Vietnam has become one of the top destinations in the Asia Pacific region for Russians, according to global travel analysis firm ForwardKeys.
The ForwardKeys survey found that Vietnam saw the highest increase in Russian market seat capacity at 153%, followed by Thailand and the Maldives, which saw a growth of 125% and 58%, respectively. The Republic of Korea and India also saw seat capacity rising by more than 30%.
Vietnam has emerged as a favourite destination for Russian holiday-goers in recent years and is expected to surpass its neighbour Thailand, a favoured Russian haunt for a long time.
Market observers say the launch of direct air connections from multiple secondary and tertiary cities in Russia to Vietnam’s popular beach towns have propped up the Russian tourism boom.
The central province of Khanh Hoa, home to the famous beach town of Nha Trang city, has been much loved by Russian tourists, accounting for one fifth of total foreign arrivals.
Last year, Russian tourist arrivals to Khanh Hoa reached nearly 400,000, up 1.5% year-on-year, making it the second biggest feeder market for local tourism after China.
Vietnam received a record high of 606,000 Russians last year, accounting for 4% of total foreign tourist arrivals.
Just 32% of Vietnamese consumers believe that, their personal data will be treated in a trustworthy manner by organizations offering digital services. While in the US, 20 percent of Americans suffer from security fatigue and don’t trust anyone to protect their personal data. As a result, some people feel they need to take matters into their own hands or at least work with organizations that give them a greater sense of control.
According to a study named “Understanding Consumer Trust in Digital Services in Asia Pacific” by Microsoft and IDC Asia Pacific, which aims to understand consumers’ expectations of trust, uncover their experiences with digital services, and provide tangible insights to organizations to help bridge the gap by learning about and sustaining the trust of consumers in the digital world.
The study said that, almost all transactions and interactions in Vietnam, from organizations and government agencies, to banks and retailers, are becoming digital. Vietnam News Agency reports.
At the same time, consumers are becoming more aware of cybersecurity risks and risks to privacy of their personal data, not just from cybercriminals but also from organizations holding on to their personal data.
“The upside for organizations with a trusted digital platform is tremendous as Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing digital services markets in Asia Pacific where almost all of the transactions and interactions here will be digital in the near future,” said the Country General Director of Microsoft Vietnam.
“However, despite consumers’ increasing reliance on digital services, there is still a considerable trust gap that needs to be addressed. Most consumers still do not perceive organizations to be trusted data stewards. I urge business leaders to do more to understand what drives consumer trust and focus on how they can build trust and make it a key competitive advantage for their digital services,” he added.
Only 32% of Vietnamese consumers trust personal data security Only 32% of Vietnamese consumers trust personal data security
According to Vietnam News, the study surveyed 453 consumers in Vietnam and asked respondents to provide their opinions on the five elements of trust jointly defined by IDC and Microsoft – privacy, security, reliability, ethics, and compliance – when using digital services.
The study revealed that consumers feel that all five elements of trust are almost equally important to them.
Specifically, security (90 per cent) and privacy (89 per cent) emerged as the top two most important elements. Consumers also have the highest expectations of trust from financial services institutions, followed by government and education organizations.
The study also found that establishing a trusted platform needs to be a priority in organizations’ strategy for digital services as only 4 per cent of consumers prefer to transact with an organization that offers a cheaper but less trusted digital platform.
Additionally, close to three out of four or 72 per cent of consumers said they would recommend a trusted digital service to others even if the cost was higher.
Despite this, the study uncovered that the majority of consumers, about 60 per cent in Vietnam, have had their trust compromised when using digital services. The top three trust elements that caused consumers to stop using digital services were security, reliability and privacy.
More importantly, the study established that consumers will take action if they have a negative trust experience. Nearly three out of five of the respondents would switch to another organization, while 30 per cent would reduce the usage of the digital service. More than one out of four (28 per cent) consumers would stop using the digital service altogether, according to the report.
After several high profile cases, the government has launched a campaign to bring the issue into the open
It was morning at a Hanoi school when a teenage student stumbled into class. As she sat at her desk, blood began to pool under her chair; just that morning she had been sexually abused. When her teacher’s response was that she should sit on some tissues until the bleeding stopped, the young girl began to cry.
The incident, recounted by a Huynh Mai, a school psychologist, made headlines in Vietnam last month. Yet it was reflective of a culture of ignorance, indifference and stigma that has surrounded child sex abuse in the country for generations, according to teachers, victims and NGOs.
However, after several high-profile abuse cases, many involving the abuse of pupils by their teachers, the government has launched several initiatives to finally bring the issue out into the open.
The move has included the creation of an “Ending physical violence against children at home and in school” initiative by the ministry of education and introducing mandatory sexual assault-prevention classes for those in first grade, as well as textbooks teaching children how to deal with assault and what parts of their bodies are private.
Self-defence classes organised by She Will Be Strong social enterprise. Children as young as six have signed up Photograph: THANH NGUYEN/Thanh Nguyen
For victims such as Thao*, schools are crucial starting place for the campaign. She was 13 when her maths teacher began his two years of abuse. Due to the stigma and a damaging culture of secrecy, her abuser has never been named or taken to court. “He used to beat me up … I was so scared but I didn’t dare to tell my parents because he threatened me that he would kill me,” said Thao. “He manipulated me, he made me feel worse about myself.”
The abuse, first violent, became sexual when Thao was 14. Terrified, she eventually went to her mother but they chose not to report it. “We knew the police wouldn’t solve it and my mum didn’t want everyone to hurt me by judging me, saying mean things, spreading rumours,” she said.
It took her years to recover. “I had so many breakdowns that I couldn’t count, I hurt myself and it broke my parents’ hearts … I put up with it for 735 days, I suffered it for 735 days and it felt like 10 years.”
Her experience of sexual abuse at school was not an isolated one. Most of the high profile child abuse cases in Vietnam this year have involved teachers, with an ethics teacher recently jailed for raping young girls and another teacher arrested for impregnating a student.
In Vietnam, the law on child sexual violence is ambiguous, making convictions difficult. Some forms of sexual violence aren’t even considered a criminal offence – sexual assault remains an administrative violation and the maximum fine is just $13.
“In March, a man was fined just 200,000 VND ($10) for assaulting a woman in a Hanoi apartment elevator. The following month, an ex-government official was caught in a similar incident in Saigon, this time molesting a child. The incident caused nationwide uproar and residents of the apartment block started a petition calling for an amendment to the law, and while the people’s supreme court responded, they are still debating whether or not “touches to the neck and belly” can be classified as sexual harassment.”
It is not just teachers being targeted by the government campaign. The police force are also being educated to recognise signs of sexual assault in both women an children that go beyond evidence of victims being “forced”, “tied up”, “beatings” and “torn clothing” to substantiate claims of rape or assault.
Vietnamese police recorded 1,547 child abuse cases in 2018 but due to the culture of secrecy around abuse, the real numbers are suspected to be much higher.
Rana Flowers, Unicef representative in Vietnam, said the figures were likely to be the “tip of the iceberg”.
She welcomed the government’s initiative but said much more needed to be done, especially in the realm of online abuse.
“The fast growth of the internet in Vietnam poses a new risk for children with cases of abuse and exploitation on the internet and social networks also increasing,” she said.
“Vietnam still lacks a strong legal framework to protect children from all forms of violence, especially sexual abuse. This also extends to the lack of care and support services for victims.”
The campaign for awareness is slowly seeping into society, with people beginning to speak out about child abuse, calling for more effective laws and enforcement, spreading awareness over social media and even designing a game to teach children about how to protect themselves. Children as young as six have signed up to charity-run self-defence classes in Ho Chi Minh.
Yet the focus remains mainly on how children can prevent themselves from assault, rather than on preventing the abuse to begin with.
Queenie* is among those who chose to keep her assault private out of fear of being dismissed. As a child she was assaulted twice – first by a family friend and then by her cousin’s boyfriend – but she was nervous that people would tell her “nothing bad happened so just stay away from him and move on”.
“Society has a lack of support for this problem. Everybody keeps quiet – shame and pain.”
The Annual Southern Golf Clubs Championship (SGCC) – F&S Investment Cup – will take place on Monday, August 20, 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City. This eagerly anticipated tournament attracts both avid, skilled golfers and novice alike. Get great “BANG” for your marketing buck and have a great time while you’re at it!
Sponsor the annual golf tournament and see your network grow! The annual golf tournament is a key business development and networking event, a golf tournament, inviting all members of southern golf clubs and their friends.
Why sponsor the annual southern golf clubs championship?
Golf marketing or Sports marketing is a subdivision of marketing which focuses both on the promotion of sports events and teams as well as the promotion of other products and services through sporting events and sports teams. It is a service in which the element promoted can be a physical product or a brand name. The goal is to provide the client with strategies to promote sports or to promote some other product, service, business or cause through sports.
“The event will help to raise your corporate profile and demonstrate leadership. Receive increased exposure through SGCC targeted marketing which includes social media, website, print material, digital event signage, and takeaway bag filled with local products”. Said Mr. Trinh Van Thanh, CEO of Golf Pro Event Company, who organizes the event.
How it works?
Sports marketing is designed to meet the needs and wants of the consumers through exchange processes These strategies follow the traditional four “P”‘s of general marketing Product, Price, Promotion and Place; another four “P”’s are added to sports marketing, relating to the fact sports are considered to be a service. The additional 4 P’s are: Planning, Packaging, Positioning and Perception. The addition of the four extra elements is called the “sports marketing mix.”
Sports marketing is an element of sports promotion which involves a wide variety of sectors of the sports industry, including broadcasting, advertising, social media, digital platforms, ticket sales, and community relations.
If you have any questions, contact Ms. Tuong Vy, Event manager: Mobile: 0938170996 | Email: tuongvy@golfproevent.vn
Tighter regulations should be applied for people who buy products online under the cash on delivery (COD) form to prevent the situation in which customers refuse to receive the ordered goods, said a representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
According to Nguyen Huu Tuan, Head of the E-commerce Management Division of under the Ministry and Industry and Trade, currently, almost no sanctions have been issued to online customers. This has created loopholes for customers to turn down the ordered products.
Tuan suggested that online service producers should apply an assessment mechanism for their customers. People who have a high rate of order cancellation can be blocked for using the services.
A young woman in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province who turned down to get 20 milk tea cups worth a total VND1.2 million (USD52.173) ordered through Grabfood recently received the ire of the public.
Grab said that right after that case occurred, the firmed invalided her account. The woman came to the Grab office for the apology and admitted the VND1.2 million payment.
A representative from another online service provider said that in some cases, the company’s customers did not receive products, including those with big value such as TV, washing machines and fridges, saying that the goods were not like what they had ordered.
Tuan noted that it is necessary to tighten control over the use of SIM card owners for the better management of online shopping. For instance, in Malaysia, people who want to use Grab services have to send their photos to the firm.
Meanwhile, Fung Kai Jin, Head of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Division of VPBank, companies can boost pre-paid online payment instead of cash on delivery. The online payment should be applied for goods of small value to gain customers’ trust first and then expanded to those of bigger value.
South Korean Coach Park Hang Seo said that he will renew his contract with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).
“I’ve been warmly welcomed by Vietnamese fans, so I think that I need to respond to their support,” Park said.
The coach revealed that he had authorised his representative to renew his contract with VFF.
The current contract between Park and VFF will expire in January 2020.
From now to the year-end, he will train the Vietnamese national team to compete in the qualifying stages of the 2022 World Cup scheduled to take place in September, October and November, along with the SEA Games 30 in December.
The VFF disclosed that they will start negotiations with Park on contract renewal three months before the current deal expires. However, South Korean media said that Vietnam should speed up the process as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are already interested in the South Korean coach.
According to South Korea’s Star News, Vietnam’s defeat of Thailand was partially due to the coach’s success. The national team has seen distinct progress since Park Hang Seo was appointed head coach.
Japanese experts have continued cleaning up the heavily polluted To Lich River in Hanoi with the technology to decompose sludge into carbon dioxide and water.
The experts started working on a 70-square-metre section of To Lich River on June 17 to deal with the sludge. Even though the water still looks blackish after a month, it has become much cleaner and the foul smell has slightly dissipated. The next step is to deal with the sludge on the riverbed.
Both the mud thickness and the amount of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia have reduced greatly. According to the Japanese experts, it will take about two months to clean up all the sludge in this section. This technology has existed since 1994 and the bioreactor panels can be used for a long time.
The equipment is put under the water. One month later, they will collect the water sample to see the results.
Local supporting policies together with global advanced technologies will help drive down input cost for wind power projects.
Vietnam has huge wind power potential and the government has outlined a roadmap to tap potential of this kind of renewable energy.
Vietnam has become, in the eyes of investors, a destination for wind power developers for three reasons, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
First, levelized cost of energy (LCOE), which is considered as the payback for energy systems, for onshore wind came down by 30% in the past four years.
Second, wind energy with the deployment of large-scale capacity will timely meet the rising energy demand driven by rising population, GDP growth, and rapid urbanization.
Third, investment in new wind energy will be cheaper than investment in new coal by 2021 as costs of wind energy will continue to decrease, according to London-based not-for-profit think tank Carbon Tracker.
Accordingly, if Vietnam continues to invest in coal-fired power, the government needs to heavily subsidize coal in order to prevent rising cost of coal from impacting consumer prices while the country is reliant on coal imports. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) estimates that Vietnam spends US$1.3 billion each year on coal imports.
Downward trend
Under the prime minister’s Decision No.39/2018/QD-TTg dated September 10, 2018 on supporting wind power projects in Vietnam (the decision revised the one dated on June 29, 2011), the prices would be 8.5 US cents per kWh for onshore projects and 9.8 US cents for offshore projects.
The prices would be applied for partly or whole projects put into operations before November 1, 2021 and would last for 20 years.
The prices are not to mention other incentives like exemption of equipment import tariffs and corporate income taxes.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a report showing that costs from all commercially available renewable power generation technologies declined in 2018.
Accordingly, the global weighted-average cost of electricity declined 26% year-on-year for concentrated solar power (CSP), followed by bioenergy (-14%), solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind (both -13%), hydropower (-12%), and geothermal and offshore wind (both -1%).
Foundations from world experts
Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said Vietnam is the country with one of the highest potential in Southeast Asia for both onshore and offshore wind as the country has 3,000-km coastline that results in the best resources for both. Vietnam is also the only country in the region that has developed offshore wind, with 99MW already installed.
GWEC’s Special Advisor Naveen Ballachandran told Hanoitimes that Vietnam is going to be the largest market in Southeast Asia for wind power and the market size gets bigger as potential remains untapped. Once the Vietnamese government tackles issues for further development of the industry, more opportunities will be visible for the investors.
Sharing the same idea, Vice President of Vestas Wind Systems A/S Morten Dyrholm said that the potential of wind power in Vietnam is huge and the situation will go upward for the case of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Asia Director of GWEC Liming Qiao said that changes in policies are giving the industry renewed momentum and creating significant opportunities for the wind energy market to grow in Vietnam and the South East Asia region as a whole. In addition, the Vietnamese government is ready to make the shift to clean energy with a favorable Feed-in-Tariff policy mechanism – the selling prices of electricity from renewable energy sources sold to the grid or used on the spot – and ambitious renewable energy targets up to 2030.
Measures to improve cost competitiveness
GWEC has proposed modularization to keep production cost low for wind power in Vietnam. It covers product design component sourcing, manufacturing/assembly, transport/logistics, installation, and service and maintenance.
Cost reduction is expected from standardization of components and larger production volume for large components, reduced installations time, and reduced logistics and transportation cost.
Notably, digitalization is reckoned as a factor that helps revolutionize wind power. Indeed, technical applications and data analytics will help improve reliability and availability, better predictability of maintenance needs, and provide more data insights for better asset management across fleets.
As such, unlocking potential requires good performance, risk management, and high productivity, according to GWEC.
Merger of two startups heralds consolidation for fragmented market
Vietnam’s fast-growing but fragmented digital payments market is set for a wave of consolidation following the recent merger of e-wallet service VIMO and point-of-sale startup mPOS, with one analyst predicting a “bloodbath” as competition heats up. SHAUN TURTON reports on Nikkei.
VIMO and mPOS announced last week that they have combined their operations and rebranded as NextPay. The new entity, which says it has 1.5 million e-wallet users and more than 35,000 acceptance points across 45 cities, estimates it will handle $1.5 billion worth of payments this year. That would be a significant share of the local market: The total value for digital transactions in Vietnam is estimated to hit $8.5 billion in 2019, according Statista, up 20% on the year.
While the merger was long envisioned for the Hanoi-based startups — both were founded in 2014 by the incubator NextTech, led by Nguyen Hoa Binh — the move casts a spotlight on Vietnam’s crowded fintech market.
According to Nikkei, there were 29 licensed non-bank payment intermediary services in the country as of February, according to the State Bank of Vietnam, with around 20 of these services offering e-wallets. More than 40 banks also provide mobile payment services.
Marc Einstein, chief analyst at Japan-based IT research and advisory company ITR, said companies in Southeast Asia are seeking to “hop on the wave” created by the success of Chinese digital payment giants AliPay, operated by Alibaba Group Holding, and WeChat Pay, run by rival Tencent Holdings.
“It’s very much a gold rush,” Einstein said, adding that only a few players will ultimately be successful in a country like Vietnam. “It’ll be a bloodbath. One winner, maybe two, max.”
Amid the proliferation, VIMO and mPOS founder Nguyen Hoa Binh — who will serve as chairman of NextPay — believes the combined company will more than hold its own.
According to Nguyen, the company is in the process of closing a $30 million series B funding round and aims to grow at home and expand abroad, with plans to enter Indonesia and Myanmar by next year. It has also partnered peer-to-peer lending startup Vaymuon to begin testing merchant and consumer lending services this year.
Nguyen said NextPay will turn a profit in the “millions” in 2019, though he declined to give further details.
“We think that now is a good time to merge it up and raise a bigger round to dominate the Vietnam market in the next three years, and also to expand into untapped market in South Asia,” Nguyen told the Nikkei Asian Review.
Like Einstein, Nguyen too believes that a major industry shakeup is on the way.
“I would say that in the next two or three years, up to 70% of the fintech payment companies in Vietnam will be shut out from the market.”
Huy Pham, a lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam and an observer of the country’s fintech scene, said the merger will give NextPay an edge, as mPOS — which specializes in mobile card readers — has an extensive merchant network.
“NextPay will definitely have a competitive advantage in comparison to all the big players like Momo or Moca by Grab or Viettel Pay or Zalo Pay,” Pham said.
Analysts say digital payment companies will need to focus on fundraising, compiling customer databases, growing merchant networks and expanding throughout the digital ecosystem to survive.
“ZaloPay, for example, came from a social network, which had millions of people that are using it everyday in Vietnam,” Pham said, adding, “It will be a game of the rich.”
Earlier this year, the country’s most popular e-payment service, MoMo, reportedly landed $100 million from U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus, an investment that followed previous multimillion dollar injections from Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs.
ZaloPay is backed by VNG Corp., the country’s first unicorn. Singapore giant Grab last year signed a strategic partnership to offer digital payment services with Vietnam’s Moca. AirPay is backed by Singapore internet company Sea.
This rise in competition comes amid concerted efforts by the government to increase the use of digital payments in Vietnam, which lags behind its neighbors. A World Bank survey showed the number of non-cash transactions in Vietnam is 4.9 per capita compared to 59.7 in Thailand, 89 in Malaysia and 26.1 in China.
The State Bank of Vietnam — which selected June 16 as national “cashless day” — recently announced plans to scrap the VND20 million ($856) daily transaction limit for e-wallet users, according to local news reports.
Currently, e-wallets in Vietnam must be linked to a bank account, making banks, which are also pushing digital payment products, an important part of the market.
Can Van Luc, chief economist of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, said the intersection of fintech companies and banks is prompting competition but also cooperation and collaboration.
“Banks and fintech also have already been in Vietnam cooperating very well … because they try to capitalize on each other’s strengths,” he said. He also pointed to 2016 figures that show cash in circulation in Vietnam at 19% of GDP, compared to 12.6% in Thailand, 9.2% in China and 7.7% in Malaysia.
“Vietnam has still a lot of room to grow with the cashless payment society,” he added.
According to recent figures, only 59% of Vietnamese adults own a bank account. Seeking to increase coverage, the government this year gave the greenlight for telecommunication companies to trial e-payment services.
Binh Nguyen, discipline lead of finance at RMIT, said the move could help boost e-payments in rural areas, but also make competition “even more fierce.”
“We have many e-payment systems and different e-wallets and only a few will survive,” he said.
“The one that will survive, are the ones that are able to build up a proper ecosystem and in order for them to do so, they need funding. So this will either be through merger or foreign investors or domestic banks.
“Telecommunication companies may be a game changer here, since they have very broad infrastructure.”
I get asked this question somewhat regularly. It’s an open ended and quite difficult question to answer, and to be honest one I usually try to avoid. Every business is different, and there is no one size fits all solution for how to legally build your dream. One thing is certain though, more and more foreigners are moving to and living in Danang with entrepreneurial ambitions. Unfortunately as I’ve witnessed here sadly often, some walk blindly into owning a business and end up losing a lot of money. It sucks.
I’m no expert, I run a really small business in the grand scheme of things. That being said, I’ve opened my own business in my own name on a really tight budget and tried my best to do everything the right way. Below are some basic lessons I have learned along the way, maybe others who have done more and have had different experiences can chip in their two cents. I might become a little longwinded, but I wish I had read something like this a few years ago.
* Always, always, always, always put the business in your name. Stop listening to someone as soon as they suggest putting it in a VN person’s name. Anyone who says it’s hard to open a small business in a foreigner’s name is either ignorant or lying to you.
* You can get the answer to almost any question about opening a business by walking into the lobby of the main government tower on Tran Phu, going over to the FDI (foreign direct investment) window and asking one of the extremely helpful english speaking staff there your questions. You don’t need to rely on third person rumors or advice gleaned from facebook groups.
* That being said, i am not an advocate of the “do everything yourself” mentality. Some people don’t want to pay a lawyer or business consultant to help them open a business. I get it, you want to save money and you think they are ripping you off… trust me, i get it.
* You can theoretically open a business all by yourself by simply following everything the kind people at the FDI window tell you to do. In reality that is usually a recipe for headaches and mistakes. Vietnamese government offices do not want a bunch of underdressed, ignorant and stinky foreigners who don’t speak Vietnamese mucking around in their workplace. They actually have a system to avoid this called “uỷ quyền” where you designate a Vietnamese person to represent you in government offices, just so you don’t need to be there… its nice. I suggest at minimum you need a close and trusted Vietnamese friend to help guide you and translate stuff, or better some sort of consultant to help guide you through what can feel like a scary and unfamiliar process.
If you want to save money on a lawyer or business consultant, I suggest cutting a deal with them where your Vietnamese friend or employee will do all the legwork of sitting in offices, waiting in line, collecting stamps, and all the lawyer has to do is tell them where to go and what to say. The lawyer or consultant can make money doing almost nothing.
As soon as you have your registration papers being processed, it’s time to find a good tax accountant. Seriously, don’t do anything else until you get this sorted. Your tax accountant is your attorney when talking to the police, your compliance officer who makes sure you have all the right certificates, visas, labor contracts, and your tax wizard who sorts out your red bills and gets you ready for your required yearly audit… oh yeah all foreign owned businesses need to be audited by a third party auditor once a year. It isn’t cheap, and if you don’t, you are begging for big fines to come your way. You pay tax accountants a monthly retainer, somewhere around 2-5 million or more. You need to be nice to your accountant, they will save your ass when you need it most.
Jeremy’s Kitchen in Danang, Vietnam
As soon as you have your registration paperwork completed and you have your legit tax accountant giving you good advice about what certificates and compliance measures you need to follow, you’re pretty much 90% there.
Ahh, startup capital. In Vietnam, in order for a foreigner to open a business, they must invest a certain amount of money. This is not a fixed number, and the government will inform you of your needed startup capital after reviewing your business plan, which is part of the registration process. In reality though, its usually 200,000,000 VND or about $9500 for small cafes, restaurants and other non-threatening businesses, and up to $50-100k USD for major restaurants on main streets. Anything bigger than that and i hope you’re not getting your legal advice from a 29yo baker. The great thing about this though is you become legally classified as an investor, which just sounds cool when you’re a chump like me.
All in all, surround yourself with Vietnamese people who like you and want to see you succeed, have a business consultant or lawyer at the very least review your registration papers before you submit them, and get a smart accountant and pay them well. If you do these three things, your chances of failure will decrease slightly.
Good luck!
About the author:
Jeremy Smith is the Founder of Jeremy’s Kitchen. Located at 190 Nguyễn Công Trứ in Đà Nẵng, Jeremy’s Kitchen Cafe and Bakery started as a hobby and slowly grew. Jeremy came to Đà Nẵng in 2015 and started baking to fill up his free time, he had no previous experience or culinary training. More information can be found at: https://jeremyskitchenvn.com/
Petrol prices have fallen for the third time over the past month.
According to a report by the ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance, petroleum prices have been cut from this afternoon, June 17.
The retail prices of biofuel E5 and RON95 were cut by VND986 and VND1,085 per litre to VND19,233 and VND20,134, respectively.
Meanwhile, the prices of diesel dropped by VND737 per litre to VND16,657 and kerosene by VND614 to VND15,611. Mazut decreased by VND239 per kilo to VND15,115.
The ministries have also agreed to raise the use of the petroleum price stabilisation fund for E5RON92 to VND300 per litre from today. The level for RON95 and other kinds of oil are VND900 per litre.
This is the third consecutive drop of petroleum prices since May 17. The latest decrease in petroleum prices was on June 1.
Petroleum prices were previously increased for three consecutive times.
Up to five tonnes of dead fish have been been collected at two lakes in the central city of Danang.
According to Mai Ma, director of Danang Drainage and Wastewater Treatment Company, the dead fish have been detected at Thac Gian and Vinh Trung lakes located in the city centre since June 12.
Local environmental workers have gathered around one tonne of dead fish per day, mainly tilapia. The problem would last until the end of this week, so the company will arrange staff to dump the fish at Khanh Son rubbish dump in Lien Chieu District.
Regarding the cause, Ma said that the lakes have not yet been dredged for a long time and there had been sewage leaks, which would result in severe pollution. Pollution and the prolonged hot weather had led to the fish deaths.
Ma noted that five years ago, the company proposed setting up an oxygen supply system around two lakes to ease the pollution which would have cost VND2 billion (USD86,956).
The dead fish have affected the lives of local people who often have to close their doors to avoid bad odour.
A local coffee shop owner said that his shop has failed to attract customers due to the smell.
The municipal Department of Natural Resources and the Environment has instructed to take water samples for testing.
The department has recommended the city’s authorities to assign the Department of Construction to deal with the sewage leaks into the lakes.
A new decree is set to allow specialist police officers to work for another 10 years after their normal retirement age.
The decree, to guide the Law on People’s Public Security Force, will allow professors to work for 10 more years, associate professors for seven more and doctors and senior experts for five more with effect from July 25.
The normal retirement age in Vietnam is 60 for men and 55 for women.
Officers have to meet certain conditions to get the extension: they must be directly used by their units, not have worked the minimum number of 20 years required to get a pension, meet required health conditions, and have ethics and professional competence.
But they cannot be in leadership positions and can only train others or do research.
They can quit any time during the extension period and get their retirement benefits in full.
In its amendments to the Labor Law, the government has recommended raising the retirement ages from 60 to 62 for men and 55 to 60 for women. The National Assembly will consider the amendments this year.
Vietnam reached an inflection point in 2015 when it became one of the countries with the fastest aging populations in the world.
The number of people over 65 will rise from 6.3 million last year to a projected 18 million by 2040, accounting for more than 18 percent of the population and transforming Vietnam from a young society into an old one, a Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs report quoted the United Nations as saying.
If the current retirement ages remain unchanged, the social insurance fund could be in trouble by 2020 and go bust by 2037, Vietnam Social Security has warned.
More than 1,000 unusable electronic devices were brought to an event dedicated to environmental protection in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday, where they were exchanged for plants and other environmentally friendly gifts.
The event, held on Nguyen Van Binh Book Street in District 1, was organized by Vietnam Recycles, a program run by the Vietnam Recycling Platform, in cooperation with Thai Ha Book Publishing House.
A woman and her son choose a plant after they gave the organizing committee their electronic waste. Photo: Thanh Yen / Tuoi Tre
Depending on the amount of e-waste they brought to the exchange, visitors were able to get one to two pots of succulent plants, which are easy to care for and require a small amount of water to stay fresh.
The plants are suitable for decorating a desk or study corner, and more importantly, they also absorb and eliminate electromagnetic radiations emitted from electronic devices such as computers, phones, and radios.
The plants were placed in eco-friendly pots made of sugar cane bagasse, which will biodegrade after 40 days.
Many parents took their children to the event to teach them how to recycle and sort e-waste, as well as helping them learn to lead a sustainable and environment-friendly lifestyle from a young age.
“Because I care about the environment, I usually keep electronic waste and sort it,” To Nghia, 23, a visitor at the event, said.
“It is very difficult to find a place to recycle this type of waste, so events like this are very important.”
The waste is sorted after being collected. Photo: Thanh Yen / Tuoi Tre
According to Mai Thi Thu Hang, a representative from Vietnam Recycling Platform, this is not the first time her organization has organized such an ‘e-waste day,’ but the amount of electronic waste collected has gradually risen over the time.
In the first year of launching the initiative, the organization only collected 800 kilograms of e-waste, compared to the current volume of around 36 metric tons, Hang said, adding that this represents local people’s increasing concern about e-waste pollution.
A man takes a photo of his potted succulents and a bamboo straw, which he received in exchange for e-waste. Photo: Thanh Yen / Tuoi Tre
Vietnam Recycling Platform is a consortium of leading producers of electrical and electronic equipment founded to reduce electronic waste, increase recycling and manage products’ impacts on the environment and human health at their end of their life cycle.
The organization was established in 2015 by HP Company and Apple, and is still in its pilot phase, during which it only collects e-waste in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
The organization also intends to start collecting electronic waste at home. Every household only needs to prepare one big electronic device to recycle, or ten small devices such as phones, cameras, or music players for the organization staff to come and collect.
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index closed below the 950-point benchmark Monday afternoon, the lowest since it bottomed at 946.47 points exactly two weeks ago.
At the end of the Monday session, the VN-Index, which represents stocks on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), fell by 6.66 points, down 0.7 percent compared to Friday last week. 114 stocks gained, while 187 lost value.
Of the top 10 listed companies with the biggest market cap on the VN-Index, only the CTG stock of state-owned VietinBank, one of the country’s three biggest lenders, closed up compared to last session, but by just 0.74 percent.
In contrast, the trio of stocks related to Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, which are all in the top 10, fell heavily in the session.
The VIC stock of parent corporation Vingroup fell 0.87 percent, while VHM of Vinhomes, its real estate arm, fell 2.37 percent; and VRE of Vincom Retail, the group’s retail arm, fell 2.58 percent. VHM and VRE were the biggest losing blue-chips on the market this session.
In the VN30-Index, the index for the 30 highest market cap companies on Vietnam’s exchanges, an additional 11 companies (not counting the top 10) saw their share prices drop by over 1 percent.
The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), which accounts for around 10 percent of market cap across all floors, fell in the morning session but managed to pull back in the afternoon, slightly rising by 0.04 percent to 103.5 points with 52 gainers and 82 losers.
On both floors, oil and gas stocks were the group that rose despite gloomy sentiments, with stocks connected to the state-owned PetroVietnam rising significantly.
The PVS stock of PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation rose 0.9 percent, PVC of PetroVietnam Drilling, up 1.4 percent, PET of the group’s general services arm, up 0.78 percent, and POW of PetroVietnam Power Corporation, up 2.2 percent.
Going against market sentiment, foreign investors were optimistic this session. After three net selling sessions in a row, foreign investors returned on Monday with a net buy of 1.93 million shares, equivalent to VND103.25 billion ($4.46 million).
In terms of net buys this session, foreign investors were most keen to get their hands on the VNM stock of Vinamilk, POW of PetroVietnam Power Corporation, and BVH of Bao Viet Holdings, a leading insurance provider.
