Dare to Dream – from Vietnam to Derby

This year’s Dare to Dream was delivered by Steven Thai, managing director of Ocean King – who told the story of how he and his family fled Vietnam to escape persecution.

Steven, who was just 18 months old at the time, and his parents, were Vietnamese boat people – refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The migration and humanitarian crisis reached its height in the late 1970s, which is when Steven and his family fled.

They came to the UK, and were settled in Runcorn, Cheshire. He worked with his father selling seafood to restaurants and takeaways.

Steven and his dad would go on to build the business into Ocean King, an Asian restaurant wholesaler, specialising in premium prawns, which last year opened a £5 million base in Derby.

In his address, Steven shared the very personal story behind how his family came to be in the UK.

He said: “All my life, when it came to my parents, all I’ve ever known is relentless hard work, which made me resentful.

“They never made it my parents’ evenings and my basketball games – and even to this day, I’ve never had a family holiday with my mum and dad.

“When I wasn’t at school I was in my dad’s van, riding around the Midlands selling prawns to restaurants and takeaways.

“We never went hungry but what I never had was time with my parents – and I never understood why.”

Steven explained that it was on a business trip to Vietnam, accompanied by his parents, that he began to ‘piece things together’.

On that trip, he witnessed the poverty that he could have grown up in, if his parents had not taken the brave decision to leave.

And it also made him understand their relentless work ethic.

He said: “Following the Vietnam War, oppression was rife. Politicians, entrepreneurs, religious leaders disappeared overnight. They were taken down to the firing range.

“One time, my father was riding a scooter up to a check point, with my mum and myself on board. They were checking paperwork – but he didn’t have any papers on him. So, he accelerated through – and they fired shots at him.

“It was enough to scare my parents into selling everything they had for three tickets on a fishing boat. 600 people crammed into a tight space, no toilets, food rationing.

“Two days into the journey, the boat started taking on water. The engines crashed out. We were just floating. They said I was 48 hours from death.”

Steven and his parents were taken to a refugee camp in Hong Kong, before being relocated to the UK.

Steven said: “We lived on a pretty rough council estate in Runcorn. I slept on a mattress on the floor with my nan and two younger brothers.

“But discovering my true heritage has made me appreciate my parents’ sacrifice. It also helped me understand why they protected us from the truth for so long – a mix of post-traumatic stress and shame at being a refugee.

“We then moved to the Midlands – and dad and I started Ocean King in 1997, working from a double garage and a truck. We started selling supplies to restaurants and takeaways.

“As each brother left university they joined the company – and we are now a successful, family-owned business with a growing team.

“My parents’ story has fuelled the way I want to run the business going forward. It provides the motivation behind our mission statement – ‘creating opportunities, enriching lives’.

“As I’ve learned, there were no more opportunities in Vietnam – and certainly no enrichment of lives.

“This country has given us so much opportunity to enrich our lives. It’s now a question of what we can do to enrich the lives of our community.

“How can we make you better by walking through the doors of Ocean King?

“We’ve come a long way since a truck and a garage 27 years ago. We moved into Derby, in a custom-designed, state-of-the-art premises eight months ago.

“Team Derby have been extremely welcoming. My dare to dream? I have a three-year plan to infuse with the communities of Derby by creating a business wellbeing hub, with professional services, language school, break-out zones, chill-out areas.

“One day, I hope to create the OK Foundation that embraces creating opportunities to enrich more lives.”