My dad was born in central Vietnam in 1973, just two years before the end of the Vietnam War. After the war, Vietnam regained its independence and was reunified. My dad's side of the family was very poor, which was the condition for most of society at that time. New government policies did not allow for commercial activity. He grew up in such harsh conditions that he often described them with a joke to tell me how difficult those times were: "If a single grain of rice dropped on the floor, the dogs would go to war for it." Because of this, he has never been one to simply accept his circumstances.
When he was a boy, from 1985 to 1989, he worked with my grandpa. Our family produced quicklime from coral—a practice that is now banned worldwide. The quicklime ate at and wore down his skin, leaving it raw and bleeding. Despite these hardships, he never let his sisters do any of the difficult labor. After school, he would work at my grandpa's quicklime kilns with bleeding hands, and then continue on to work in the rice fields. He taught me about the responsibility of being a man.
In 1990, he decided to drop out of school because he needed to work to provide for his family. My grandpa and he moved to Cam Ranh, at a time when it wasn't even considered a city yet. Our family became one of the first seven families to start a shrimp farm in Cam Ranh, which is now the shrimp capital of Vietnam. I would say he wasn't a great farmer; we weren't making enough to live a comfortable life. But this created an opportunity for him to meet my mom and to see a new possibility: becoming a shrimp trader.
One day in 1995, he saw a man in Cam Ranh spending money like a king. He asked around and learned that the man was a baby shrimp trader. He started his first trade with baby shrimp and made a small amount of money. He then heard that another man was making even better money trading live shrimp to Saigon, the biggest city in Vietnam. At a time when there was no internet, no maps, and most people never left their village, my dad took a few kilograms of shrimp and got on a bus to Saigon—a commute that took around 10 hours back then. He went to a place he knew nothing about, with no idea where to go or where to sell his product. He asked people for directions until he found the wholesale seafood market. He sold his shrimp and made enough money to cover his expenses for the trip.
His business grew from a 10 kg bucket to a small truck, then to a large truck, until one day he was trading 100 tons of shrimp. He taught me courage. He taught me to take risks and to trust in people and in myself, because he often sent large shipments of shrimp without any prepayment. His philosophy was: if someone else can do it, he can do it too.
Fast forward to my childhood, I was born into a very comfortable family under my dad's protection. My dad isn't a teacher by trade; he was always traveling for work, so I never knew these stories about his past. That changed when we had to move to the USA. My uncle (my mom's brother) had sponsored our family for a green card. We arrived just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We were on a tight budget, trapped in a house in Elk Grove, California, with another family—a total of eight people. My dad couldn't go back to Vietnam to work and provide for us. For the first time, I saw him cry because he felt he couldn't take care of his family or protect the people around him during the pandemic.
I started to feel that something wasn't right. I was 15 years old and had my first job as a busboy in a sushi restaurant. I felt an impulsive need to do something to make sure this situation never happened in my life again. My brother and I started looking for ways to make money. We got lucky and "bet" on the crypto market. I say "bet" instead of "invest" because we knew nothing about it. My dad gave me $5,000 as a gift to make that bet.
The big win gave me the safety net to drop out of school and start my first business, an HR firm. At its peak, I was featured in the news on VNExpress and spoke at a press conference. We had 14 employees. But I'll admit, I didn't know anything about business at the time. That business failed because I realized my partner was trying to scam people, and I was too tired of going nowhere with him. I cut ties with that business and immediately started a new one. I watched a video about international trade and saw the light. I took two employees with me and started my second business: a fruit export company.
My funds were wearing thin, but I got lucky. When I was exhausted, a man named David a business man from Canada who I know nothing about, helped me a lot. He took a bet on me after on dinner, a nobody. It took me seven months to export my first container of fruit to China. Then, David took control of the trade flow, and we landed a big deal where we were sending one container a day. We didn't have a formal agreement, and it was a risky deal with very little chance of going well. After sending roughly $2 million worth of jackfruit, the Chinese partner claimed we had a loss of $100,000, which I knew at the time was nonsense. I found myself in a situation where I had no choice but to leave.
Earthange was born right after that. With my experience in sourcing and import/export, it took my team and me under two months for Earthange to close a deal with a major client in Vietnam's charcoal industry. We are growing and now have partnerships with many large charcoal traders, including the biggest supplier in Taiwan, all with the help of my father and brother on this journey.
That is where I got my business roots from. That is why Earthange was born. I saw an opportunity to create the process where buyer could get what they want. We solve problems of quality control, price risk, and safety risk, payment risk by have the best offer as a charcoal supplier in the world:
Lowest Price: If you find a supplier who can provide you with a lower price, we will sell for less or, at the very least, match their price.
Safety Guarantee: We deliver the product. If it is damaged in a fire or if there is a problem with the ship, you have zero liability. We will cover the cost.
Quality Guarantee: After discussing quality standards, we will provide a written summary to ensure we are clear on everything. We are willing to fly to you to learn about your product needs and invite you to our facility on packaging days to oversee quality control and ensure you get exactly what you want.
Flexible Payment Terms:
For large-volume customers: We are willing to let you inspect the product before you pay for your first container.
For medium-volume customers: We only require a down payment of $1,000 per container before production. The remaining balance is due after the Bill of Lading is issued.
For first-time importers: We require a 30% deposit of the container's value. The remaining balance is due after the Bill of Lading is issued.