face the difficulties of the whole company but he also had to stand between a choice that marked a turning point for his own career. That was: go to Russia to defend his PhD degree or represent the company to go to Poland to be independent and learn business experience. The choice seemed quite easy because by going to Russia, he would have many opportunities to accumulate scientific knowledge and not have to face the worries and struggles of the market. However, it seemed that there was an invisible force that kept him staying with Secoin. If only having determination was not enough. Perhaps it is also the passion, the fire of enthusiasm and the courage of a young man not yet 30 years old. He simply calls it “youth”. The strength of youth has helped him not to collapse in the face of countless difficulties, helped him not to surrender to many temptations and above all, helped him have enough determination to continue to stick with his family’s company – the place where his relatives had to devote so much of their heart and mind. Telling me about his choice at that time, it seemed that his voice still contained many worries and concerns but was still full of pride: “If I had gone to Russia, I would probably be a PhD now. And I would not have had to go through so many hardships like the time in Poland. But if that had been the case, the company that my family had worked so hard to establish would not have been able to stand firm. And there was also my passion and enthusiasm. Therefore, I still think it was the right choice. And what I am most proud of now during my time in Poland is that despite many difficulties, I was still able to maintain the Secoin model in Poland”.
Poland has become a place of memory in Dinh Hong Ky’s mind every time he recalls the early days of starting his career. During his 5 years in this faraway country (1990-1995), Dinh Hong Ky was associated with many imprints of the Secoin brand, with both success and failure. But perhaps the most profound impression is the difficulty he had to start his own business away from home, relatives and friends, in a new and challenging business environment. Without the encouragement and help of relatives; he had to deal with many worries and plans alone and, more importantly, he had to decide every “step” that was closely linked to the development of the entire company. “All of this forced me to mature to make the most accurate decisions.”
* Breakthrough and success…
The establishment of Sekopol in Poland (abbreviation of Secoin in Poland) (August 1991) was Dinh Hong Ky’s first correct decision in his career here. As CEO, he gradually turned Sekopol into the head office and led all of Secoin’s business activities in Europe. Particularly with the domestic Secoin company, Sekopol has coordinated to carry out more than 60 shipments of Vietnamese goods including garments, handicrafts, fine arts… to Eastern Europe and Russia. With this impressive start, Secoin has more confidence to expand its activities in Poland. The Poland-Vietnam joint venture called “NiB” was established and Dinh Hong Ky continued to hold the “locomotive” responsibility as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The most proud breakthrough success of Dinh Hong Ky with his company Sekopol during this time was the first time Sekopol was trusted to participate in state-level projects in 1993. This was the time when the governments of Poland and Vietnam were implementing a program to repay Vietnam’s debt to Poland in goods. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Economic Cooperation received the debt repayment from Vietnam in a shipment of natural rubber through the Vietnam Rubber Corporation. Sekopol, with its reputation, was chosen to represent the Polish government to receive this shipment. After that, Dinh Hong Ky had a bold idea to re-export this shipment to Singapore. The first big business contract was successful, he was not only happy because it brought profit to his company but also happy because “he felt that he had matured a lot in terms of expertise, knowledge, thinking and courage”.
But perhaps it was not until he returned to Vietnam (in 1995) that Dinh Hong Ky was able to truly build a solid Secoin brand as he had always dreamed of. Returning to his homeland, Dinh Hong Ky not only had a new position but more importantly, he had equipped himself with a fairly complete luggage to prepare for a new “battle”: courage and confidence. And these were also the most important factors that helped Dinh Hong Ky boldly turn “his father’s scientific ideas into commercial services”. That was the idea of unburnt building materials products. In 1995, Secoin provided equipment, installed and transferred technology for the first block brick factory in the North to the Nam Ha Financial Management Board, located in Phu Ly (Ha Nam province). This was the first step in the process of transferring technology to many factories producing unburnt building materials (block bricks, terrazzo, terastone) throughout the country. Up to now, Secoin has provided equipment, installed and transferred technology to nearly 45 factories producing unburnt building materials across the country. With the above achievements, Secoin of Dinh Hong Ky has been evaluated by the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Association of Building Materials as “The creator of unburnt building materials technology in Vietnam”. In 1996, after signing an exclusive agency contract with Rometa (Spain) on technology and block brick production line, Secoin officially inaugurated the block brick production line in Van Dien (Hanoi). This line has provided block bricks for 7 major construction projects in Hanoi such as: Horison 5-star Hotel, Hung Vuong International Convention Center, Toyota Factory… And Secoin became the first unit to produce and supply block bricks in the Hanoi market, marking a new step in Secoin’s field of operation, which is production. This is the first time Secoin has invested and operated a production line of construction materials. Following block bricks, Secoin has transferred technology and equipment for the entire production of terrazzo tiles to factories producing this product in Vietnam. The terrazzo tile factory (Seterra) with Italian equipment and technology was officially established (in 1998) and contributed to opening a new turning point for Secoin. With the batches of outdoor tiles bearing the Seterra brand, Dinh Hong Ky was honored to receive the Gold Medal with Secoin at the International Industrial Fair in October 1999 and at the Expo 2000 International Trade Fair. Since then, Secoin has been honored to continue to receive many certificates of merit, awards, and proud achievements: Certificate of merit from the Prime Minister, Certificate of merit from the Ministry of Construction for export achievements, Certificate of merit from the Ministry of Finance, Golden Star Award of Vietnam for 2 consecutive years 2003-2004, Title “Prestigious and quality Vietnamese enterprise 2006″… Dinh Hong Ky was also recognized as one of ten individuals to receive the title of Young Entrepreneur of Thang Long. An unforgettable and proud mark for Dinh Hong Ky about Seterra tiles is finding a fairly solid foothold in the Japanese market – one of the markets considered to be the most demanding and strict in the world. After meeting the strictest standards set by the Japanese market, for 7 consecutive years now, Secoin has been allowed to export Seterra tiles to Japan (on average, dozens of containers per year). In Japan, the use of terrazzo tiles is very popular, and in this country there are many factories that are larger than Secoin. However, with its reputation and constant efforts, Secoin has won the trust of the Japanese market and become a reliable partner of this market. Seterra tiles are also associated with the capital Hanoi, where Dinh Hong Ky was born and raised because there was a time when Secoin’s Seterra tiles were often called “Hoan Kiem Tiles”. This is because this product has been used for the walking path system around Hoan Kiem Lake on the occasion of the whole country preparing for the great 990th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi. This is also the passionate opinion of Dinh Hong Ky when he was determined, even if it was a loss, to Seterra bricks were also used to beautify the Hoan Kiem Lake landscape – one of the sacred and meaningful places in Dinh Hong Ky’s childhood. That is why, until now, “every time I see my bricks paved at Hoan Kiem Lake, I feel excited and happy. That is the result of many difficult days of Secoin”.
Not only stopping at unburnt bricks, producing grinding stones using Italian technology is also a very important field and is reaping many achievements for Secoin. In June 2003, Secoin signed a contract with EDM Abrasives (Italia) to supply equipment, transfer technology and acquire the EDM grinding stone brand. And Secoin’s Secoin-EDM grinding stone manufacturer in Van Lam – Hung Yen was built and put into operation. EDM specializes in processing natural and artificial stones and is the first grinding stone product in Vietnam. Secoin’s EDM was launched in the Vietnamese market to meet the needs of manufacturers of artificial granite tiles, natural and artificial stones. But not only serving the domestic market, Secoin’s grinding stone products under the EDM brand are also exported to many other countries such as: Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Iran and especially Italy, which is considered the convergence of many famous grinding stone brands.
Now, Secoin has become a famous and prestigious brand with a much larger scale. And Dinh Hong Ky is also an admirable businessman. With the motto “always creating novelty”, Dinh Hong Ky is directing Secoin towards the goal: “only doing what others have not done or have not done well”. Therefore, Secoin has continuously been the pioneer in producing new high-quality construction materials such as: colored tiles, artistic bricks… Up to now, many important projects both domestically and internationally have used Secoin products. But it seems that businessman Dinh Hong Ky – who is considered the “King of unburnt bricks” is still not satisfied with those successes. He is still pursuing new projects which, as he calls it, are the journey of “renewing himself and making himself more mature”. Therefore, it will still be a long journey with the predetermined destination of success, glory and breakthroughs…
