Golden principle unlocks mutuality treasure trove

On the occasion of the company’s tenth anniversary, company director Ngo Quoc Vinh spoke with VIR about the secrets behind AQA’s recent successes in the construction market.

What landmark moments have inspired the company’s decade of development?

Like numerous other businesses, AQA has confronted mounting challenges and stiff competition given the current economic slump. Thanks to great efforts by the company’s management and employees, and the active support from business partners and customers, we have recorded good results despite the challenges.

The company has left its imprint on major construction works throughout Vietnam. We are particularly proud of our involvement in the construction of Intel’s chipset manufacturing facility at Ho Chi Minh City Hi-tech Park (District 9) – the largest of its kind in the world, a Japan-invested brewery with an annual capacity of 40 million litres in the southern province of Long An, Aeon’s gigantic new mall in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu district and another mall constructed by the Japanese company in the southern province of Binh Duong covering over 60,000 square metres.

We also built Phan Chu Trinh secondary school in Binh Duong at a cost of VND39 billion ($1.9 million) and An Duong Thao Dien villa complex in Ho Chi Minh City at VND35 million ($1.7 million) along with a range of other high-end projects.

We are now capable of constructing projects valued at VND500 billion ($24 million), while pursuing strict quality standards and timeline requirements. Our construction capacity has grown five-fold against five years ago, acting as a milestone in the company’s development.

Aeon Mall project in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu district

A majority of AQA’s major customers are Japanese contractors, and they account for 80 per cent of your annual work. How did the company win over this strategic market segment?

In 2007, AQA shifted into executing industrial works and sourcing foreign customers. Through an acquaintance, we met a big Japanese contractor who by that time wanted to find a capable subcontractor and we managed to grab this lucrative opportunity.

The Japanese contractor carefully audited our capacity. They sent senior experts to survey the construction work we were handling at this time – building a mattress manufacturing facility with three factories over 20,000 sq.m in Ho Chi Minh City’s Cu Chi district for Kymdan. We won their trust and received the first contract.

We have cultivated relations with a number of Japanese contractors since 2007, including two of Japan’s top five firms in the sector.

What are AQA’s core advantages?

First, it’s our qualifications and management expertise. We remain determined to meet our commitments in terms of safety, sanitation, quality and progress with our customers.

Second is the price factor. We offer the customer competitive prices because we have effectively controlled our expenses.

Third for us comes responsibility. We remain devoted to our task as much as to the safety, quality and timeline

requirements of our clients.

Our golden principle is mutual benefits for the partners involved. Our success, is our client’s success. This has helped us gain prestige among important customers, while cultivating a dedicated and effective workforce.