A father’s example
As the son and heir of Mr. Lawrence S. Ting, Mr. Arthur Ting, Chairman of the CT&D Group and the Phu My Hung Development Corporation, has effectively continued his father’s investment in Vietnam.
Mr. Ting says that the image of his late father can be seen in all of his successes today, and he would like to share thoughts about his beloved father to mark the 10th anniversary of his passing.
My father as a pioneer
“My father decided to invest in Vietnam almost 25 years ago, when I was 20 years old”, he said. “I was very surprised because I didn’t know why he chose to go to such a faraway place that was still facing a lot of difficulties”.
Years later, Mr. Ting understood that his father had a great affection for Vietnam. His father told him that “there are many similarities in lifestyles, customs, appearances and geographic features between Vietnam and Taiwan.”
He felt at home in Vietnam and for this reason decided to put all his effort into his investments in the country despite its socioeconomic situation being tough at the time because of embargos.
Mr. Ting said his father’s leadership made the CT&D Group one of the pioneering foreign investors during Vietnam reform process, contributing to paving the way for more investments from other foreign investors.
His father was not afraid of any problems and usually chose the hard, unexplored way. When coming to Vietnam his father had said: “We come here to do what the people here need, and to do what other people do not want to do. We will ask the people what they need and what we can do for them.”
“Those concerns became large projects that were, one by one, got off the ground by my father and his Vietnamese partners,” Mr. Ting said. “They included the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, aimed at reducing the unemployment rate and bringing in foreign currency for the country, and the Hiep Phuoc Power Plant, to provide electricity to Ho Chi Minh City and prevent the power cuts that were affecting residents. The Phu My Hung Urban Area and Nguyen Van Linh Parkway resuscitated the swampy southern area of the city, while a forestation project in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang improved more than 20,000 hectares of acidic soil for local farmers to grow rice on.”
Mr. Ting said it is now easy to see the achievement of those projects, but it is hard to fathom all the challenges his father and his Vietnamese partners had to overcome, where each step was a “stepping stone” during those years.
My father as a kind-hearted man
“My father was a very strict man,” Mr. Ting remembers. “Those who worked with him knew this very well. He was very careful in every detail. He always imposed strict requirements on his employees. He introduced a philosophy of being ‘Innovative, Pragmatic, Fast and Streamlined’ for everyone to follow”
In this way, all goals must be constantly based on new ideas, must be reached as soon as possible, must focus on details, and must improve the corporate culture, according to the younger Mr. Ting. “Behind such strictness, however, was a kind heart,” he went on. “My father always thought about other people before thinking about himself. Whenever an employee broke the rules, he always thought of his or her family and how they would be affected if he or she lost their job. Regarding the shareholders, my father always gave priority to their interests.”
He added that his father firmly believed that young Vietnamese people would become a source of development for the country. Based on such a belief, he initiated several programmes aimed at supporting Vietnamese students and the country’s education sector. “My father often stayed up late thinking about his work and life,” said Mr. Ting. “Most often, he thought about how to help large numbers of people.”
“I learned a lot of good lessons from my father,” he continued. “The first is an affection for Vietnam. While the country was a second home for my father, it has been my homeland. In work, I learned from his determination, democracy and readiness to listen to opinions and suggestions from colleagues.”
Mr. Ting also learned to think about other people before thinking about himself. His investments in Vietnam are going well now, but he does not allow himself to stop making even greater efforts to achieve more success, because he always keep in mind his father’s words, that “business will surpass materialistic ambitions once it can assist large numbers of people.”
Via: Vietnam Economic Times, October, 2014
