A yacht builder shares his tale of overcoming adversity
Since its establishment in 1983, Nova Marine has become one of Taiwan’s top yacht manufacturers. The company has gained a reputation for excellence among yachters in markets as diverse as the United States, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. But success hasn’t come easily, and Nova Marine's story remains a deeply personal tale of overcoming adversity - especially for the company's founder, Eddy Tao.
A personal story
Eddy's childhood started well, but took a tragic turn when his father left the family. Eddy was just 13 years old. His mother, a migrant from Hong Kong, had no local relations she could turn to for help. As the family slid toward destitution, it became clear that Eddy needed to help. He left school and went to work to support his family. Eventually, Eddy returned to school and was trained as an officer in the merchant marine. At that time, the life of a sailor was not glamorous, but the pay was decent and more importantly, it provided Eddy with an opportunity to travel and experience life at sea.
Eddy married at age 28 and discovered that family life was difficult to reconcile with a career at sea. For the sake of his family, Eddy left the merchant marine but decided that if he couldn't be a sailor, he would do the next best thing: He would build boats.
At age 32, Eddy found a shipyard that hd recently closed down, but still had a workforce and a large inventory- including five partially completed boats. Most prospective buyers had viewed the workers and inventory as a liability, opting instead to set up their own, new shipyards. But Eddy saw these things as opportunities that would allow him to sell boats quickly. Nova Marine was born.
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