A young man from Yen Bai gave up his salary of 100 million VND to build a villa on an island to ease his mind.

(Dan Tri) - Although he admits that he is not a good student, Ngan is very "lucky" when it comes to starting a business. At the age of 24, the young man from Yen Bai has achieved certain successes.

Incomplete family, working many jobs to have money to pay tuition

The villa is designed in the style of the blue and white houses of Santorini in Greece, standing out on Binh Hung Island, attracting tourists when they first set foot on the island. Few people know that the owner of the project is a young man. Just a few years ago, he was running around doing all kinds of jobs, hoping to have enough money to pay for tuition. Originally from Luc Yen (Yen Bai), Dinh Ngan was born into an incomplete family. His parents divorced when Ngan was only 3 years old. He "wandered" everywhere, sometimes living with his father, sometimes living with his mother, without a fixed place to live, but mainly still living with his grandparents. From middle school to high school, Ngan studied at a boarding school. When it was time to take the university entrance exam, due to poor academic performance, he failed to get into the schools he wanted, so he finally applied to a school in Bac Ninh. During his time studying tourism at the university, Ngan did all kinds of jobs to make a living. The salary at the restaurant was only 2.5 million VND/month, but sometimes the owner refused to pay him, so he decided to find a tour partner and work as a tour guide. The 24-year-old man realized that although this period was difficult, it gave him a "new vision" and many special relationships. "I used to lead tours for large business groups, had the opportunity to meet managers, department heads and sometimes leaders, and learn how they think. Thanks to that, a young student just starting out in life had a better perspective," Ngan recalled. In addition to leading tours, Ngan also worked as an MC for events. His monthly income at that time was up to 30 million VND per month, a dream number for a student. The young man thought that everything would go smoothly, but suddenly Covid-19 appeared, tourism was severely affected, and Ngan's source of income from working as a tour guide and MC was also "cut off". During the pandemic, staying at home and feeling "restless", Ngan thought of the idea of ​​creating a channel to share delicious dishes in Bac Ninh. Thinking is doing, the Yen Bai guy immediately started doing it. Unexpectedly, the first videos attracted a large number of views, some even trended and "caused a storm" in the online community. Realizing the great potential, Ngan focused on investing in more meticulous work. Just 2 weeks later, a series of restaurants invited him to experience for a fee. This was the period when Ngan made very good money, earning from 100 to 150 million VND per month. "Only now do I realize that, whether it's a pandemic or an economic recession, if you have the right mindset and a little luck, you can still earn very well. In any situation, as long as you create value for society, money will come to you," Ngan said.

Starting a business during the peak of the epidemic season

When his personal channel grew and received a large number of followers, Ngan thought about opening his own restaurant. He partnered with a friend who was a chef. The two pooled their capital and opened a street stall specializing in chicken cakes.

The chicken cake cart that Ngan opened in Bac Ninh in the early days of her business was always packed with customers.

Opening right at the time of the pandemic outbreak caused the cart to face many difficulties. However, with the advantage of media image, plus the new food, the cart attracted a large number of customers in Bac Ninh. "Although it has not been open for long, the cart is known by many customers. There was a time when customers lined up for hours to buy cakes. Next, many people came to me, asking about the recipe and product franchise. After careful consideration, I agreed to franchise. Currently, the total number of branches is up to more than 100 points of sale nationwide," Ngan confided.

When the customer base was stable, he began franchising the product.

The young man from Yen Bai revealed that each franchise contract costs 35 million VND. Not only does he pass on the profession and teach the standard recipe, he also supports the owner in terms of image, sales methods, and shop building model... After a while, although the chicken cake has passed its peak of popularity, Ngan still cherishes what he has worked hard to build in the past.

Leaving the city for the beach because of falling in love with Binh Hung and the painful lesson

Despite having a stable financial source, Ngan confessed that "sometimes I feel tired because of the stressful work cycle". There were times when he felt exhausted and had trouble sleeping. To regenerate new energy, he rewarded himself with short trips. In April 2023, Ngan went to Binh Hung Island (Nha Trang) to travel with a brother. Life was so peaceful and the people were so sincere that the young man from Yen Bai did not know when he "fell in love" with this place. Then, he made an important decision: leave the city for the sea. Having traveled to many places, but nowhere has Ngan been as fascinated as Binh Hung. The island's area is small, only about 2km, but the tourism potential on the island is huge because it has not been invested much. Ngan saw the opportunity opening up before his eyes.

He invested 3 billion VND with his friend to build a resort villa to welcome guests because he saw the tourism potential on the island.

Handing over all his current work to the manager, the 24-year-old man spent 3 billion VND saved up for a long time, pooling capital with a group of friends to build a resort villa on the island with a total cost of about 12 billion VND. However, he still returned to Bac Ninh several times a month to monitor the work. When he started working, Ngan found everything more difficult than he had imagined. Building a villa on the island was not as simple as on the mainland, from finding workers to sourcing raw materials, everything was more expensive. He said the total cost was 3 times higher than on the mainland.

The villa space is designed in the style of the Greek island of Santorini with blue and white houses.

After the construction period, the villa was completed with a blue and white color scheme reminiscent of the houses on Santorini Island in Greece. On weekends, the resort villa is always packed with a capacity of about 20 guests. Each room costs from 1.3 to 1.5 million VND/night. "The island is still wild and not very competitive, but I know that doing business here will have many difficulties. The problem of fresh water is what gives me a headache. Binh Hung Island is small, there is no fresh water and it has to be bought from the mainland. With a resort villa that can accommodate 20 guests as it is now, it costs up to 3 million VND for fresh water every month. Not to mention, in the near future, I plan to expand the area and build 20 more rooms," he said.

Tourists come to the resort villa.

And it was still the soft drink story that gave the "city boy" a "life lesson". One weekend, there were more customers than usual and they ordered a lot of drinks. Because they ran out of soft drinks, the shop had to use bottled water to mix drinks. At the end of the day, when calculating, Ngan said that "there was no profit left" for the whole day. Each time like that, it gave him a "life lesson". After a period of attachment to the island, waste is an issue that has been troubling Ngan for a long time. Most of the plastic waste and nylon bags are still brought to the island by tourists and left behind, while there are not many trash bins.

He bought trash cans to place at popular tourist spots on the island.

Seeing that, Ngan bought 10 bins and placed them in markets or crowded tourist spots. In addition, his group also set up a weekly garbage collection team in public places with the goal of both protecting the environment and raising public awareness. Because he has no family yet, in the future, Ngan still wants to stay in Binh Hung. He believes that "leaving the city for the sea" or "moving home to the countryside" is an inevitable trend of society, attracting many young people. "Now is the age of technology. Everything does not necessarily have to be done in one place, so the need for people to leave the city to be close to nature is very high. This trend can develop strongly in the future. I am satisfied with my current life, even though my income may not be as high as before and everything is still in its infancy. But the sea and islands make me happier, helping me love the simple things around me," Ngan confided. Photo: Hoang Dinh Ngan

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