Thursday, Dec. 9 | 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Thursday Lunch Sponsored by Farm Credit
Speaker: Dan On, Global CEO, Dan-D Group
As the Vietnam War was coming to an end in 1975, 15-year-old Dan On quit school to sell sandals on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. His father, an ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam, worked three jobs to feed a family of seven who lived in one bedroom of a small two-story house — 45 people jammed into one house with two toilets. At age 18, On left Vietnam on a 16-foot wooden boat with a ticket bought by his parents. Four days later, the boat and its passengers were attacked by Thai pirates before being rescued by a passing German freighter. On was deposited in a Malaysian refugee camp before being brought to Canada by the Hope Lutheran Church. In 1989, On started Dan D Foods and is now the Global CEO of Dan-D Group – an importer, manufacturer, and distributor of cashews and other tree nuts, nut butters, dried fruits, snack foods and spices from around the world with approximately 1000 employees in Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, with headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia.