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Facebook is accused of violating Vietnamese laws

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The latest announcement of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ (MIC) Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI) stated that Facebook has been seriously violating Vietnamese laws related to information management, tax, and advertising.

According to deputy director of ABEI Le Quang Tu Do, Facebook has allowed its advertisers to run a large number of illegal advertisements, including anti-state propaganda, prostitution, and illegal alcohol trading, among others.

Facebook currently allows users to buy advertisements on its platform to bring their messages to target customers, for diverse purposes. Of course, the terms of the advertising contracts do not include obeying Vietnamese laws.

While it remains unclear what action will follow, this is the first official announcement to this effect. An official announcement by a government agency will likely be answered by the relevant government bodies, be it the tax authorities or the related law enforcement bodies, which suggests redoubled efforts to bring Facebook under stricter control.

2018 also saw Pepsico Vietnam as the latest victim of fake news spreading on Facebook. According to Pepsico Vietnam’s sources cited by dantri.com.vn, the Facebook account of Nguyen Minh Tuan posted a status that his kidney failure was a result of him drinking three bottles of Pepsico energy drink Sting every day. The fake information quickly spread on the social network, gathering 65,114 shares and 93,600 views within six days.

Later on, a legal company on behalf of Pepsico Vietnam sent notices to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications and Facebook with evidence proving that the status was false. However, it was not for another seven days that Facebook removed the offending post.

Along with the violations, Facebook has “forgotten” its obligation to pay tax to the Vietnamese government for many years. According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF)’s report, in 2016-2017, Facebook and Google only paid VND120 billion ($5.28 million) in taxes in Vietnam. This number is dwarfed by Facebook’s average revenue of $235 million in the country, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The fact that Facebook has no representative office in Vietnam has made it difficult for local authorities to collect their due from the tech giant, despite the fact that the Law on Cybersecurity has come into force since the beginning of this year.

Not only Vietnam, but also many countries across the world have made strong attempts to collect taxes from Facebook and other tech companies like Google and Amazon.

Over the past few years, the European Commission (EC) has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with Facebook and Google, trying to corner them into paying tax. The EC is currently planning to issue a new tax worth $5.0 billion per year on Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

According to the UK’s The Guardian, the growing dominance of digital companies is a long-standing threat to Europe’s tax base, while also sparking questions of fairness. The EC estimates that digital businesses pay an effective average tax rate of only 9.5 per cent, compared with the 23.2 per cent for brick-and-mortar companies.

Source: VIR

Asian Cup 2019: Two-goal Azmoun helps Iran down Vietnam

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Iran are through to the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Round of 16 after a Sardar Azmoun brace saw them beat Vietnam 2-0 to claim their second consecutive win in Group D on Saturday.

Azmoun opened the scoring at the Al Nahyan Stadium with a close-range header seven minutes before the break, before adding a second in the 69th minute to put the result beyond doubt. Fox Sport Asia reports.

With Iraq and Yemen set to play later in the evening, there is still a possibility that all three teams could finish level on six points – with the Iranians an outside chance to fall to third spot.

However, that would still be enough to see them qualify for the Round of 16 as one of the four-best third-placed sides, given there is no chance any of the teams in Group A, B and C can finish third with the six points Iran already have in their possession.

Yet, following a clinical display after they opened their campaign with an emphatic 5-0 rout of Yemen, it is unthinkable that Team Melli will even had to resort to that.

As expected, they dominated proceedings from the opening whistle on Saturday and did not take long to start threatening.

A neat pass by Ashkan Dejagah released Saman Ghoddos but Vietnam goalkeeper Dang Van Lam raced off his line well to snuff out the threat posed by the Amiens winger.

Vietnam were also well served by captain Que Ngoc Hai, who made a couple of important interventions to deny the opposition clear scoring opportunities.

But Team Melli continued to press and the breakthrough finally arrived in the 38th minute when Ghoddos broke free down the right after being released by Vouria Ghafouri’s incisive pass and hung a clever ball up at the back post, where Azmoun was on hand to head home from close range.

To their credit, the Vietnamese came out for the second half showing renewed endeavour and could even have equalised seven minutes after the restart.

A neat layoff from Nguyen Van Toan caught the Iran defence napping and Nguyen Cong Phuong was allowed to advance through on goal, only for Alireza Beiranvand to stand tall and deny him one-on-one.

Nonetheless, Iran were always in control and sealed the win nine minutes after the hour mark, as Azmoun latched onto a pass by Mehdi Torabi and barged off two defenders before clinically finishing past Van Lam into the bottom corner.

VIETNAM: Dang Van Lam, Nguyen Trong Hoang (Nguyen Tien Linh 84’), Do Duy Manh, Que Ngoc Hai, Bui Tien Dung, Doan Van Hau, Do Hung Dung, Pham Duc Huy (Ngan Van Dai 59’), Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Phan Van Duc (Nguyen Van Toan 46’).

IRAN: Alireza Beiranvand, Vouria Ghafouri, Morteza Pouraliganji, Hossein Kanaanizadegan, Ehsan Hajsafi, Omid Ebrahimi, Ashkan Dejagah, Vahid Amiri (Ahmad Nourollahi 64’), Mehdi Taremi (Mehdi Torabi 64’), Saman Ghoddos, Sardar Azmoun (Karim Ansarifard 79’).

Vietnam’s emergence as a startup hub

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Vietnam is fast becoming a tech startup hub in the ASEAN region. What are the factors behind this transformation, and can Vietnam catch up with the likes of Singapore and Indonesia in the regional startup landscape?

By Preetam Kaushik

The ASEAN region has matured into a tech investor’s paradise in recent years. Nations like Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia have become hubs of digital innovation, leading to an influx of both domestic and external investment.

But with the rise of exciting new ecosystems across Southeast Asia, the distribution of investment will change in the coming years. Vietnam stands poised to capitalise on the shifting investment landscape and is poised to emerge as a digital startup hub in the near future.

Vietnam is a “mini-China”

Powered by market reforms initiated by Doi Moi in 1986, Vietnam’s path has mirrored that of its larger neighbour across the northern border in many ways.

Both China and Vietnam are ruled by communist parties, yet have a market economy.

They have also followed similar growth patterns. Like China, Vietnam is now a major manufacturing destination for multinational corporations (MNCs), especially in the electronics sector. The government has also made digitization a key focus in recent years, again taking cues from the Chinese.

Source: World Bank

Vietnam has been in the thick of the tech startup scene from the beginning, but it really took off in 2016. Since then, government and private funding have created numerous incubators, VCs, and projects.

The number of startups has also shot up to around 3,000, with 92 firms securing deals worth a record US$292 million in 2017 alone. That represents an almostfour-fold increase in as many years, with just 25 firms securing funding in 2013.

The vast majority of these successful Vietnamese tech startups are limited to three main fields of e-commerce, fintech, and online services.

Vietnam has an edge in tech innovation

The success of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem depended on a set of diverse factors all lining up together at the right time. Its domestic market is rapidly expanding thanks to increased internet and mobile penetration.S

Thanks to government policies, computer science is taught right from primary school level in Vietnam. And with advanced learning centres like the Ho Chi Minh Technology University, some of the best coders in the world hail from Vietnam.

Private initiatives and external aid have also been forthcoming. MNCs like Samsung, LG, Siemens, and Intel have all contributed to Vietnam’s emergence as a tech startup hub thanks to their employee training initiatives in Vietnam.

Programs like the HEEAP funded by USAID, and the IPP (a joint partnership between Finland and Vietnam) have further improved the quality of training. The government is also attracting skilled expats, called “Viet Kieu”, to return to their home country and start new high tech ventures.

The government has been at the forefront of Vietnam’s evolving investment landscape

Since 2016, the Vietnamese government has been actively promoting the local tech industry through legislative measures. The Law on Technology Transfer makes it easier for local startups to access tech from abroad.

A special emphasis has also been given to startups in the Law on Supporting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Released in 2018, Decree 38-ND-CPprovides additional legal protections to startups and allows increased access to state funding.

Vietnam is catching up with large regional players

Since 2016, Singapore has been a major driving force in the ASEAN startup scene. But Vietnam is catching up.

Vietnam has conditions that are perhaps even more favourable than Singapore had in 2016. It has a significant population advantage (95 million compared to Singapore’s 5.6 million). That means access to a larger domestic market with more avenues of growth, and an abundance of cheap, highly-skilled labour.

Singapore is also one of the most expensive places in the world to live in. By contrast, the cost of living is very low in Vietnam, which could make it a lucrative destination for high tech businesses and skilled foreign workers and entrepreneurs.

But before it can really challenge other ASEAN member states as a serious regional startup hub, the Vietnamese government has to strengthen its infrastructure and ease business restrictions.

Vietnam is currently ranked 79th out of 138 countries when it comes to the quality of infrastructure, so there is plenty of work to be done. But plans to boost Vietnamese infrastructure are underway. A US$921 million investment plan to improve rail, road, electrical and urban infrastructure by 2020 is underway, which will provide significant opportunities to Vietnamese startups.

Although Vietnam rose 14 places in the World Ease of Doing Business Rankings in 2018, it still lags behind four of its ASEAN competitors.

Singapore still occupies ASEAN’s throne as the premier startup and technological hub, but if the Vietnamese government can leverage its economic advantages, there is no reason why Vietnam can’t catch up with, or even dethrone, Singapore as a major startup innovation hub in South East Asia.

Energy And Utilities Construction Market In Vietnam: Ken Research

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Timetric’s “Energy and Utilities Construction Market in Vietnam: Market Size, Growth and Forecast Analytics to 2021” contains historic and forecast market data for the energy and utilities construction market in Vietnam, with a detailed breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) and by cost type( construction materials, construction equipment and construction services).

This report also contains overall values of the energy and utilities construction segments such as Energy and utilities construction market covers the development of energy and telecommunications related projects, oil and gas projects including both upstream and downstream exploration, and utility projects such as water and sewage infrastructure.

This market includes five categories: electricity and power, oil & gas, telecommunications, sewage infrastructure and water infrastructure. This research report provides up-to-date market size data for the period 2012-2016 and an illustrative forecast to 2021.

Energy and utilities construction market covers the development of energy and telecommunications related projects, oil and gas projects including both upstream and downstream exploration, and utility projects such as water and sewage infrastructure. This market includes five categories: electricity and power, oil & gas, telecommunications, sewage infrastructure and water infrastructure.

The Vietnamese energy and utilities construction category continued to increase in the review period with a value of VNDxxx.xx million (USDxxx.xx million) in 2016 and increased at a rate of xx.xx% over 2015. The market recorded a CAGR of xx.xx% from 2012 through 2016.
“Energy and Utilities Construction Market in Vietnam: Market Size, Growth and Forecast Analytics to 2021″‘ provides a top-level overview and detailed insight into the operating environment of the energy and utilities construction market in Vietnam. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Vietnam construction value chain and for new players considering entering the market.

An overview of the energy and utilities construction market in Vietnam. Historic (2012 through 2016) and forecast (2017 through 2021) construction market output values are provided.

A detailed breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) is provided at the market level while the values for the segments are provided by cost types (construction materials, construction equipment & construction services).

This report covers all the segments of commercial construction market including Energy and utilities construction market covers the development of energy and telecommunications related projects, oil and gas projects including both upstream and downstream exploration, and utility projects such as water and sewage infrastructure. This market includes five categories: electricity and power, oil & gas, telecommunications, sewage infrastructure and water infrastructure.

Enhances your knowledge of the market with key figures detailing construction type. Provides you with a breakdown of the market by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). Provides you with a breakdown of the segments by cost type (construction materials, construction equipment &construction services). Details the segments covered under commercial construction market. Allows you to plan future business decisions using the forecast figures given.

To know more, click on the link below:

https://www.kenresearch.com/manufacturing-and-construction/infrastructure/energy-utilities-construction-market-vietnam-forecast-analytics/142421-97.html

https://www.kenresearch.com/manufacturing-and-construction/infrastructure/energy-and-utilities-construction-market-in-egypt-market-size-growth-and-forecast-analytics-to-2022/149468-97.html

Contact:
Ken Research
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications
Sales@kenresearch.com | +91-901537824

iPrice Report: 3 of 10 most visited e-commerce merchants in 2018 are Vietnamese companies

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2018 was another highly successful year for Vietnamese e-commerce companies. While Shopee and Lazada broke one record after another during their big sales campaigns, the local competitors Tiki and Sendo also received huge investment capital to improve their fighting chances.

Furthermore, these Vietnamese companies’ progresses were significant enough to put them among the most successful e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia in 2018, according to a new report from the price comparison website iPrice Group.

2nd biggest market in Southeast Asia

In the report, iPrice ranks the 10 most successful e-commerce platforms in 2018 based on average monthly web traffic. The final result shows that among this top 10, five of them are currently conducting business in Vietnam, including: Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, Thegioididong and Sendo.
While Lazada are Shopee are international corporations with operations in multiple markets, which makes their positions in the list less of a surprise, the remaining three’s inclusion is a concrete evidence for the size and potential of e-commerce business in Vietnam.

In particular, even though Sendo, Tiki and Thegioididong are only available for consumers within Vietnam, their traffic numbers are still impressive enough to put them within the regional top 10, even above JD Group of China, which is now operating in both Thailand and Indonesia.

The most remarkable however is Thegioididong. The company is the only merchant in this top 10 to focus on only one product category – electronic devices. Even with such a narrow business scope, Thegioididong still managed to gain an average of 29 million visits per month.

These numbers all serve to show that online shopping is now greatly popular among Vietnamese consumers and the e-commerce market size of Vietnam will keep increasing in the near future.

This conclusion is in line with the predictions made by internet giant Google and investment company Temasek Holdings in their report published last November. According to this report, the Vietnamese e-commerce market will grow by a rate of 43% by the year 2025, which will be the highest of the region.

Many exciting developments

With such a big potential, it comes as a no surprise that in 2018, Vietnamese e-commerce companies were able to acquire significant amount of foreign funding.

Right at the beginning of the year, Tiki received investment from JD.com in a round of Series C funding. The investment sees JD become one of the largest shareholders in Tiki. By September, the company continued to gain another 122 billion VND from VNG.

Meanwhile, within only the first 6 months of 2018, Shopee Vietnam already gained 1,200 billion VND in form of authorised capital from SEA, their Singaporean parent company.

To counter Shopee’s expansion in Southeast Asia, in March, Alibaba decided to invest another two billion USD into Lazada to improve the company’s competitiveness.

And last but not least, in 2018, Sendo.vn, the e-commerce subsidiary of FPT Corporations, also received a total of 51 million USD from the Japanese SBI Holdings and some other investors.

This constant stream of capital immediately brought about many interesting developments in the market.

For Tiki, after receiving the funding, they managed to make several remarkable progresses. In particular, at the end of last quarter 3, iPrice noticed that Tiki’s average monthly web traffic had increased by an impressive 47.59% compared to the previous quarter. And by this November, they were the 2nd highest in the country in terms of web traffic.
Similarly, Sendo.vn also improved a lot in 2018. During the Black Friday sales period, Sendo announced that they have reached 5 million orders within only one week, which is a new record for the merchant.

However, the title of the most formidable improvement of the year definitely belongs to Shopee Vietnam. The company began the year at the national 3rd place in terms of web traffic, but only within 7 months, they already rose to the top of the chart. According to iPrice Group and SimilarWeb’s data, this marks the first time since quarter 2 of 2017 that the throne of highest e-commerce website traffic in Vietnam doesn’t belong to Lazada.

These huge funding along with the constant changes in rankings among the e-commerce companies show how determined they are at fighting for the domination in the e-commerce market in Vietnam. 2019 promised to be a very exciting year for Vietnamese e-commerce.

Source: iPrice Group.

Startup, Why Not? Find your business mentor at VSNE

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By Minh Phuong

Vietnam Startup Network in Europe (VSNE) and Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF) collaborated to organize a series of events named “Startup, Why Not?” from December 7th to December 10th, 2018.

The forum was aimed to inspire and pervade entrepreneurial intentions as well as creating a basic foundation to support the Vietnamese startup community around Germany. The sequence of events took place consecutively from Munich (December 7th) to Frankfurt (December 8th) and Hannover (December 9th). Particularly in the event “Workshop Business Model” on December 12th taking place in Berlin, all the students were enabled to learn and exercise in constructing a practical yet effective business model under the consultation of Speaker Pham Duy Hieu – General Director of An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK) and Vice President of SVF, who has accompanied with VSNE since its initial event in mid-August.

“Helpful”, “Informative” and “Interesting” were the main keywords mentioned in the audience’s testimonials. Throughout the guidance of Mentor Pham Duy Hieu, student participants were presented to multiple valuable knowledge, along with real-life case studies that emphasized on the importance of a sound “mindset”, on how to prepare and develop it before building or managing their startups. The forum also highlighted the value of choices, self-belief and the roots of fear in everyone’s life conducted from personal experience and knowledge of the Speaker. Going further with entrepreneurship, the participants also had the opportunity to understand more the concept of “Six-step startups” and were enabled to somehow answer the question of their startup journey in the future.

Within the context of the last two panel discussions in Berlin “Startup, Why Not?” and “Innovation Changes the Game”, another crucial tool called business model was introduced in the Berlin “Workshop Business Model”. Appraised as one of the three determinants to the existence and survival of startups and companies in general, a good business model would help to bring business ideas closer to reality. In addition, another special section brought into the forum the first time was the “1:1 Mentor-Mentee” with the participation of three notable experts: Mr.Pham Duy Hieu (General Director of ABBANK & Vice President of SVF), Mrs. Le Hong Minh (Member of SVF’s Board of Director & General Director of Ivalue Holdings) and finally Mr. Le Minh Nhut (Project Manager of Local Startup Ecosystems & Startup Network Volunteers). The interaction between young, aspiring entrepreneurs-to-be and professionals were highly encouraged to give out opportunities for young startups in Europe to be advised directly from the predecessors with refined knowledge and expertise. The testing section of “1:1 Mentor-Mentee” has received great feedbacks from all the attendees afterwards.

Thanks to uncountable and enthusiastic help of SVF Funds and generous sponsorship of KOVA Paint, An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK), the graphic startup Molting Studio and cash register system startup Ikasse247, a series of medium-sized startup events in four cities have been incredibly successful. The organizers hoped that with this series of events students and entrepreneurs will be able to apply this new knowledge to develop ideas and construct their business model accordingly. It is not only a golden opportunity for young startups but also a potential investment playground for businesses and individual investors in Germany, Vietnam as well as throughout Europe.

2018 an eventful year for $500 million ride-hailing market

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Warned of the stiff competition, more investors nevertheless joined the e-hailing market after the departure of Uber last year.

Last March, Ngoc Son, a driver for UberMoto in Hanoi, noticed on his mobile phone the words ‘chao mung Uber gia nhap dai gia dinh Grab’ (welcome to Grab family).

That was how Son, like many other drivers, received information about Grab. He joined GoViet’s driver staff from October of the same year.

In April, Uber left Vietnam after launching ‘e-hailing culture’ in the country, leaving Grab as the only player in the Vietnam’s $500 million e-hailing market. At that time, experts were concerned about a possible monopoly by Grab. However, new rivals turned up just one month later. Grab now has more rivals than ever before.

Vato, Aber, Mai Linh Bike and others presented themselves before the public, revealing plans to pour hundreds of million of dollars and use thousands of drivers from e-hailing apps.

FastGo and Go-Viet follow two major strategies – offering ‘next-to-nothing fee’ and using the motto ‘Vietnamese use Vietnamese apps’.

Go-Jek, the owner of Go-Viet, has stated that Go-Viet has 35 percent of the motorbike hailing market share in HCM City, and the app has got 1.5 million downloads after six weeks of launching.

However, many of them had to leave the market just after a short time of operation.

With 175,000 car and motorbike drivers, Grab remains the biggest name. However, the firm is now competing with rivals such as Go Viet, Be and Fastgo.

Go Viet said that it has 30 percent of market share in Hanoi and 35 percent in HCM City. To obtain this achievement, since its debut, Go-Viet has been running sale promotion campaigns with surprisingly low service fees, just VND1,000 for one trip.

Meanwhile, Be, which debuted one month ago, has also launched marketing campaigns. And Grab and Fastgo have been trying to lure customers with super-chip services.

Ngoc Son, the former UberMoto driver, now is a driver for Grab and Go Viet.

Traditional taxi firms, which complained about the unhealthy competition, have finally realized that the new trend is unavoidable. Instead of lodging complaints to management agencies, traditional taxi firms have begun developing e-hailing apps of their own.

In August 2018, three taxi firms Thanh Cong, Sao Ha Noi and Ba Sao joined forces to set up the G7 Taxi Alliance.

Ha Long Bay attacked by solid wastes

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The impact of solid waste on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay has been discussed at a meeting held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and sponsored by the USAID on January 9.

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 80% of the rubbish collected in 2017 were styrofoam buoys, 5% were unidentified plastic objects and the rest were plastic bottles, nylon bags and ropes. In 2018, the number of styrofoam buoys decreased to 70% while plastic bottles increased to 11%.

In 2017, 112 volunteers of the IUCN collected nearly 2.5 tonnes of rubbish in just 3.5 hours. Despite the amount of rubbish in Ha Long Bay, most of which cannot be recycled.

The styrofoam buoys are actually swept to Ha Long Bay from Cat Ba District. Hoang Trung Cuong, vice chairman of Cat Hai District in Hai Phong City, said there were a large number of fish farms in the areas. Many of the farmers set up their farms randomly and do not follow any scientific processes and that can cause pollution.

The Ha Long Bay Management Board also said that when the tides rose and winds blew from Cat Ba to Ha Long, a huge amount of styrofoam buoys could be seen being swept to the bay. Nguyen Thi Huyen Anh, deputy head of the management boat suggested using plastic ones instead.

Even though the geological values of the bay haven’t been damaged, the increasing number of visitors and weak rubbish managing system has badly affected the image of the bay.

The authorities of Hai Phong City and Quang Ninh Province must work together to come up with a suitable solution for wastewater and solid waste. It’s best to start a rubbish classification programme at homes and sell recyclable rubbish to private firms to reduce the amount of solid waste at local dumping sites. The use of nylon bags at supermarkets, stores and flea markets must be controlled.

Source: Dtinews

Traders Expect Vietnam Stocks to Jump 18% This Year

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Optimism for Vietnam’s stock market was running high at the start of 2018, before a rout erased all early gains. This year again, investors are confident.

The benchmark VN Index could rise to 1,049 by the end of December, implying an 18 percent advance for 2019, according to the average estimate of nine analysts, investors and strategists compiled by Bloomberg News. In February of last year, market watchers expected the gauge to jump 23 percent for all of 2018, a survey showed at the time — it ended up sinking 9.3 percent.

“Our view on the outlook for the economy and stock market of Vietnam is positive through 2019, with the domestic picture particularly strong relative to regional and developmental peers,” said Lawrence Brader, the co-portfolio manager of the PXP Vietnam Smaller Companies Fund in Ho Chi Minh City. His firm, PXP Vietnam Asset Management, oversaw $110 million in assets as of November.

Brader expects the nation’s benchmark to surpass its 2018 high and sees “a fair chance of the index doubling from here in the next three to five years.” The gauge hit a record of 1,204 in April, and rising above that level would mean an advance of more than 35 percent for 2019.

Some of the factors analysts are citing for their optimism are:

Stable economic growth: Vietnam’s gross domestic product has been expanding more than 5 percent a year since 2000

Cheap valuations: The VN Index trades at about 14 times estimated earnings for the next year, down from more than 20 times in April

While the VN Index December estimate is bullish, it’s nothing compared with last year’s: the 1,049 average projection is 13 percent below the 2018 high. And how can investors be blamed after they got burned so badly?

After six years of the VN Index rising more than 6 percent annually — including a 48 percent surge in 2017 — 2018 started on a bright note. By early April, the gauge was up 22 percent for the year, before everything unraveled as it entered a bear market in May. Federal Reserve tightening triggered a surge in the U.S. dollar, just as concerns grew over the consequences of the U.S.-China trade friction. The VN Index advanced 0.1 percent on Thursday.

Risks this year will be mostly external, with the trade war between the U.S. and China a point of focus, analysts said. A slowing global economy and a rebound in oil prices are other perils cited for Vietnam.

“There are a bunch of uncertainties out there,” said Michel Tosto, the head of institutional sales and brokerage at Viet Capital Securities in Ho Chi Minh City. “We expect activities of both local and foreign investors will be more muted. Investors will look for diversification, and investing in both stocks and bonds is not a bad idea.”

While the nation’s economic expansion will be slower — it’s expected to be 6.6 percent, down from 7.1 percent in 2018 — he says foreign direct investments will remain strong and the local currency will keep outperforming most of its peers in 2019.

Here are the year-end targets from some firms:

And further comments from market watchers:

Lawrence Brader, co-portfolio manager of the PXP Vietnam Smaller Companies Fund in Ho Chi Minh City:

“The market remains relatively cheap outside of a number of index heavyweights, and we continue to find both value and growth opportunities across a number of sectors. The opportunity to add to equity holdings with a strong outlook for earnings growth at reasonable valuations is apparent.”

Bernard Lapointe, head of research at Viet Dragon Securities in Ho Chi Minh City:

“The VN Index will stay in a fairly tight range between 900 to 1,000. I put a 70 probability on that. A move below or above these levels will depend on the geopolitics and macro headwinds that we are facing or may face.

“The biggest issues for the VN Index are external. Domestically, EPS growth is fine, although we have reduced our growth outlook in general. The dong has stabilized, and the central bank is doing a good job of managing inflation expectations.”

Shamoon Tariq, vice chief investment officer at Tundra Fonder, which helps oversee $350 million in assets:

“We have seen emerging and frontier markets getting roiled in 2018, mainly due to increasing Fed rates in the U.S., strong dollar and uncertainty over the US-China trade war. That has brought valuations in Vietnam to attractive levels.

“We keep adding into Vietnam’s structural growth stories, where we see earnings growth sustainable in coming years and cheap valuations. We are assessing the geopolitical situation in Vietnam’s context but have a positive stance for Vietnam overall.”

Source: Bloomberg

Vietnamese fitness startup raises $1mn pre-series A funding

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Vietnamese fitness startup WeFit has successfully raised US$1 million of funding in a pre-series A round from an Asia Pacific-based venture capital firm and other angel investors on Wednesday.

WeFit, which helps connect workout enthusiasts with fitness studios across Vietnam, announced yesterday that the Tokyo-headquartered CyberAgent Capital was among the deal closers of the funding round.

Nguyen Khoi, Founder and CEO of WeFit, said the capital will be used for the development of the next phase of its products and new market expansion.

“Receiving investment from funds like CyberAgent Capital will help WeFit shorten the time needed to explore markets and bring services to many people faster,” he added.

The fitness studio platform is expected to reach one million app users this year, according to Khoi.

Founded in late 2016, WeFit is a mobile app providing users with basic beauty and fitness care packages at more than 1,000 locations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The mobile app only requires a few simple touches on smartphones to help users find a training schedule that fits them best, with a variety of fitness activities such as yoga, zumba, boxing, and exercise workouts at the closest gym with the highest quality.

WeFit is handling more than 150,000 bookings per month and helping partners grow profits by an average of ten percent per month.

The startup recently received the 2018 Startup of the Year in Vietnam Award at the ASEAN Rice Bowl Awards.

In 2017, WeFit used to receive investment from the Vietnamese venture capital firm ESP Capital and accelerator and seed-stage fund VIISA.

WeFit is expected to continue to call for series A investment in 2019.

Source: Tuoitrenews

Vietnamese passport remains a low flyer

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The Vietnamese passport continues to be among those with the least visa free access at 87th among 104 economies.
On the Henley Passport Index 2019, a Vietnamese passport is only slightly more powerful than Myanmar among Southeast Asian neighbors, with visa free access to 51 destinations, three more than the latters’ 48 countries.

Laos has surpassed Vietnam to claim the 86th in the global index, gaining two positions from last year.

Singapore and Malaysia have the most powerful passports in the region, the former standing second in the world with visa exemption from 189 countries and the latter 12th with 179 countries.

The region’s biggest economy, Indonesia has gone down from 69th last year to 72nd this year.

Globally, Singapore shares its second spot with South Korea.

Japan has overtaken Singapore to have the most powerful passport in the world in 2019, with its citizens able to visit 190 countries and territories without applying for a visa.

France and Germany share the third rank; Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden share the fourth; followed by Luxembourg and Spain in fifth.

With the Donald Trump administration pursuing a more hostile immigration policy than his predecessors, the U.S. has lost its throne as the most powerful passport in the world.

This year, the American passport has fallen to sixth, down one place from last year and five from top rank in 2015.

The world’s weakest passports come from poor countries mired in conflict like Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Passport holders from these nations can only visit between 32 and 39 other countries without visas.

The Henley Passport Index, released early this month, ranked passports of 199 countries and territories in the world based on data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of travel information.

“The latest ranking shows that despite rising isolationist sentiment in some parts of the world, many countries remain committed to collaboration,” Christian H. Kälin, group chairman of Henley & Partners, said in a statement.

He said the growing trend towards visa openness is unlikely to slow down. Overall, 2019 looks set to hold “some surprises in the travel freedom space as more countries and citizens embrace the benefits of global mobility,” he said.

Vnexpress

VIB relocated its branch in Dong Nai to improve customer experience

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The Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has relocated its branch in the southern province of Dong Nai as part of its increasing effort to bring convenience and a safe experience to customers.

The Dong Nai branch is now based on Vo Thi Sau Street, Thong Nhat Ward, Bien Hoa City, the bank said in a statement.

VIB started its operation in Dong Nai Province since 2005, after 13 years, VIB has become one of the leading banks with one branch and four transaction offices.

As of January 2019, VIB Dong Nai has served more than 100,000 individual customers and hundreds of medium and large enterprises, helping meet the financial needs of local people and supplementing business capital for households and companies.

At the end of 2018, total lending and deposits of VIB in Dong Nai reached more than US$94.4 million and $180.3 million, respectively.

“The strong investment in facilities at VIB Dong Nai demonstrates our long-term commitment and powerful development in the locality to meet financial plans of individual and corporate enterprises in the area,” said Mr. Ho Van Long, the Deputy CEO and Head of Retail Banking at VIB.

“This is also a part of VIB’s roadmap for its new sales and service model putting customers at the centre since 2009,” Long added.

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