Starting from humble beginnings, Rita Vo has ascended to become a leading force in Vietnam's high-end construction materials and luxury interiors industry. In an interview with Nhịp Cầu Đầu tư, Mr. Vo Mau Quoc Trien, Chairman of Rita Vo, shared the challenging yet rewarding journey of building his business.

Sir, how has Rita Vo's position changed when she first entered the building materials & furniture industry?

Sixteen years ago, we had to travel to many countries in Europe and Asia to persuade foreign companies to cooperate with Rita Vo but now, on the contrary, foreign entities are eager to cooperate with Rita Vo.

Rita Vo herself is a reputable and quality distributor of high-quality furniture and building materials. Therefore, Rita Vo also chooses partners very carefully and thoroughly.

What is the reason why Rita Vo is so successful and growing so fast?

Integrity and quality are the top criteria of our company when working. I always want everything to be clear, straight. Many units in the furniture and building materials industry “withered” due to the fact that they put on the market goods of unknown origin. As for us, everything is always clear, goods made in Thailand clearly indicate Thailand, goods made in Italy say Italy, Chinese goods clearly indicate China.

In fact, it does not matter where it is produced, but the most important thing is what technology the goods are produced using.

In the Building Materials & Furniture industry, Rita Vo is already the No. 1 in Vietnam, so why hasn't the company gone into business abroad?

The Vietnamese market is too good, it can be said to be the best in the region, even in the world. The foreign market depends a lot on the investor, but the Vietnamese market has a huge domestic force among the population. Therefore, wherever it is good, I prefer to do it first.

What did you do the day before to convince Kohler — a brand of sanitary and kitchen appliances to choose him as a partner in Vietnam?

When I met Kohler I had no experience, no showroom. I only have integrity and quality. I hold competency records through presentations with them and exchange with each other by fax many times. At that time, we were inferior to other businesses because they had a better capacity profile, had stores, had dealers. And we have nothing. But, in the end, we were chosen because of integrity, of course.

What did you write on the record to convince them?

I wrote that I have a wife and three children. My father is a farmer, my mother is a farmer. I studied finance, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics. I have had the experience of running a state-owned enterprise for many years.

Why did you choose Kohler?

I like Kohler because on a business trip abroad in a 5-star hotel, the toilets are so clean and fragrant. I was also obsessed with the toilet as a student. We just had to go and close our noses because of the stench, the heat. That's why I found out about Kohler and decided to convince them to work with me.

Do you think it was a lucky collaboration?

I don't think it's luck. At that time, we had very limited access to foreign languages. English is self-taught, so every time my partner speaks too fast, I ask them to slow down and explain to me. I told them what my plan was, what we were going to do. After such obvious exchanges, they chose RitaVõ.

In addition to building materials and furniture, what industries is the company developing?

Currently, the company does business in many areas, depending on market fluctuations, but the core business is still high quality building materials and furniture because we are the No. 1. Other businesses are just ancillary, in the future we will be in real estate and building real estate apartments.

It is impossible to say luxury apartments, but using ordinary materials, unsatisfactory design. Every brick, every lamp, door, cupboard must be of the highest quality. We are also about to build a 5-star hotel of the same standard and quality.

Can you share more details about the high-end apartment project that is about to be built?

We will build a high-end apartment project in Nguyen Van Cu, District 5 by the end of this year with a total investment of more than VND 2,000 billion. It is expected that the project will have more than 280 units, using the world's leading quality materials such as Kohler, Miele, Simmons. The expected sale price is about $12,000/m2. The project will be as a 5-star hotel, fully equipped, with restaurant, club, cigar smoking...

With high-end, expensive apartments, do you think it's hard to sell?

I looked through the markets of Thailand and Singapore to remind myself. On the Singapore side, luxury homes are literally at $60,000-100,000 per square meter, Thailand's are somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 per square meter. Therefore, the Vietnamese market will have access to this price. Rita Vo has a huge amount of premium customer data so they understand our reputation and quality. Therefore, the project of just over 280 apartments is not too big a problem for the company.

Why is Rita Vo now working in real estate when the market is struggling?

The business it came from gracefully, I had cherished, dreamt of making literally high-end housing products. I've been thinking about real estate for 20 years. I told my CEO that, when the company is strong, the VLXD and furniture industry grows sustainably, we will do real estate. We also prepared the land fund 20 years ago, located in prime, legally complete locations. That is why we are very confident in our future projects.

Yes, thank you.

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