Some opportunities give you only a few days to seize them — and IDS did not let this one pass.
An Unexpected Offer
In early 2013, IDS was operating steadily as a distributor of fast-moving consumer goods — Nestlé, X-Men — in line with its original direction. Then an offer arrived: become a Castrol lubricants distributor for a territory in Ho Chi Minh City.
The condition attached: full deployment within one week.
No time for extended research. No existing team. No experience whatsoever in this category.
“Impossible is nothing”
I returned to the office and gathered the entire staff. This was a category that was neither purely FMCG nor purely industrial — motorcycle oil has its own operating model, storage requirements, and business cycle, entirely different from anything we had done before.
But the spirit of IDS is: impossible is nothing.
We started with four districts in Ho Chi Minh City — a scope large enough to learn fast without collapsing under the load. Those first days were learning by doing: understanding lubricant product characteristics, storage methods, warehouse layout for heavy goods, and inventory turnover. We recruited salespeople, trained a minimal technical team, and established delivery processes tailored to this heavy, bulky category.
We didn’t know much — but we learned very fast.
Three Months — From Four Districts to Six
After just three months, the results were convincing enough for Castrol to expand our territory: IDS was awarded two more districts, officially becoming the MCO (Motorcycle Oil) distributor across six districts of Ho Chi Minh City.
From that starting point, the lubricants business expanded step by step:
- Motorcycle oil (MCO) → commercial vehicle oil (CVO)
- CVO → passenger car oil (PCO)
Each step brought new lessons, new processes, and a new customer base. But the foundation was laid in that very first week — when the whole team chose to accept the offer rather than wait for better conditions.
Looking back, the decision to enter the Castrol lubricants business was one of the most defining moments in IDS’s history. Not because we knew exactly what we were doing — but because we were willing to learn faster and move faster, even without knowing what the future held.
