Even when holding a hundred billion cinema chain, Shark Minh Beta still asked: Why does no one know you?
After graduating in Australia with a first-class degree, entrepreneur Bui Quang Minh (often referred to as Shark Minh Beta since joining the Shark Tank Vietnam program) returned to Singapore to work for a high salary. Thanks to that, after 2 years of accumulation, he saved nearly $50,000.
He returned to Vietnam and started his first business with the Doco Donuts chain at the age of 26 with an initial capital of 300 million VND.
Sharing in the Startup Cafe program in 2017, at that time, entrepreneur Bui Quang Minh was 34 years old and owned the Beta Cinemas cinema chain with an investment of 6 billion per screening room, and each cinema cluster had 4-6 screening rooms.
Director Le Hoang asked a sharp question to entrepreneur Bui Quang Minh: Since you have a 300 million shop (Donuts-PV shop), to now, you have several cinema chains, each cluster is 30 billion, how long does it take?
Shark Minh said that he started his business in 2009.
The famous director asked a challenging question: “After 8 years, you go from 300 million to over 10 billion. If so, I’m surprised why no one knows you? Because such a role model is amazing!”
Entrepreneur Minh Beta at the age of 34, owning a hundred billion cinema chain almost “froze” when asked: If so, why does no one know you?
Shark Minh explained that the actual $300 million is the value of the donut shop investment, and the amount he accumulated after working in Singapore and later when he sold the donut shop was more than that. Entrepreneur Minh Beta said that he started his cinema chain from VND 5 billion, which is the capital accumulated from the work in Singapore with a high salary, and the Donut chain had succeeded before.
Initially, Beta’s cinema model in Thai Nguyen had only 3 screening rooms. The total investment cost was over 10 billion VND, of which besides the self-owned capital of 5 billion, Shark Minh managed to make deals such as installment payments, deferred payments with contractors, and suppliers of projectors.
Entrepreneur Minh Beta at the age of 34
In reality, the business operation of an enterprise comes from many sources, especially the funding from external investment sources. And one of the biggest successes of this entrepreneur born in 1983 is the ability to call for capital.
As Shark Minh shared on the program, luckily 6 months after the opening of the first cinema, they had an investment fund because they saw an effective business model. The owner of Beta Cinemas said that the cinema opened on the first day was December 15, 2014, and in the first month of 2015, they made a profit.
Beta Cinemas has a unique and fresh approach in the market when at that time the majority only focused on the high-end customer segment with ticket prices quite high compared to the income of the majority of people.
Beta Cinemas is oriented with a youthful and dynamic style, with good quality but reasonable ticket prices, targeting the untapped market of student customers and middle-income people, especially in small districts and suburbs – where people have not had many opportunities to access modern entertainment forms like in big cities.
Thanks to that, in 2015, Beta Media – the operator of Beta Cinemas received investment capital from VIG (Vietnam Investment Group).
In 2017, Beta Media continued to receive investment capital from the Blue HK (Hong Kong) financial corporation with a valuation of 600 billion VND. It means that around the time when asked “Why does no one know you”, Shark Minh was running a company valued at 600 billion VND.
In 2020, with a capital contribution of $8 million from the Daiwa PI Partners investment fund (Japan), Beta Media reached a corporate valuation of 1,000 billion VND.
Becoming familiar as Shark Minh Beta in the media
Although making an impression on the market with huge capital mobilization, however, the name Shark Minh Beta is really known widely since participating in the Shark Tank Vietnam program season 6 in 2023 as an investor.
Shark Minh Beta
Shark Minh Beta made an impression on viewers and startups with intelligence, knowledge, practical business experience, no nonsense. Communication of this entrepreneur born in 1983 is also rated as youthful, friendly, and cheerful.
Sharing the reason for participating in Shark Tank Vietnam, Shark Minh Beta revealed that he accepted the invitation to participate in season 6 because this is a big opportunity for himself and Beta Group, along with the values that can be brought to startups.
“It can be said that the economy at the present time is difficult in all aspects, but it is very suitable for Beta Group because we have very good signs in our business story. This is also the time I feel I am mature enough to contribute a lot of value to the startups that I join in,” Shark Minh Beta shared.
