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Disabled entrepreneur helps others
A successful businessman refuses to forget where he came from
For many disabled people, finding a job suitable to their situations is a dream come true. But for Pham Trong Hoan, it isn’t enough.
As a successful entrepreneur with two jewellery shops and a safety clothing manufacturing company, Hoan, 33, not only feeds his family but creates jobs for 72 handicapped people and another 48 people without disabilities in Dong Hung Township, Thai Binh Province.
Some of the people working for him are blind, deaf, mentally deficient or have various physical handicaps, but with Hoan they can earn from VND1.5 million (US$86) each month to live independently and help support their families.
More than 180 impoverished people with disabilities have received free vocational training and jobs at one of his two jewellery shops, both of which opened in 1998.
While many enterprises are on the edge of bankruptcy, being forced to cut down on labourers, Hoan is proudly advertising for more than 300 employees to work in a newly-built production line at his safety clothing manufacturing company. And he gives people with disabilities top priority.
Despite being a successful entrepreneur with a monthly turnover of more than VND700 million ($40,000), the owner of the Hoan Thuy Song Long Joint Stock Company can still remember harder days, when he had to earn a living in whatever way possible regardless of people’s discriminations.
Hard days
Hoan never forgets the misery he felt when he heard a cruel neighbour’s voice that it was a waste of time and money for a handicapped to study and try to find a job.
"I couldn’t help but cry for my unlucky destiny. I was totally hurt, and I got stuck in a rut for a long time," recalls Hoan.
A number of different careers, including tailoring and mechanics, neither eased his terrible feelings nor brought him a better life. So Hoan decided to move to Ha Noi with the hope of changing his life for the better.
After only three months of study, Hoan mastered all the skills of the jewellery trade, and was offered work as the centre’s assistant teacher. The development of jewellery and a shortage of artisans from 1995 to 1997 helped Hoan earn VND550,000 ($32) a month, while other workers’ salaries hovered around VND150,000 ($9).
"It was such big money then, especially for a handicapped person who had left his hometown without a penny like me," Hoan says. "I made the right decision. My career inspired me, brightened my life and even brought me to my wife."
Three months later, Hoan and his wife, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, who was born deaf and mute, met and married.
Charity work
Two weeks after their wedding in early 1998, Hoan quit his job at the centre, returned to his home and opened the first jewellery repair shop in the township.
"Being a jewellery shop owner was my biggest dream at that time, but my wife helped me understand that there were still many disabled people that needed my help," says Hoan.
The news that a successful goldsmith was offering free vocational training courses in embroidery, tailoring and jewellery made some downcast people in Dong Hung District jump for joy. More and more people came to the couple’s house, and many stayed and worked as major artisans in their shops.
"Most of disabled people are poor and lack a proper education, but they are all willing to overcome such setbacks. We just give them a hand and help them start their lives again," says Hoan.
Disabled Tran Thi Ha, a former student of Hoan’s from four years ago who now works as an accountant at a private jewellery firm, says that Hoan’s kindness and large heart are responsible for her life today.
"I used to work for a construction company, but the boss refused to hire me after a four-month-probation period because of my health. Hoan and his wife helped me find faith in life again and taught me a career and helped me find a job," says Ha.
Another former student, Nguyen Huy Hung, is also a jewellery shop owner in Dong Hung Township. He says that nobody believed a one-eyed man like him could work in the jewellery trade.
"The couple helped me prove that people with disabilities can do well in any job providing that society gives them a chance," says Hung.
Owning a big enterprise and many certificates of merit from local authorities and associations, Hoan still pursues his bigger dream to open more classes in mechanics and souvenir gifts for handicapped people, all with the support of his wife.
"Handicapped people should have more choices for their futures," Hoan says.
"Life is fair to everyone. The most important thing is how a person overcomes his or her problems, as fate is created by us."
VietNamNet, Viet Nam News
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