'Why I chose my family business over other multinationals?', Uyen Phuong Tran-Women in Business

	Steps to Create your Destiny and Live with Values - "Women in Business" by Phuong Uyen Tran
	PHUONG UYEN TRAN - a prominent female millionaire and an emotional author
	Where to find the key to successfully mixing family with business

Tan Hiep Phat Group's Deputy CEO Phuong Uyen Tran

After high school, I was determined to continue my education abroad. I wanted exposure to new ideas and different points of view. I started this journey in Singapore, which was an eye-opening experience. The world was a much bigger and infinitely more complicated place than I had imagined.

I was seeing globalization first hand and for the first time. Singapore is a true entrepôt of people and international trade. I saw the opportunities it offered and realized there was so much to learn. I redoubled my studies to earn my degree. For my graduation thesis, I chose to do a project on Heineken. The experience proved invaluable as I saw how a multinational develops projects and manages brands.

Being exposed to Heineken International made me wonder whether I should join a multinational or return home to the family business. I was twenty-two years old and had to decide which path to take. Should I stay in Singapore and prepare myself for a career at a multinational, or should I return to Vietnam?

I knew the big advantage of working outside the family business would be the ability to own my achievements and failures. Family relationships would not benefit or protect me. Any respect my colleagues showed me would be earned, not grudgingly bestowed simply because I was related to the owner. Moreover, by working in an established company, I would be able to compare and contrast the structures and operations of a developed organization with a family-owned one.

Management opportunity

While I didn’t expect automatic opportunities—I would need to work for them—the ability to gain upper-management experience was likely to happen much sooner than in other organizations.

Bypass workplace politics and ambiguity

Family businesses aren’t perfect, but as a family member, those in charge know who you are and what you are capable of achieving. Outside of this environment, it would be safe to assume that my career could be derailed by corporate politics, mergers, bankruptcies, and other circumstances completely out of my control. The benefit of working for the family would be greater transparency all around.

Continue my family’s legacy

Most importantly, I thought about the legacy of my parents and the business they created. I wanted to prove my ability to contribute to their success and legacy. The business had been such an integral part of my upbringing, I wanted to apply my skills and experience to help make my parents proud and help take THP to new heights.

It’s a decision I haven’t regretted since. I lived there as a child, I eventually became one of the employees, later a manager, and today, a director in charge of communications and procurement. Throughout the process, I have strived to be a worthy successor to my parents by learning how to be a manager, while living and teaching THP’s core values.

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