Nguyen Van Thien Vu, CEO of Kinh Do Specialty Joint Stock Company: From the sky of technology to the depth of culture

"Want to do something for my homeland"

Many people were surprised to hear that Nguyen Van Thien Vu chose to start a business for the second time, in a field that seemed to have little to do with his previous project. A pioneer in developing drone technology in Vietnam's fields, having flown drones across the provinces of the Mekong Delta to the Central Coast and the Central Highlands, Vu decided to transfer the management of AgriDrone Vietnam Aviation Equipment Joint Stock Company to someone else.

He moved back to his hometown - Hue City, with his wife to prepare for the birth of their second child. “The more I travel and work, the more I wonder, what is important in this world? I realize, for me, family is still the most important. I want to pursue a career that I can stick with for the rest of my life, but still have time to teach and guide my children,” Vu confided.

In fact, Vu stopped operating AgriDrone and only participated in a consulting role from the beginning of April 2025. But before that, during the Covid-19 period, he and his wife and children moved to Hue. Living in his hometown made him realize that, although Hue is the cradle of many traditional cultural values, it is not favored by many tourists. If you want to experience tourism in the Central region, most people prefer to go to Da Nang rather than Hue, because of the lack of experience services in the ancient capital.

“I thought I had to do something for my homeland. Technology helps me conquer the sky, but culture and cuisine are what keep me connected to my roots,” Vu said about his path.

Returning to Hue to start a business this time, Vu chose to combine with young people who have been experiencing many ups and downs on the path of preserving Hue heritage, together they form a strong team. “It is difficult for one person to do everything well. Previously, I was successful with AgriDrone, partly because I found the right people,” he expressed.

Vu found a group of young people who had been “fighting in the startup business” for 10 years. He assessed that they had good product thinking, but had difficulty in building a brand and finding an outlet for the product. Cooperating with them, in his role as CEO of Kinh Do Specialty Joint Stock Company, Vu made many commercial improvements. For example, in the way of packaging lotus seeds, he suggested not to pack 1 - 2 kg, but to switch to small packages (10 - 20 seeds), convenient for selling to tourists with stories about the origin behind.

“If we leave young people to struggle alone, they will not receive the value commensurate with their efforts. Over time, their love and enthusiasm will be eroded by worries about food, clothing, food and money. I want to join them and later call on many people from Hue to return to solve this problem,” Vu confided.

Building an ecosystem to promote Hue's traditional values

In Hue, Kinh Do Specialty Joint Stock Company is not the first enterprise specializing in producing and commercializing Hue specialty products. But CEO Nguyen Van Thien Vu believes that the market still has a lot of potential, because there is still no brand that has established itself in the "top of mind" position.

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Under Vu's leadership, Kinh Do Specialty Company has now strategically cooperated with 2 factories, focusing on 5 main product lines, including Tinh Tam lotus, tapioca dumplings, green tea leaf essence, sprouted rice cakes and green banana flour noodles. The Company cooperates with local people to select guaranteed raw materials for these products, producing on a large scale instead of manually and on a small scale.

“Many people in Hue are still not familiar with the idea of making specialties, but they have to do it on a big scale. Many young people think that with just 100,000 VND they can 'take over' Hue. We do not encourage this kind of thinking. Production must be on a large scale, and the goods sold must be at the right value,” the CEO of Kinh Do Specialties emphasized.

In particular, not only specializing in production, the Company also aims to expand distribution channels, linking products with the long-term cultural values of Hue. Last April, the Company opened the Kinh Do Specialty Cultural and Culinary Complex, at Song Center Hue building (Ba Trieu street). This is the first space in Hue that combines services and experiences, including heritage performance - practice, traditional cuisine and specialty gifts.

The Kinh Do Specialty Cultural and Culinary Complex is developed in an “all-in-one” direction, tourists can find specialties and souvenirs with the bold colors of Hue or have the opportunity to experience the cuisine of the ancient capital with full ancient flavors. But more importantly, the complex also has its own area for each person to explore historical puzzles, experience interactive cultural maps, learn about relics, craft villages, and specialties of Hue in a gentle yet connected way.

In addition, the complex also arranges space for guests to experience traditional dress styles such as ngu than, nhat binh..., from there, visitors have the opportunity to transform into ladies and gentlemen of Hue and listen to ancient stories embroidered with fabric, needle and thread and with love for heritage.

“We want to bring visitors a Hue that is both familiar and new, in the form of a complete cultural - culinary - experience destination. Culture is not just something to preserve, but something to live,” Vu shared.

This May, Kinh Do Specialties and its partners will export the first batch of products to the US market, as a milestone affirming that products with Hue cultural values are capable of reaching the world. The company has a long-term vision of becoming the leading organization in Southeast Asia in terms of specialties, protecting the supply chain and improving the livelihoods of Hue people, turning Hue into a cultural center not only of Vietnam, but also of the Southeast Asian region.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nguyen-van-thien-vu-ceo-cong-ty-co-phan-dac-san-kinh-do-tu-bau-troi-cong-nghe-den-chieu-sau-van-hoa-d283375.html