Lesson 2: Buying land and building a house using... scrap!
Coming to Dien Hong and Dien Thap (Dien Chau), we were surprised not only by the bustling business activities here but also by the billion-dollar villas that have sprung up next to each other. Locals said that the owners of these villas are the "bosses" of scrap.
(Baonghean.vn)Coming to Dien Hong and Dien Thap (Dien Chau), we were surprised not only by the bustling business activities here but also by the billion-dollar villas that have sprung up next to each other. Locals said that the owners of these villas are the "bosses" of scrap.
Arriving at the house of Mr. Tran Van Sanh (born in 1974, in the South block, Dien Hong commune), before our eyes was a spacious 3-storey house, no different from houses in the city, except for the piles of scrap bags stacked high in front of the house that helped others know what the owner of this house did for a living.
To our surprised eyes, Mr. Sanh said, "It's all thanks to the trips back and forth trading scrap, uncle."
Mr. Sam (right) talks with reporters in a spacious house built from... trash.
Born into a large family, a difficult life from a young age helped him learn to be independent very early. In the 8th grade, he had to go to school and sell ice cream at the same time. After finishing high school, he rode his bicycle alone with two bamboo baskets tied to both sides, wandering all over the alleys and lanes from the mountainous districts of Que Phong, Tuong Duong, to Ha Tinh, Quang Binh to exchange pots and pans for scrap iron and broken sandals. He experienced all the hardships of the years of cycling to buy and exchange scrap, from braving the rain and sun, to eating and sleeping right on the roadside...
As the domestic scrap sources gradually dried up, the number of people doing this job also increased, so around the beginning of 2000, he and some people in the village took a risk and went to Laos to buy. After a period of small-scale trading, accumulating some capital, in 2005 he switched to being an agent, renting a factory to collect and bring scrap back to Dien Hong to classify or resell to others.
Each of his trips to Laos usually comes with a capital of over 100 million VND. In recent years, business has been going well, Mr. Sanh even discussed with his brother Tran Van Sam to quit the pork trading business to pool capital to go to Laos to buy scrap. On average, each year the income of the two brothers is about 300 million VND. After several years of participating in the scrap trading business, both brothers have not only built a spacious house with full amenities located next to National Highway 1A, but also bought some more land to collect scrap and have the conditions to take care of their children's education.
Not far from Mr. Sanh's house, located next to National Highway 1A, is the spacious 3-storey house of Mr. Tran Van Hanh's family (Nam block, Dien Hong). Although he does not directly go to Laos to trade scrap, his family's business activities are closely linked to scrap imported from Laos for more than 10 years. Currently, his family imports about 2 truckloads of scrap each week (mainly copper, aluminum, iron), each truck about 10 tons. After buying the scrap (preliminarily classified), he lets the workers continue to classify, selecting different types to sell to factories at the price of aluminum and iron at about 30,000 VND/kg, and copper at 100,000 VND/kg. After deducting costs, he also makes a profit of about 2,500 VND for each 1kg of scrap. This scrap sorting activity not only brings a stable income to his family, but also creates jobs for 10 workers at the sorting workshop, with an income of 100,000 VND/1 working day.
The profit from purchasing scrap from Laos to Vietnam is obvious. This is truly a miraculous way to get rich, not only for Mr. Sanh, Mr. Sam, Mr. Hanh but also for many people in Dien Hong, because only about 10 years ago they still had to struggle to make ends meet, not to mention being able to build tall houses and buy cars like today. And from those results, more and more people are following suit, creating a bustling trend of scrap trading.
It is this dynamism and fearlessness that has helped them rise up and become rich. Households engaged in the scrap business have changed the face of the entire Dien Hong commune. According to statistics, those involved in scrap purchasing activities have contributed more than 40% of the commune's annual income. Not only that, currently in Dien Hong, a unique waste processing industrial park has sprung up, attracting thousands of workers and the amount of waste purchased and sold per day is up to hundreds of tons.
Quang An
