Tuyen became a rich businessman in the first years after Vietnam began its doi moi (renovation) in 1986. He is called ‘Tuan Chau Island’s King’ because he was the investor who dared to develop a super project on Tuan Chau Island which was considered a nearly impossible mission at that time.

Tuyen is famous because he is a self-made billionaire who started with an empty hand. After taking different jobs, he gradually saved money and became a distributor of drinks, sweets and then fertilizers. 

However, when American soft drink manufacturers entered the Vietnamese market, he left for other business fields.

His best known project is Tuan Chau – Ha Long Island development in Quang Ninh province.

In 1997, he invested in Tuan Chau, the island which had no clean water, no school, few people, and was isolated from the mainland.

However, Tuan Chau attracted Tuyen because it was located on a very advantageous position – in the middle of Ha Long Bay, the world natural heritage site.

And Tuyen decided to develop the project as a part of his philosophy “doing the things that no one else does, or no one else can do".

Au Lac Quang Ninh Co Ltd, the predecessor Tuan Chau Group, headquartered in Tuan Chau Island in Ha Long City, was established in 1997.

The businessman then spent big money to build a road across the sea, 2 kilometers long and 15 meters wide, that connects Highway 18 and Tuan Chau Island. After two years of construction, the road served the transportation of materials and equipment to the island to implement the next projects on the island.

Since then, Tuyen and Tuan Chau Group have invested in a series of projects, including habor, marina, real estate, hotel and resort and restaurant on Tuan Chau Island and other localities.

Of the items, Tuan Chau tourist wharf is the largest artificial cruise port in the world, located between Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay, connecting with modern shipping ports in the region such as Singapore and Japan and China. The tourist wharf alone had initial investment capital of VND10 trillion.

Many projects of his have arisen since 1998, including Tuan Chau Amusement Park, Water Music Performance Palace, Morning Star Hotel, Holiday Villa, Tuan Chau Port, Tuan Chau-Cat Ba ferry route, the "collection" of million-dollar yachts Paradise Cruises, Tuan Chau culinary area, Yum Yum Restaurant and Tuan Chau golf course.

In Hanoi, Tuan Chau group owns Tuan Chau Ecopark, capitalized at VND7 trillion in Sai Son commune of Quoc Oai district, with an artificial beach.

One more dollar billionaire?

With the huge money collected from his business in HCM City when he started, Tuyen, through Au Lac Company, bought land and filled the sea, and built the road linking the mainland and Tuan Chau Island. In exchange, his business had the right to exploit 100 hectares of land on the island.

The land area has been expanded to 1,000 hectares and it is believed to have high value. Real estate projects with villas with views to the sea have arisen. It is estimated that each villa is valued at hundreds of billions of dong.

Other projects on the island continue to be "money printers" for the businessman.

From an isolated and pristine island, which was the home of fishermen, Tuan Chau has become a destination for travelers, famous for a golf course, marina and sea port. It is easy to travel from Tuan Chau to Cat Ba Island, and yachts can travel to Hong Kong and Macau (China).

In 2011, local newspapers reported that Tuyen had total assets worth $2 billion. Two years later, when Pham Nhat Vuong was recognized as the first Vietnamese dollar billionaire by Forbes, but Tuyen said the $2 billion was not accurate.

According to analysts, Tuyen’s assets on Tuan Chau Island might have become huge one decade ago. Some projects were capitalized at VND7-10 trillion, and were not the largest projects of the businessman.

The value of the land and the projects must have increased sharply thanks to the land price escalation and the profitability of projects amid the strong development of Quang Ninh province.

Manh Ha