From Tokyo to HOPE CORP: building a company on the logic of capital

I have been quiet on social media for a long time. Many people asked where I had gone and what I was doing. The honest answer is simple: I stepped back to observe, to reorganise everything, and to prepare for a longer stride along the path I had already mapped out. This is the first time I am telling the story from Tokyo to HOPE CORP in an orderly way, and explaining why I believe in how I am building this company.

Seven years in Japan, studying with everything I had

From 2009 to 2016, I lived and studied in Japan. Many people know me as a sales manager working inside Japanese companies. But that calm did not come easily. It was the product of years of young adulthood spent pushing hard in an expensive and demanding environment.

I was the only Vietnamese student in the IT faculty of my university, surrounded by Japanese classmates and students from China. The pressure to prove myself was intense, and it became a source of drive. Over four years of study, I held a scholarship for three. When I graduated, my thesis was rated Excellent and placed among the top of the faculty.

After graduation, I started my IT career in Tokyo and Nagoya, two of the busiest and most demanding cities in Japan. I thought I would settle into a stable life there as an engineer. But the strict discipline and intensity of the work were a real test, and they taught me a great deal about endurance, professional standards, and how a serious organisation runs.

The price of stability, 2016 to 2023

In 2016, I decided to return to Vietnam to build my career. I moved from IT into business and gradually rose to management roles for large Japanese companies. Even though I worked in Vietnam, the nature of the job meant I kept returning to Japan on short business trips to coordinate projects.

The constant flights between the two countries, together with the pressure of sales targets, KPIs, and deadlines, never eased. At some point I realised something plain: I was spending more than ten years of my youth and energy building someone else's dream. I do not regret those years. They gave me a profession, discipline, and a network. But they also gave me the question I needed to move forward: when do I build something of my own?

Stopping to build HOPE

In August 2023, I decided to stop, find my own path, and found HOPE CORP.

From the very beginning, although we started modestly, I did not see myself as merely a trader, focused on earning every small coin and balancing income against expenses. A different way of thinking had already taken shape in my mind: that of someone who manages a company through its capital structure.

I understood that going far requires more than selling goods. A company has to be built into a valuable asset, with sound governance and the ability to be valued. A business that lives on month-to-month sales is fragile. A business with systems, transparent numbers, and a clear vision can invite others to walk the long road with it.

So after nearly a year of operations, I deliberately changed our model: from retailing products to providing an integrated solution for health and lifestyle.

The people who walk with me, and what inspires me

To bring this vision to life, I am fortunate to have the strategic support of Hai H Nguyen, a Forbes Under 30 Asia honoree in 2017 and the founder of BeginGuru, a fundraising coaching platform. He currently serves as Chief Financial and Risk Officer at VIN CSS and advises several other companies.

With his experience in fundraising and governance, Hai is working with me on a full restructuring and on standardising our processes so that HOPE becomes a properly run company. Having someone like him beside me gives me confidence that the direction I chose is sound, and more importantly, helps me see what I cannot yet see myself.

Another great source of inspiration is Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu, Chairman of Trung Nguyen Coffee Group. One of his ideas stayed with me for a long time: that young people need ambition and a mindset big enough for it. It broke the old thinking I had carried, that business exists to enrich oneself. Instead, it pushed me toward creating value for the community.

I call this direction right-livelihood entrepreneurship: doing business not only to earn money, but to serve, and to bring peace and sustainability to society. For me this is not a slogan. It is the standard by which I decide what to do and what to decline, from choosing a product to how we speak about it with customers.

The HOPE CORP ecosystem today

Today, HOPE CORP positions itself as a companion, offering a complete solution through three pillars:

• Education and knowledge about proactive health care.
• An ecosystem of plant-based, nature-aligned wellness products.
• Courses, online and in person, along with wellness retreats.

The three pillars support one another. Knowledge helps customers understand what they are choosing. Products are what they bring into daily life. Courses and retreats are where the community connects and experiences things first-hand. Our goal is not to sell one more box, but to stay beside a person for longer.

What I carry forward

To me, there is no failure, only lessons and experience. When our thinking is big enough, we update ourselves every day to deserve our own ambition. Japan taught me discipline. Years in management taught me to see a company through both numbers and people. The early years of HOPE taught me that a decent company must be built as an asset, with systems and with honesty.

In the time ahead, I will share again as an operator and as a businessman building a company on the logic of capital, drawing on hands-on experience. Thank you to everyone who waited patiently. The new journey has formally begun.