"I have a strong belief in settling problems immediately and moving on," the 41 year old Hanoi businessman says when he finally hangs up both lines. He explains that an Indonesian importer was on one line, while the local manager of one of his ventures was on the cell. He needed "confidence building."

An knows a thing or two about confidence. In the last ten years he has taken on almost every distribution venture he could get his hands on, and built several successful trading companies on the back of Vietnam's increased openness to the global economy. His approach is a mix of a strong ego and open-minded opportunism. In 1988 An was working as a government translator when he was hired away by one of Vietnam's first foreign joint ventures, a Thai-backed ruby mining operation. After a few yeas which included an eye-opening trip to Jakarta, he broke off to go into business for himself.

With start-up capital raised from friends working in the former Soviet bloc countries he opened companies to import motorbikes, televisions and auto parts. Other companies handled the distribution for pharmaceuticals, auto paint and for a time he held an exclusive distribution agreement with Procter and Gamble (before the consumer products giant began manufacturing products in Vietnam). Most recently he has taken aim at providing services to the multinational automakers now based in Vietnam, including Ford and Toyota.

Today the distribution companies, as well as several other businesses, are subsidiaries of Vitan joint-stock company, which An formed in 1993 and presides over as chairman. He declined to reveal Vitan's total earnings, but said that it is one of roughly 15 private groups in Hanoi that compete for the same deals. All together Vitan employs 250 people, he said.

An is also about to open a wholly-owned diamond polishing plant on the outskirts of Hanoi, which will employ an additional 250 people and could ultimately employ as many as 800. An said he buys the diamonds, mined in Russia, from a Belgian company and has the option to sell them back to the company once polished. Already he is marketing them in Ho Chi Minh City.

Perhaps the most visible example of An's ability to carve a niche is Madison Hotel, which is managed by Australians and draws both foreign business people and tourists, along with a high-end restaurant that is also popular with local expats. "The land was cheap, so I bought it," he said. "I figured I'd build a hotel, and if that didn't work I'd rent it as office space."

Yet despite this track record, the ambitious entrepreneur generally keeps a low-profile. And, in a comment that is characteristic of an entrepreneur here these days, An says it would be better to be a millionaire than a billionaire.