Trần Lệ Nguyên
Vice Chairman & CEO of KIDO Group — from confectionery empire to ice cream, cooking oil, and F&B chains
Notable Quotes
“Life must always have ambition. You must have ambition to achieve your dreams.”
“Without M&A, organic growth is limited to about 10% per year. But just one right M&A deal can create tremendous value.”
“Buying a company without creating value is like buying a chicken that doesn't lay eggs.”
Advice
Sell at the peak, buy at the right time
Sell your top-performing business to fund acquisition of higher-potential sectors. Kinh Do sold confectionery and used the capital to dominate cooking oil.
F&B chains need strong unit economics
Chuk Chuk failed because rapid expansion outpaced proof of per-store profitability. Big ambition doesn't replace solid numbers.
Bold bets require solid research
Mortgaging your home is the riskiest decision — but do it only after thorough market research, like seeing Thai candy dominating Vietnam.
Key Highlights
- ✓Co-founded Kinh Do (1993) → sold to Mondelez for ~$370-490M (2014)
- ✓Merino + Celano: 47% of Vietnam's ice cream market
- ✓KIDO cooking oil: #2 market position with ~30% share
- ✓Chuk Chuk: failure lesson — from 1,000-store target to divestment
Biography
Trần Lệ Nguyên (b. 1968) comes from a Chinese-Vietnamese family. In 1992, he convinced his brother Trần Kim Thành to mortgage their homes for capital — "one of the riskiest decisions of my life." In 1993, they co-founded Kinh Do with 1.5B VND and 70 employees. In 2003, acquired Wall's ice cream factories from Unilever → Merino and Celano brands (47% market share). In 2014, sold 80% of confectionery to Mondelez for ~$370-490M — the largest Vietnamese consumer goods M&A deal at the time. Used proceeds to acquire Tuong An and Vocarimex → #2 cooking oil company (30% market share). In 2021, launched Chuk Chuk (ice cream, bubble tea, coffee) — targeting 1,000 stores but divested by end of 2022. A valuable lesson in F&B chain unit economics.
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