18 years ago, on a flight to Angola, Nguyen Van Hoa (originally from Chan Ly commune, Ly Nhan, Ha Nam) saw from above houses as small as matchboxes and fluttering like umbrellas.
In that poor and dreary African land, the young Vietnamese man only wanted to work to pay off his debt back home and find some money to save for his old age. Yet 18 years later, he became the first businessman to be recognized as having made the greatest contribution to the locality in the past 40 years.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa always wants to build works with Vietnamese imprints in foreign lands. Photo of Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa at a charity event in Angola during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: NVCC)
Starting from photocopying
Most Vietnamese people who came to Angola in the early 2000s started their own business as photocopiers and photographers for the locals. Many became rich and had savings thanks to this job. At first, Mr. Hoa worked for a photography shop. Thanks to his hard work, finding work everywhere, and seeing opportunities to make money everywhere, Mr. Hoa gradually had his own photocopying business.
From a small shop owner, Mr. Hoa gradually learned and developed the industries he could do. Looking at the list of his "investments", we can see the strong will of the young man from Ha Nam in a foreign land: photocopying, taking pictures, driving a taxi, selling motorbike spare parts, "buying goods" from China to Angola, selling auto parts, opening a garage, opening a mini supermarket... Finally, he became a construction contractor, specializing in building public works in Huambo province where he lives and expanding nationwide.
Talking about the decision to expand into motorbike spare parts, Mr. Hoa said that Angola is still a poor country, when he came there the war had just ended a few years ago so the economy was still very difficult. Any Angolan family that owned a motorbike at that time was making a great effort, so the services that came with the motorbike were very few. He seized that opportunity and immediately opened a motorbike repair shop, then gradually imported spare parts from Vietnam or China to sell.
Or when he decided to buy a car to run a taxi, the demand for transportation here was very high. He pooled money with a Vietnamese friend and hired a local to drive (because Angolan law stipulates that only locals are allowed to drive service vehicles). During the week, the driver's salary was a full day's revenue from taxis, and he and his friend split the remaining 6 days.
“Vietnamese people going abroad only need to have the awareness to make money to be successful. I see opportunities for development everywhere, it's just a matter of whether or not I have enough capital to do it,” said a Vietnamese businessman in Angola.
Necessity is the mother of invention
2009 was a big milestone for Nguyen Van Hoa when he decided to bring many people from his hometown to Angola to expand his business models. He maintained all types of services he had mastered with the thought of "not putting all your eggs in one basket". When he opened a chain of 3 mini supermarkets in the province, not only did the locals love it, but foreigners living here were also regular customers. His store sold dry goods familiar to Vietnamese people such as MSG, pepper, dried foods, etc.
When he had enough money, he expanded into the construction industry, contracting for public works such as committees, schools, etc. His employees now include about 40-50 Vietnamese and 200-300 locals.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Angola, business became difficult. Most foreigners, including Vietnamese in Angola, sought to return home, but Mr. Hoa was determined to stay.
At a time when people were shrinking their investment capital, he decided to raise the issue with the local authorities, building a 12-class orphanage school. In his calculations, when he built trust in the government and the people, his increased reputation would help him receive public works in the locality.
In early 2022, the project was accepted, becoming the first project built by Vietnamese people as a gift to Angola.
At the inauguration of the school, not only provincial officials but also Angolan government leaders attended and met and thanked the Vietnamese businessman. After that, Mr. Hoa's company received a "rain of school projects", helping him take care of his employees in a difficult economic context.
According to Vietnamese businessmen, Angola has great development potential, the people here are honest and simple. Vietnamese people do not hide their profession, they support the locals a lot in industries such as construction, agriculture, carpentry, repair... Being taught by Vietnamese people, they absorb well and develop more and more skills. A part of Vietnamese people in Angola do business successfully. During the long period from 1990 to 2000, the amount of remittances from Angola to Vietnam was very large.
400-bed hospital design by businessman Nguyen Van Hoa in Angola.
Dream cherished
During the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Hoa supported many localities in southern Angola to build field hospitals to treat cases, and received medical equipment from Western countries to install there. He cherished the dream of building a hospital of Vietnamese people, run by Vietnamese people in Angola.
With the approval of the local government, he used all his resources to buy land and started building a hospital with more than 400 beds in early 2023. He also imported modern equipment and machinery without seeking additional support resources. Large-scale hospitals in southern Angola are rare. Therefore, Mr. Hoa's project made a deep impression on the people.
“The younger generation is better than me. I only know how to build, but maintaining and developing the hospital more sustainably depends on the younger generation.”
Mr. Hoa also contributed significantly to maintaining and developing the spirit of solidarity in the Vietnamese community in Angola. His house is always a place to welcome generations and groups of Vietnamese people in this country, from workers to dynamic young people such as vloggers Tien Tuti, Hue Co gai chau phi and Quang Linh, famous for the Youtube channel Quang Linh Vlog - Life in Africa.
During meetings of the Vietnamese community in Angola, Mr. Hoa and everyone cherished the idea of forming small communities that could help each other do business, thereby creating Vietnamese villages here.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Angola Duong Chinh Chuc (right) and businessman Nguyen Van Hoa (left) at an event of the Vietnamese community in Angola. (Photo: NVCC)
The vitality of a Vietnamese community in Africa
Mr. Duong Chinh Chuc - Vietnamese Ambassador to Angola said that in the 1980s, the Vietnamese community in Angola reached more than 50,000 people. However, due to the epidemic and many objective factors, the Vietnamese community in Angola now has about 8,000 people, the largest community in Africa. The community consists of 3 groups: medical and educational experts, private businesses and hired workers.
The group of self-employed businesses operates quite diversely, mainly in construction, auto garages, carpentry, agriculture, bread production, garment manufacturing, opening kiosks selling Vietnamese goods and common foods.
Mr. Chuc also said that the Vietnamese community in Angola has always been quite active but began to emerge a few years ago for several main reasons.
First of all, organizing community activities between Vietnamese people, or between Vietnamese people and Angolan people, is a long-standing tradition. Despite many difficulties, Vietnamese people always organize exchanges to strengthen solidarity, cohesion and carry out many charitable activities for local people, deepening friendship and promoting the image of Vietnamese people.
Secondly, in recent years, famous social media pages and accounts of Vietnamese people living in Angola have appeared, such as Quang Linh Vlog, Dong Paulo, Tien Tuti, Co gai chau Phi, etc., helping to spread the image of the community better. They grasp and make good use of visual and audio tools for communication, bringing authentic images of the lives of the Vietnamese community and Angolan people to the world.
Third, is the humanitarian and volunteer element in activities, helping oneself and others, encouraged and supported by many people.
“I think the Vietnamese community in other countries is equally vibrant and meaningful, the problem is knowing how to use science and technology and combine it with the media.”
In addition, the Vietnamese Embassy in Angola has also gradually developed a stronger community. Currently, the Embassy and the Vietnamese community in Angola are building the Vietnamese Business Association in Angola, or the Vietnamese Business Association in Angola. The establishment of the association will help strengthen solidarity among businesses, provide more organized and systematic support for businesses, especially in proposing and recommending policies to the central and local governments of Angola and bringing businesses to operate in a unified framework and under common rules.
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