I had to respect, even though the business was… scandalous

Witnessing many major cases of businessmen who try to bend over backwards, willing to be a “landing place” and “backyard” for corrupt officials to get rich, I cannot help but feel aversion. However, when reading the letter from the daughter of the owner of Thanh Buoi car company, I had to “calm down” my pen.

Thanh Buoi Company organized free trips to help transport relief goods to the Northern people affected by the recent super typhoon Yagi .

Simple brand but deep meaning

Honestly, when I read the information in the newspaper, the documents of the authorities with dry language, about the driver of Thanh Buoi bus company (Thanh Buoi Company Limited) causing an accident that killed 5 people; the son of the owner of the company ignored the process of checking the driver's license, measuring the alcohol concentration of the driver before leaving the station... my pen started to shake. The emotion at that time was anger towards a bus company that seemed indifferent to human life.

But when I read the heartfelt letter from Mr. Thanh's daughter, as a farewell to her father (Mr. Le Duc Thanh, Director of Thanh Buoi Company Ltd. passed away on September 5, 2024), my initial emotions suddenly subsided.

Thousands of comments on Facebook under the letter, or even on mainstream newspapers, with farewells, touching old stories, thanks, and condolences to Mr. Thanh made me read the letter very carefully and slowly, and then respect it.

It is known that the famous Thanh Buoi brand is simply the combined name of the husband and wife (Mrs. Nguyen Thi Buoi). "The father is a driver, the mother is a bus conductor" working together from small to big things, traveling far and wide to make a living, raising children, going through many hardships, striving to establish a career.

Success through sweat

The daughter's letter depicts the entire "start-up" process of the father and mother. From a 16-seat car, from the scene of the husband being a driver, the wife being a bus conductor and "whenever there are customers with enough money for fuel, the mother is overjoyed", Mr. and Mrs. Thanh Buoi strived tirelessly to have a famous Vietnamese car company, with more than 300 cars and 1,300 employees, establishing an ecosystem with thousands of bus routes nationwide, "encroaching" on the fields of tourism , money transfer...

It all started with sweat dripping down my face, working hard every day and every hour, from driving a truck, then switching to a passenger bus: "Driving a passenger bus again, with Dad's new method, the truck carried wind for a while before we had any customers, late at night Dad still went to load the truck."

That success did not come from “hiding in the shadows” or “being a backyard, a landing place for corrupt officials”, but thanks to the eagerness to learn of a person with only a 7th grade education, patience, and lessons learned from real life: “For 40 years as your son, I have never once seen you sad, never once heard you complain about difficulties, fatigue, or illness. You said, easy things should be done quickly, difficult things should be done slowly, you have to be patient, everything is easy, everyone else has done it.”

Starting a business, through the eyes of a daughter, in the father there is also a constant search to make a difference: "Mom and Dad will run the bus again, will be the pioneer in the South to make the bus run continuously, run on time, not pick up passengers along the way, not cram passengers".

The difference that made the Thanh Buoi brand, until Mr. Thanh passed away, when the car company had not yet recovered from the disaster, still lingered in many people. A business owner who used to be a passenger since the days of setting foot in Saigon to start a business exclaimed: “Whether right or wrong, Thanh Buoi is always associated with the footsteps of many young generations from the countryside who came to Saigon to find ambitions, to find dreams, to step out of poverty. Only those who have experienced the time of having to take a 'illegal car' crammed with 32 passengers on a 16-seat car, changing cars 4 times for a distance of just over 300 km, weaving in and out of traffic to pick up passengers will understand. When Thanh Buoi was born with a high-quality car brand, the journey to find knowledge, and the trips home after making a living became easier.”

And through the daughter's farewell to her father, Thanh Buoi's success is also due to her passion, her dedication to every small task, and her respect for customers as her own relatives. "In the old days, every customer liked to ride in a car driven by their father, to be picked up by their father, and to have their father load their goods. The customer's goods were their father's goods, and their father carried them as if they were his relatives."

“When I was young, I also sulked because at every meal, you talked about cars, customers, and goods. Many times I told you, Dad, please remove your phone number from the hotline and leave it to the operator. You said no, you have to listen to what customers say to fix things. If only the staff listens, you will be distracted from your work and will no longer know what is wrong. When I got older, I understood that I am your child, but customers, goods, and cars are your life. Without one of those things, you will die.”

The success of Thanh Buoi car company is also due to the boss's closeness and care for his employees as if they were his own relatives: "My father cares for his employees, he is tolerant and generous, many acquaintances said they were sick, no matter how busy he was, he would stop work, many times go to their homes to give them plants and leaves. Those who came from far away came to see him, asked him to give them leaves and plants to cure their illness, he created conditions for them to stay at his house to help them more conveniently."

Not only me, many friends, even veteran businessmen have admired Mr. Thanh. A CEO exclaimed: “It took so much effort to build a business brand, to support a total of 1,300 workers and their families, to transport tens of millions of passengers over the years. Now, starting a business is more common, but Mr. Thanh's generation, people with an entrepreneurial spirit like him, are very rare. Even my generation, probably the same age as his daughter, when entering life, the majority chose to be salaried employees. Those who chose the business path were only a minority, and those who started to own a company manufacturing a certain product (even a small one) were even fewer.”

Teaching children from cooking to ironing clothes

Mr. Thanh's daughter choked up as she said that her father was successful and rich, but he didn't have a super car, golf clubs, a Patek Philippe watch worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or luxurious parties.

“Dad’s happiness is not in luxurious places, parties that last all night long, not in flashy places, but in growing trees. Dad grows trees because he loves trees and fruits, but I thought he was more like a farmer than a transporter. I never praised Dad’s pineapples for being delicious because I was afraid Dad would grow more, I was afraid Dad would have to work too much, travel far and get tired, but Dad, at this moment, here I want to say that the pineapples Dad grows are very delicious.”

Many officials and businessmen, I know many people who just want to give up, because they work hard, put all their effort, sacrifice everything to bring in money and fame, but their children are spoiled. As for his children, Mr. Thanh not only immerses himself in work, but is also a loving father who meticulously educates his children. "Not only does he teach his children manners and rules, but he also shows them how to cook soup, braise tofu, and iron clothes. When I asked my father to let me get married, he said, it's not called getting married, but starting a family, like starting a career, learning from my mother."

With his wife, whose name he combined to create a simple, rustic brand, but conveying the sustainability of being together, Mr. Thanh is always at home for warm family meals. “I like the way Dad waits for Mom to eat together. If anything happens, Mom calls Dad to tell him and asks if he has eaten yet and what he ate. The kitchen is always on fire because Dad eats home-cooked meals every day.”

Just the boss of a bus company passed away, but caused grief for thousands of people because of his sudden departure.

A car company is in a “scandalous” state, but still receives thousands of comments wishing it to resume operations soon. Even the former editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre newspaper, Ms. Vu Kim Hanh (currently the Chairwoman of the Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods Enterprises) wrote on her personal Facebook: “Since Thanh Buoi had an incident, I often hope that after handling it, they will soon be able to resume operations. I think many poor families will also want to travel in a budget style like my family, they still need Thanh Buoi.”

A heartfelt letter that hundreds of people from all walks of life, touched, shared, even a former journalist had to write on Facebook: "For me, being a father who, when he passes away, can have his children say goodbye with loving words like the eldest daughter of the owner of Thanh Buoi bus company gave him is the most precious thing."

All those stories helped me separate my emotions and be clear in my writing. The fact that Thanh Buoi company caused an accident, was punished, and even had its license revoked is another story. It is natural that if a company makes a mistake, it must face the consequences. Business has harsh rules, "the business world is like a battlefield", dare to do and dare to take responsibility. But the entrepreneurial spirit of a person like Mr. Thanh Buoi is truly admirable.

And I, like many others, hope that the rest will continue the spirit of their father, revive the business, and continue on the path that Mr. Thanh has chosen. In addition, we need to be more careful and strictly comply with the law to avoid regrettable mistakes.

Thanh Buoi Company Limited was established in March 2000. The company holds a large market share on routes from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat, Can Tho and Da Lat - Can Tho. Disaster struck in September 2023, when the company's driver caused an accident that killed 5 people. Because of this incident, Mr. Thanh's son, Le Duong (Deputy Director of Thanh Buoi Company Limited), was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

By November 2023, Thanh Buoi Company's car transport business license will be revoked for 3 months and its car transport business license will be revoked indefinitely.

Mr. Le Duc Thanh fell seriously ill and passed away on September 5, 2024.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/toi-da-phai-ne-trong-du-doanh-nghiep-tai-tieng-d225970.html