Food for thought: Ly Anh Duy Quang

Each day starts the same way for Ly Anh Duy Quang – breakfast, market news and (sometimes) yoga. From there, he steps into his role as Chairman of GreenFeed’s Food Division, meeting with the company’s other executives, discussing how to adjust the company’s direction to an evolving market.

And it’s certainly evolving – consumers across Vietnam and South–East Asia are starting to pay more attention to healthy, safe and environmentally sustainable food. But, according to Quang, GreenFeed has always aimed itself at that target.

"The founders saw that 16 years ago when we founded the company and had to find a way to provide safe meat and very clean and safe food," Quang explains.

"Today we are very proud to be one of the first companies that offers safe food to the market. We produce animal feed and have our own swine breeds now, with the help of the biggest pig breeders in the world, PIC (Pig Improvement Company). We own farms, a slaughtering factory and a transportation company, and this year we are proud to offer safe meat to the consumer."

GreenFeed is one of Vietnam’s top five feed producers and among the biggest businesses and best working environments in the country. The company is comprised of three divisions – feed, intended for pigs, cows, fowl and aquaculture; farm, which offers solutions for animal husbandry, prioritising traits such as breeding rate, weight gain rate, low feed requirements, environmental resistance and livestock conditions; and food, covering meat, meat products and value-added products.

With eight feed mills across Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, and three boar stud farms in Vietnam, it’s little surprise that GreenFeed has reached success, its products being distributed by 3,000 dealers and farms.

It is surprising, however, that GreenFeed has reached such success in a relatively short time, hitting more than US$500 million in sales. But as Quang is quick to stress, "Innovation has been the core of the business in the past and will be in the many years to come."

Listening to and evolving to meet the market’s demands is crucial, he explains. "We’re launching new products to serve customer needs, especially with the African swine fever (ASF) affecting our industry. But, from the beginning, we’ve had technology provided by our partner in the US, which has been so effective that none of our farms have been struck by ASF. Looking back, we were lucky that we had that technology at the time.

"Because we are using the best technology for the farm," Quang continues, "we can give the market clean and safe meat, which makes us very different to our competitors. With this food, we can use innovation to provide the customer not only with innovative tastes, but also innovative food solutions to improve their business and life."

The company has invested heavily in technology that saves on resource usage, like a slatted floor pit system that eliminates 50% more water waste, power-efficient insulation, automatic feeding and mortality-reducing ventilation systems.

These innovations, along with GreenFeed’s dedication to protection from livestock epidemics, have provided a level of safety and efficiency that helps bring Vietnam’s pork products to international markets.

The support of GreenFeed’s partners has been essential through this process and is something that Quang takes very seriously. "We work with partners who share the same values as us – values like integrity, trust, respect and humility," he explains.

"This is the working principle that’s defined our relationship with many suppliers over the past 16 years. When we choose a partner that has the same values, the same core principles as us, we will grow together and do more for society together."

After all, Quang believes his role is great, because it offers something important to society, which is a critical element of keeping his team engaged and passionate. Making sure his team enjoys what they do is a major focus for him, and meaningful work certainly plays into that. "I have to make sure that everyone in the company has a happy, healthy life at work and at home," he explains.

"Everyone will do a good job for our company when they have a happy life. We have to love our work, enjoy what we are doing. When we enjoy what we are doing at home and at work, day or night, there’s no difference between work and play – it’s much more relaxing. We need to learn to enjoy what we do."

"We have bigger dreams that go beyond what we’ve already accomplished and we are going to get there."

As much as Quang is the leader of his team, he’s careful to work alongside them as part of the group. He believes that his ideas on their own aren’t sufficient and that it’s essential to incorporate the perspectives of all team members. Regular meetings are held around this principle to decide the future of GreenFeed, lending truth to the adage that "two heads (or more) are better than one".

As the team collaborates to bring success to the business, Quang believes it’s essential for them to evolve together, too, to practise the same values and pursue the same vision.

"GreenFeed isn’t about my own personal achievements," he asserts. "This is group work and we have a big group of team members. Today, we’ve only achieved the first stage in providing clean and healthy food and feed to the market. That is the ultimate aim, the big achievement of the company.

"We have bigger dreams that go beyond what we’ve already accomplished and we are going to get there. I think, at that point, the consumer will want us for what we provide in the future. But, for now, I believe if we just do a good job for the consumer, if we deliver on what we promise now, then they’ll come back to us later."

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