Nam Long’s CEO: "trust is the invariant value overtime"

In 30 years of development, Nam Long is always mentioned when talking about understanding customers’ needs to provide practical value. From the founding team to the following generation of executives, the reputation-based growth formula is maintained throughout.

After many stages of development and continuous reform, Nam Long has created a new ecosystem, opening an era of creating new values. In an interview with Saigon Economic Review, Nam Long Group's General Director, Tran Xuan Ngoc talked about the company’s vision to 2030, in particular, what Nam Long's evolved generation will do to continue the group’s legacy and write new pages in this coming time.

General Director of Nam Long Group, Tran Xuan Ngoc.

30 years of building values from trust

First of all, congratulations to Nam Long Group on the 30th anniversary with many great achievements. Looking back, the company has gone through many crises on the market. As the next generation of executives, in your opinion, what helped the company overcome such time?

In this 30-year, the elements that make Nam Long’s success include the vision of the founder, the chairman, Nguyen Xuan Quang, who turned a construction company into a professional real estate developer. What he did laid a solid foundation with products that well addressed the needs of the market.

I’m still relatively new at Nam Long, but we have experienced the challenges of Covid-19 together and understood how the business can overcome the turbulent times. That’s my ground to analyze the entire journey and find my place in the history of the company.

For me, the solidarity and willingness to face challenges of each person are always the driving force for a company to find a good solution. Also important, the risk management experience learned from foreign partners is a new source of energy to help us go through challenges confidently.

Looking back at the previous crisis, the affordable housing strategy with the key product EHome is the key to the market lock. So what is the next version of EHome?

EHome is the product that makes Nam Long brand and still a valuable and symbolic product of the company. The value of EHome is not only in the products but also in the affordable housing concept that the company is targeting. Flora condominium, Valora townhouses/villas – the next generation are all reasonably priced and successful product lines. So even though the product portfolio has become more diversified to fit with new strategy and market needs, the output of the products is aiming for reasonable prices, in line with the demands and financial capabilities of the Vietnamese. Even though Nam Long sells a super-luxury house, it is still at the most affordable end.

As an executive from Nam Long’s evolved generation, what do you think is the value that connects the two stages of development?

In general, the value remains throughout 30 years of establishment is trust and customer-centric mindset. Right from the early days in 1992, Nam Long has chosen the principle of "Trust - Quality". That word "Trust" is still valid after 30 years, connecting the past and the future. In line with the new vision, “Trust" has become one of the three core values of the corporation. In the past, Nam Long has been very successful in globalization. My job is to maintain and further develop this special ability. And there is nothing more convincing than Professionalism and Trust.

Find the balance with new elements

You mentioned that the high adaptability helped the company overcome challenges. Would the participation of other partners "dilute" the core values that the group has maintained throughout the past three decades?

The participation of foreign partners is the driving force triggering Nam Long’s new path of growth. As our partners respect our opinions and share our entrepreneurial spirit, our values are not affected. We work together towards the same customers with real housing needs and reasonable price apartment products, contributing to improving the quality of life for Vietnamese people, for a developing Vietnam. After spending so much time together, I found them to be successful and professional partnerships.

If the partnerships are successful, can you share the highlights that foreign partners have made after joining Nam Long?

Besides sharing the vision in business and product development, the partnerships are benefiting both sides. While Nam Long learns the professional management process and discipline, our partners gain understanding about the Vietnamese market and customers.

From a business perspective, Nam Long also receives a fair share of value. Investment from Japanese partners helps lower product development costs. Meanwhile, the products carry Japanese inspired design with superior quality and functionality, creating better output.

You can see the remarks of Japanese partners in our projects, products, and branding… However, our partner network is much broader. All of them make valuable contributions to balance the ideas and objectives in our business strategies.

Is sharing the vision in business with foreign partners the driving force for Nam Long to expedite the restructuring of the corporation?

It is an inevitable movement as the business scales up. The support from partners helps us gain more confidence in the restructuring, and increase our market share. Involving our partner in the process will help increase the value and minimize the risk as well as reduce the cost. Above all, we want our process to be transparent.

Vision to 2030 is not just a slogan

Is that the motivation for Nam Long to make a leap to billion-dollar real estate developer in the past year? What is the next goal after restructuring?

$1 billion dollar equity is an important milestone of Nam Long throughout 30 years of development. This is a great motivation for me and the next generation to work towards our goal by 2030 with $3 billion in equity. To achieve this goal, Nam Long also changed the organizational structure as well as the business ecosystem. Instead of maintaining functional units we have changed to three main business units.

Unit 1 is responsible for land acquisition. Unit 2 is responsible for the development of integrated housing and urban projects, in parallel with project development companies under partnership with our partners from Japan. Unit 3 focuses on commercial real estate development in integrated townships. It is expected to generate 15% of total revenue with stable income.

Following this transformation, Nam Long is aiming for the Group Holdings model in the future.

In your opinion, is being the leading integrated real estate developer in Vietnam and the region by 2030 an overly ambitious goal?

I can confirm that this is not just a slogan but a serious strategy of the entire team based on data analysis, market research, and advice from leading consulting firms in the world like McKinsey. We have clearly determined the mission of each stage until 2030. This is not our ambition but realistic objectives we set to achieve.

So what is Nam Long's land acquisition strategy to meet the target?

We currently have more than 681 hectares of land, all clean and ready for development. With the existing land fund, if the projects are carried out in an ideal status, we can make $1 billion in revenue from now till 2026. But if we don’t increase our land fund, the revenue will drop after that. So land acquisition is always our priority.

Changes in scale and products will lead to changes in selling strategies. What are the most important customer aspects that Nam Long needs to have after the transformation?

At Nam Long, we do not simply understand and approach customers with demand, but we sell from the customer's mindset. As I said, throughout the project development process, in any market segment, the output products must have reasonable prices to meet the right, sufficient and suitable buyers. Our well maintenance of these values have helped us retain our customers for 30 years. Respect for each other's values, goals and needs helps us expand our client base organically..

Looking at the brand value after restructuring, what are the invariant values and what can be changed?

Regardless of the different products we have made in 30 years, and the different stages in development, trust is still an important element that connects the past and the future of our business. This is the invariant value.

Creativity, readiness and adaptability are the values that brands need to improve over time, to enhance the brand name in the hearts of customers and partners.

Thank you!

Source: thesaigontimes.vn