Story of exporting traditional handmade cement tiles from BongTiles
Although having a well paid job in Vung Tau but Tran Anh Duc (born in Quang Ngai) has chosen to start up as a handmade cement tiles manufacturer. BongTiles was born to make traditional handmade cement tiles and upgrade it become a high class decoration materials
At that moment, traditional tile like cement tile has been almost disappeared and it was replaced by clay tile and glazed tile. However, Duc still invested in this production model bravely. Although this was considered as a really reckless decision, it showed his entrepreneurial spirit to set up his own business.
Since he was too young and inexperienced as well as he worked and studied contemporaneously, he faced a wide range of difficulties. Additionally, domestic cement tile has not been popular at that time. Therefore, during the first four months in his startup time, final cement tiles were all rejected when he brought them to suppliers. This costed him not only so much time but also money and effort.
With the spirit of enterprising, going-ahead and not afraid of any hardship, Duc quickly overcomed all obstacles to pursue his dream. As a result, all his efforts were compensated deservedly by positive signs. The first orders have come that provided him more motivation as well as made him more excited. His factory gradually stabilized, his market expanded to other provinces and cities throughout Vietnam.
For himself, Duc has not considered this as a stopping point for success. Currently, he and his workers at the factory have spent their times to enhance the quality as well as improve the design of traditional cement tiles to meet customer’s diversified demands.
From changing materials to using the tile-press machine to replace human strength, his handmade cement tiles owned more durability. As a result, the output of BongTiles factory has increased 5 times compared to the past. This created 30 regular jobs for local people. The company product includes handmade encaustic cement tiles, terrazzo cement tiles, brass inlay cement tiles and glazed tiles have been exported all over the world.
Credit : P.TIÊN - P.VIÊN (Quang Ngai Magazine)