One Steel, One Word of Trust
Not only building homes with the philosophy of “working genuinely – earning genuinely,” putting trust and integrity above all else, GP.Invest Chairman Nguyen Quoc Hiep also takes on a job few are willing to do: speaking up on behalf of businesses “stained with construction dust,” helping to untangle a web of overlapping and chaotic procedures.
At an age when many have chosen to rest, Nguyen Quoc Hiep still regularly attends numerous policy meetings to bring real-world concerns to the discussion table. The Chairman of GP.Invest—a mid-sized housing enterprise—is regarded as a “voice” speaking on behalf of thousands of contractors and small- to medium-sized businesses in the construction industry.
A Frank Voice in the Forum
Nguyen Quoc Hiep is known not only for the high-quality real estate projects developed by GP.Invest, but also for his direct, candid remarks, often striking squarely at pressing issues, made at high-level forums where most entrepreneurs choose to… remain silent.
At a symposium on implementing Resolution 68 on the development of the private economy, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the end of May, amid a sea of optimistic speeches, Hiep unexpectedly “cried out” over the burden of overlapping inspections weighing down on businesses. There was a time when his company had to receive three or four inspection teams at once. “If there is no coordinating body, the regulation of ‘only one inspection per year’ will just be empty words carried away by the wind,” he stressed before the Prime Minister.
Behind his small, quiet demeanor lies a fiery spirit. Few know that Hiep was once a Truong Son soldier, trekking through jungles and crossing streams during the most brutal years. That training forged in him an uncompromising will—the “steel quality” that defines him today: a “veteran” of the marketplace and a voice of weight to both entrepreneurs and policymakers.
That military core shows in how he confronts market paradoxes: no evasion, no compromise, and certainly no sugarcoating of reality. As an industry insider, he understands that to create a quality construction, more is needed than just investment capital or an attractive design—what’s required is a healthy, transparent, and efficient legal environment.
As Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors, Hiep has repeatedly spoken out about the deep-rooted bottlenecks in the industry’s operating mechanisms. He has not hesitated to sound the alarm: 100% of domestic contractors are facing unpaid debts, and without a thorough solution, in just 5–7 years, there may be no construction firms left able to hold on.
He once bitterly exclaimed: “Even to repair a restroom, you need to get permission. How can businesses possibly grow like this?” A statement that may sound simple, yet fully encapsulates the systemic legal inadequacies shackling enterprises: from unreasonable land valuation to the overlapping web of dozens of laws governing real estate activities. Each procedure, each stage, drags on endlessly, eroding both time and profits.
Building a Space for Businesses to Grow
Hiep does more than just reflect reality—he actively contributes to drafting laws: from the Law on Bidding, the Land Law, to the Law on Real Estate Business. He speaks with the voice of someone who has “waded through the mud at construction sites,” not someone who sits behind a desk. That voice carries weight because it comes from real experience, from concern for the long-term development of the entire industry, not just his own company.
He doesn’t speak in flowery language or paint dazzling visions. But every time he speaks, both business representatives and policymakers listen attentively. While businesses respect him, lawmakers are compelled to reconsider their positions.
While many entrepreneurs choose to live quietly, avoiding conflict to keep themselves and their companies safe—steering clear of public attention and even the “special attention” of regulatory bodies—Hiep chooses to go against the current. He does not shy away, and certainly does not stay silent. On the contrary, he speaks directly, often and truthfully, addressing the sharpest, most difficult flaws in the policy system, those very shortcomings that have repeatedly brought the construction and real estate sectors to their knees.
When asked if he fears that his frank remarks might put him in a difficult position, he calmly replies: “I am not afraid of anyone making things hard for me, because I don’t speak for myself alone. I speak for the entire community. Only when we all speak up can the business environment improve.”
In a market accustomed to the “safety” of silence, voices like Hiep’s—grounded in practical experience and driven by a sense of responsibility to the community—are rare and valuable. He doesn’t just point out problems; he always pairs them with concrete proposals and clear solutions, aiming to ease difficulties not just for GP.Invest but for the entire business community.
Naturally, not everyone can speak up openly in the assembly hall or before the Government. To be qualified to do so, a company must first work with integrity and earn honestly.
“As an older entrepreneur, I have always been clear about my role: to continue contributing to society,” he shared. “In the real estate sector, if you break the law, the price you pay is very high. When you call on others to do the right thing, you must be the one to set the example first.”
For him, transparency is not just a moral principle, it is a matter of survival. That is why GP.Invest has always operated with discipline, strictly complying with the law as a way to protect itself, safeguard its reputation, and keep its promises to the community.
In 2007, while serving as General Director of Constrexim—one of the largest construction companies in the country—Hiep made a surprising turn, leaving behind power to start a business from almost nothing. With no vast assets and no flashy PR campaigns, GP.Invest at the time had only 65 billion VND in capital, 9 shareholders, 6 employees, and a borrowed office.
The only thing he truly had was the most valuable of all: trust from people who had worked with him before, from former bosses and colleagues to new partners. And he always reminded himself: “I cannot allow myself to disappoint them.”
From GP Building 170 La Thanh, Nam Do Complex, Trang An Complex, to Minori Village, The Nine, Lexington Thuy Khue, and the Palm Manor urban area in Phu Tho—over the past 18 years, GP.Invest has gradually built its position on a foundation of integrity and consistency in its business philosophy.
Amid soaring real estate prices, when many companies seek every possible way to maximize profit, Hiep remains steadfast in one principle: sharing benefits with homebuyers.
“The sales department calculated that we could sell for 10, but I only sell for 9.5,” he shared. For him, profit does not come from squeezing every last cent, but from long-term bonds and the enduring trust of customers.
This mindset clearly reflects a spirit of serving the community: building homes not just to sell, but to make it easier for people to achieve their dream of a stable home.
Without embellishment or pretense, Hiep has built his career on genuine values: credibility, efficiency, and transparency. During his time at major corporations such as Constrexim and Vinaconex, he was known as a straightforward man who did what he said. That very quality earned him the respect of subordinates, the trust of shareholders, and the willingness of partners to stand by his side.
The Man Who Builds Towers with… Trust
In the real estate world, there is no shortage of people who erect gleaming high-rises with all kinds of business philosophies, but Hiep has steadfastly laid each brick with trust and decency.
For him, a project is not simply a structure to sell, but a true home for real people. “If I were the homeowner, what would I want?”—that question always echoes in his mind before every decision on design, construction, or material selection for any project.
It is no coincidence that GP.Invest’s slogan is: “Your beautiful home is our success.” For him, success is not measured by profit, but by the satisfied smiles of homebuyers.
A typical example is The Nine project along Pham Van Dong Boulevard, where he personally oversaw the resolution of traffic noise issues for residents. “For the elderly, even a little noise at night makes it hard to sleep,” he shared with empathy. As a result, The Nine uses double-glazed windows with inert gas—materials typically reserved for five-star hotels—to block noise. An air filtration system was also installed to ensure a clean and healthy living environment for every resident.
In an era where leaders often give orders from air-conditioned offices, Hiep still personally goes to construction sites, wades into basements, climbs scaffolding, and inspects every concrete wall, steel joint, and potential water leak. For him, supervision work cannot be delegated, because “responsibility must be lived with.”
His meticulousness extends to personally soaking wooden floorboards to test their resistance to warping, or handpicking each type of light switch—things that might seem like “small matters,” but in fact are the very details that create the high quality of every project bearing the GP.Invest name.
“The team’s reports are one thing, but I have to go there myself, see each wall and each batch of concrete with my own eyes before I can rest assured,” he said.
At Trang An Complex, he once made the contractor demolish and redo the model home multiple times because it did not meet standards. Someone once asked him, “Aren’t you being too perfectionist?” He simply replied, “Homebuyers won’t remember who the contractor was, they’ll only know it’s a GP.Invest product. The company’s reputation and honor, and my own, are tied to the quality of the building.”
Among contractors, he’s jokingly regarded as the “grueling” one, but they respect and enjoy working with him because he is transparent, fair, straightforward, and always keeps his word. As an investor, Hiep is especially strict about paying contractors on time, perhaps because he deeply understands the challenges contractors face, having once been in the thick of the construction industry himself. Many contractors still say that these days, they only dare take on projects for foreign investors, and if it’s a domestic one, they’ll only feel secure if it’s someone with the reputation of “Mr. Hiep of GP.Invest.”
Before founding GP.Invest, he had spent over 40 years immersed in the construction industry, holding high positions at Vinaconex and Constrexim. For him, this profession is in his blood—it is responsibility, it is honor. He understands every corner of the construction process, and therefore, he also demands the highest standards, strict but reasonable.
For him, money is something that can be earned again, but once trust is lost, nothing can compensate for it.
“Quality goes hand in hand with honor. Each project is a legacy product. We must give our all to be worthy of the two words ‘Trust’ from our customers,” he said.
At over seventy years old, when many have retreated to the leisure of old age, Hiep remains tireless. After The Nine and Palm Manor, he and his colleagues are now racing to complete an urban area in Lang Sơn, spanning nearly 40 hectares, which is expected to become a high-quality residential community that continues GP.Invest’s signature style.
“The people in Lang Sơn, Phu Tho, or Hanoi, they all deserve to live in modern, comfortable urban areas. We can’t let ‘beautiful homes’ be a privilege only for big cities,” he shared.
For him, the work of building is far from over. Age is not a hindrance, it is a driving force to keep serving. Each new day is an opportunity to contribute, to leave behind value not only through the buildings he creates, but through a way of life, a professional ethos, and an unwavering spirit of dedication.
In him lives the image of a master craftsman—at once the designer, the supervisor, the one laying each brick, and the one inspiring others with integrity, transparency, and steadfastness in a turbulent world.
He is not merely building houses. He is building trust.
Like the soldier he once was, trekking with a backpack across Truong Son, today Hiep still braves hardships, pushing through the “dense forests” of bureaucracy and the “deep streams” of regulations, clearing a path for the ethical, sustainable growth of Vietnam’s construction and real estate sector.
