Failure is not discouraged FPT reached the target of 1 billion USD in revenue in 2008, after 15 years it became the first technology company in Vietnam to achieve 1 billion USD in revenue from software exports. "To achieve success, we started with failures", Mr. Hoang Nam Tien, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT University, who sat in the "hot seat" of Chairman of FPT Software for 8 years from 2012, opened the story inspiring businesses participating in the event "From zero to billion-dollar enterprise: Hidden secrets" recently held in Hanoi. Mr. Tien said: "In 1999, FPT opened an office in the US. After 1 year, we spent all the money but no one hired us".

Mr. Hoang Nam Tien, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT University. Photo: Gapowork

FPT leaders decided to learn from the best people in software export. At that time, India was at the peak in this field. Vietnamese businesses boldly went to Bangalore - the world's software capital - to open a company. After 1 year, no one hired them despite their determination to change the "game" by recruiting a team of 30 Indians, taking on positions from PM (project management) to design, coding, testing... When they ran out of money, they returned. "We lost millions of USD in the first years. Those failures could have discouraged us, but Mr. Truong Gia Binh - Chairman of FPT - was different. Mr. Binh is a very special person. In 1999, when speaking on television, Mr. Binh expressed his strong will and belief with the saying "Even if we burn the Truong Son mountain range, we must export software", Mr. Tien said. 'We still move forward without knowing anything' In the early days of starting up, the FPT team encountered countless difficulties. Many people were advised by their families and relatives to switch to real estate trading or stock trading... But they overcame all obstacles to pursue the path of software development. Even when lacking everything, from money to relationships, qualifications,... FPT people always maintain the spirit of "determination to fight, determination to win". They determined: Having to face many strong competitors, if they do not dare to "fight", they will lose from the start. Unable to compete with the world's leading enterprises in terms of production force, they must use their brains and technology to be able to "stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's powers". Corporate culture is another secret to creating success on the journey to Go Global (Going out to the world) for FPT. Mr. Hoang Nam Tien said that the entrepreneurial spirit of FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh after 36 years continues to be maintained, spreading to each employee of the group, encouraging everyone to always renew themselves every day, ready to conquer new challenges. With the spirit of “going forward without knowing anything” and “just be passionate, maybe it will be done”, FPT people are willing to learn quickly to work abroad. “Once I suggested that I needed someone to lead 15 people to Houston (Texas - USA) to take care of customers. Immediately, a friend said, “Let me do it”. After that statement, the friend worked an average of 15-20 hours/day, because in addition to work, they also had to improve their skills and knowledge. After 3 months, the friend said, “You can start”. Most of the projects FPT received were from abroad, even though we didn’t know, we still dared to accept because we had a strong belief that we could do it”, Mr. Tien continued the story.

FPT has been named in the list of 500 largest software companies in the world. Photo: FPT Software

Not only working for foreign companies with their brains, today, FPT has gone one step further, using their intelligence to create products and services that many technology "giants" in the world have to buy. Mr. Tien excitedly boasted: FPT currently has about 76,000 people of 63 nationalities working in many countries, including more than 4,000 foreigners. Of FPT's 1 billion USD in software export revenue in 2023, more than 30% is from technology and products "Made by FPT". In the past, FPT went abroad to apply for jobs, but now it goes to introduce products and solutions for "foreign" partners to place orders. Among the 500 largest corporations in the world, 102 brands are customers of Vietnamese software enterprises. FPT has been named in the list of the 500 largest software companies in the world and entered the Top 100 leading service providers in the world. “Talking about the secret to FPT’s success, besides determination, perseverance, and patience, there is also the stubbornness to reach the goal. After 25 years of exporting software, it is the stubbornness and discipline that helped us from initial failure to later success, while many other companies gave up halfway,” Mr. Tien concluded.
Last year, FPT celebrated its 35th anniversary, Chairman Truong Gia Binh emphasized the group's goal: Creating happiness for every FPTer, for customers, for the country, and even more importantly, for the whole world. According to the 2023-2025 plan, FPT will develop more branches in Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, expand 24/7 service capacity for global customers and open up new customer groups. 5% of pre-tax profit will be used to invest in R&D (research and development) of products, services and solutions in the "Made by FPT" technology ecosystem, taking user happiness as a guiding principle, focusing on applying the latest technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence), Blockchain (blockchain technology), Cloud (cloud computing), Big Data (big data), Hyper Automation (super automation)...

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/bi-quyet-song-con-cua-doanh-nghiep-viet-ty-do-vuon-len-tu-that-bai-2321969.html