Winning a Mercedes car, the story of a resilient village girl

Mai Thu with her car, a reward for her relentless efforts

I met Mai Thu on a cold, windy day at the beginning of the Year of the Buffalo in the impoverished district of Tanh Linh in Binh Thuan province.

It was a time when the porch was lit up by golden sunshine and the confetti in the front was swaying in the wind, showing off its colours on the dry ground that looked like baked tiles.

With her eyes filled with joy, the charming young woman recalls her journey filled with difficulties she had to overcome to achieve her current success.

“I used to be a very poor student with only VND1 million ($43.47) to my name that my mother managed to borrow from a pagoda after walking back and forth between so many places when I entered university,” Thu reminisced. “I had only flip-flops to wear as a student, and they were so worn out that they eventually broke at school and I had to go home barefoot.”

“After I graduated as an accountant, I had to look for a livelihood. Life sometimes brought difficulties that seemed too hard to bear until the day I applied for a job at C.T Group,” she began her story.

“At the beginning, it was harder than I thought. I started in a low position as a fresh graduate without experience and it was very stressful.

I have constantly reminded myself to remember everything I saw, heard, and did: I had to observe, pay close attention to everything around me, always ask questions, and find the answers to ensure my work went smoothly and efficiently, and commit everything to memory.

Gradually, I began to find my work more interesting and I come to know what I was doing, what I needed to do, and how much effort I had to put in to complete a certain task.

I began to fall in love with my work as I grew to understood my teammates better and learned the board of directors’ directions, which enabled me to keep pace.

I have lived and worked like that and today I have almost everything I dreamt about: an apartment of nearly 70 square metres in the I-Home area, a nearly 1,000sq.m house for my parents in the countryside that is always full of laughter from my loved ones who bore hardships for my sake, as well as houses and steady jobs for my brothers and sisters.

At the end of 2019, my division was awarded a Tet bonus of more than VND1.5 billion ($65,217), and I spent more than VND500 million ($21,740) from that to financially support colleagues’ further studies.

Just before this New Year, I shed tears of joy after being named Excellent Employee of 2020 and was gifted a deep-blue Mercedes car.

I felt so much luckier than my friends. Things got even better when I registered the car urgently so that I could drive it to my hometown before Tet, and got allotted the lucky number 88 2 33.

To achieve today’s success, I think I have been strong and resilient in the face of difficulties because I always think a challenge often comes with an opportunity and I always strive to grasp that opportunity.

I always trust in myself and believe I can “do it”, and C.T Group has made sure my belief grows day after day.

For me, C.T Group is a world that helps nurture big dreams and can help me fly high and far.

I am very proud that I am a member of C.T Group, which has helped me become strong and brave and made my life more prosperous and happier than I had dared to dream.”

Thu might have wanted to say a lot more, but I wanted her to drive around her hometown in the dark blue Mercedes parked under the confetti.

I asked her, "How many people received this award?"

Thu said, “Four individuals and one group were awarded Mercedes cars, but my car has the most beautiful colour.”

When I asked her about a boyfriend, she blushed and laughed. Perhaps that is the next goal for this dynamic young lady.