"During the pandemic, we all became students again."
Phillip Nguyen is the third son of Imex Pan Pacific (IPP) Group’s Chairman Johnathan Hanh Nguyen. Having spent his formative years both in Vietnam and abroad, Phillip has experienced different cultures and gained perspectives about life and work. Joining IPP Group in 2015, Phillip has worked in various projects and taken on a variety of roles.
As COVID-19 wreaked havoc on Vietnam and neighboring countries, Phillip was facing great challenges in his travel and retail businesses. In this period, he was working on several key projects to cope with changes such as developing contingency plans, digitalising various functions, creating sales and distribution models to better serve customers’ needs. As such, Phillip thought of himself and others to have “become students” again during this time.
Quite suddenly, both current and next generations found themselves work side by side to tackle difficulties and unlock new opportunities. For Phillip, equipped with useful knowledge through talking and learning from various experts and stakeholders, he was able to advise his father on some crucial decisions about business matters as well as family matters.
‘It was a challenging time for all of us. However, on the bright side, I have a chance to work closely with my father and other family members. And I find myself getting closer to my family than ever before. One thing that made the most impact on me was that my father has shown us family comes first and above everything. Indeed, he is always a father before a businessman’ Phillip says.
Coming out of the pandemic, he has been able to create and lead two new portfolios for the IPP Group such as the e-commerce and air cargo divisions.
