Stronger sanctions are needed to stop the delay and cancelation of flights, said Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The at a meeting on co-ordinating take-off and landing times, known as slots, held in Ha Noi on Thursday.
The said the delay and cancellation of trips is an urgent problem in society. It’s necessary to develop solutions strong enough to solve this, especially to serve the coming national day, which falls on September 2, New Year and the Lunar New Year holidays.
At the meeting, Director of Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAA) Dinh Viet Thang said there are many reasons for the delay and cancelation of flights. Weather causes 17.3 per cent and errors by airlines 63 per cent.
At Tan Son Nhat Airport, the capacity is 50 flights per hour but the airport allocates just 44 flights an hour. The airlines with on-time arrivals and departures for at least 80 per cent of the flights will receive priority to select slots next year.
The requested the transport ministry’s units and agencies study sanctions in a more serious way, issuing clear penalties for every delay and cancellation.
“It’s necessary to invest in the application of technologies and infrastructure to ensure safety for night flights, complete the coordination process at the airports, and clearly define the responsibilities of each section,” said The.
The requested the CAA deploy immediately some solutions and make changes in the quality of services as of October 1 this year, preparing to serve passengers during the upcoming holidays, ensuring they do not have to wait too long at the airports.
According to CAA statistics in the first seven months of this year, the total number of flights operated by four airlines, including Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific and Vasco, is 177,510 flights, of which 26,578 were delayed and canceled.
Experts have voiced their concern about the capability of Vietnamese retailers, wondering if they can compete with powerful foreign retail groups flocking to Vietnam.
The Decree 81 guiding the implementation of the Commercial Law stipulates that the promotional value can be equal to up to 100 percent of the prices of promotional goods instead of 50 percent as stipulated in the old Decree 37.
Manufacturers and retailers are gearing up to prepare for the huge sale promotion campaign on the occasion of National Day, September 2.
A representative of Saigon Co-op, which holds the largest market share in the south, said on Nguoi Lao dong that the retail systems belonging to Saigon Co-op plan big discount rates for some strategic products. Big C, Lotte Mart and Aeon have also said they have got ready for the campaign.
In the campaign, retailers will, for the first time, be able to offer the discount rate of 100 percent for products.
Experts have applauded the new decision, saying that this will benefit customers because they can buy goods at best products, and benefit retailers and manufacturers as well, because they can apply the most suitable pricing policies to attract customers.
However, the experts warned that the new regulation may pave the way for unhealthy competition. Big retail chains may dump prices to lure customers and then corner the market. As a result, small retail chains will be swallowed by the big ones.
Do Quoc Huy, marketing director of the Vietnamese owned Saigon Co-op, said if enterprises sell products at below cost prices, this will lead to unhealthy competition. Therefore, it is necessary for management agencies to control the input prices of products and apply heavy sanctions to deter violators.
Huy also thinks that in the long term, the regulation on 100 percent promotion value will bring advantages to big retailers.
Saigon Co-op is one of ‘big retailers’, and so is Vinmart. However, there are only several Vietnamese retailers like these. The majority of big players in the market are foreign invested.
The Hanoi Supermarket Association, which has dissolved, once estimated that 50 percent of the retail market share belonged to foreign groups. Some experts believe the real figure was higher.
More and more foreign retailers have flocked to Vietnam recently. They have not only opened hypermarkets and shopping malls, but also small supermarkets and convenience stores.
Vu Vinh Phu, a retail expert, estimates that each sale point in foreign retail chains has revenue 5-7 times higher than Vietnam’s supermarkets. Therefore, once foreign retail chains have the right to raise promotion value, they will have more ‘weapons’ to struggle with Vietnamese ones.
As fast food giants Lotteria and KFC report losses despite dominating the domestic market, their attractiveness to customers shows no signs of abating.
Giants report business losses
Active in Vietnam since the 1990s with a 26-per-cent annual growth rate, KFC has expanded its scale to 140 stores across the country and holds 60 per cent of Vietnam’s fried chicken market. Lotteria, entering the country since 2004, has also quickly cemented its position holding 60-70 per cent of the hamburger and sandwich market with 220 stores nationwide.
Taking advantage of being fast food pioneers and offering acceptable priced dishes, good service, and clean spaces, KFC and Lotteria have continued to hold their positions in the market, despite new players, including McDonald’s, Jollibee, and Burger King, all competing for customers.
The latest financial reports of KFC and Lotteria recorded revenues of trillions of VND. KFC in 2015 and 2016 reached an average revenue of VND1.2 trillion ($53.1 million) per year with a 10-per-cent gross margin. Lotteria achieved revenues of VND1.46 trillion ($64.6 million) and VND1.3 trillion ($57.52 million) in 2015 and 2016, respectively, with a gross margin of nearly 60 per cent.
According to a 2016 Euromonitor report, the two giants’ business results are unsurprising because the fast food segment ranked second in the Vietnamese food market. However, more surprisingly, both fast food firms reported business losses despite earning huge revenues in Vietnam.
Attributing the problem to rising costs, Lotteria recorded after-tax losses of VND118 billion ($5.2 million) in 2015 and VND135 billion ($5.97 million) in 2016. KFC also recorded an after-tax loss of VND25 billion ($1.1 million) in 2015 and a tiny after-tax profit of VND15 billion ($663,716) in 2016, blaming the high cost of materials imported from its parent company in the US. High costs for selling and importing materials and machines are common reasons behind firms, especially foreign firms, reporting losses. Even global giant Coca Cola has experienced losses attributed to high overheads, despite a 20-year presence in Vietnam.
With the huge revenues as well as hundreds of stores across the country, the two fast food giants’ reports of business losses raise questions about the real causes, and about whether rapidly diversifying fast food options are reducing consumer interest in KFC and Lotteria.
Vietnamese fast food market becomes more dynamic
Over the last 10 years, fast food brands have sprung up across Vietnam. It is very easy to find a fast food store with modern furniture, glass doors, and cool air conditioning. The density of fast food outlets is increasing, not only in the commercial centres and big cities, but also in other provinces. Fast food companies have proactively conducted franchising to open more and more new stores in lucrative sites. In addition, the growing footprint of Vietnamese brands has made the fast food market more dynamic.
VietMac rice burgers, after exploding onto the local market in 2012 but then quickly trading down, now have a presence at 300 out of 600 Vinmart+ stores, Vingroup’s leading retail brand. Besides Vinmart+, its products are available at Shop and Go, Family Mart, Cafe, Fivimart, Aeon, Seika Mart, Minh Hoa Mart, among others.
Besides rice burgers, the proliferation of banh mi store chains such as iBanhmi, Bami Bread, and Banh Mi V+ has become a new fast food wave flooding the domestic market.
With the advantages of reasonable price and traditional taste, which appeal to a large number of Vietnamese people, it is expected that the new players will break the monopoly of the two giants over the next few years to become the first choice for many customers wishing to experience Vietnamese fast food.
In fact, despite Vietnamese fast food’s advantages in competing with street foods, its scale is small compared to experienced giants like KFC and Lotteria. For instance, iBanhmi, Bami Bread, and Banh Mi V+ have 2, 16, and 17 stores, respectively. Undiversified dishes and under three years in the market are the main reasons why domestic fast food chain has not yet taken off in the promising market and is not achieving similar revenues to KFC and Lotteria.
Business losses are unbelievable
VIR has observed that even after 8.00P.M, fast food stores are still crowded with customers, mainly teenagers and families with children. Dieu Linh, a customer waiting in line in one Lotteria store in Van Quan in Hanoi’s Hadong district, told VIR that she had waited for over five minutes but still not ordered.
Due to understanding the tastes of children and teenagers, since entering the Vietnamese market, KFC and Lotteria have targeted middle-income families with children and teenagers, and have received huge interests from these customers for their eye-catching promotions and diversified menues.
32-year-old Hong Hanh from Hanoi’s Dong Da district told VIR, “My two kids are really keen on fried chicken from KFC and Lotteria. When they get high marks in school, or on birthdays, they want to be taken there to eat. I often to queue up to wait for food at these stores, I think they can make large profits.”
Pricing is one of the inevitable factors deciding on the choice of fast food stores. With VND60,000 ($2.65), consumers can enjoy a food and drink set in a clean space and air conditioning in fast food stores, instead of spending at least VND100,000 ($4.42) per person for food in local restaurants and around VND500,000 ($25) per adult in high-end restaurants.
26-year-old Phuong Thao, also from Dong Da district, said, “My colleagues and I often order fast food from KFC and Lotteria for lunch or dinner. The dishes do not really suit my appetite, but the prices are reasonable, the space is clean, and the delivery is good. These stores are rather crowded when we come so I can not imagine how their business experience looses.”
“When studying full day, my classmates and I commonly land in KFC or Lotteria near our university. Each of us spend from VND50,000 ($2.21) for a lunch set of food and drink. They gain a lot of benefits from us,” said Viet Hoang, a student of Hanoi Economy University.
Forbes Vietnam held a ceremony on August 23 to honour the 40 most valuable brands in Vietnam in 2018.
The total value of those companies is estimated at nearly US$8.1 billion, an increase of about 50% compared to the 2017 list. The surge is attributed to the robust growth of Vietnam’s stock market, which drives up the average price-earnings ratio in most sectors.
Consumer good businesses still dominate this year’s list, meanwhile those in the finance-banking sector narrow the gap as more commercial banks list their shares on the stock market.
Dairy giant Vinamilk maintains its top position in the list, with an estimated brand value of US$2.28 billion, much higher than the US$1.7 billion last year. The company is followed by military-run telecom firm Viettel with US$1.39 billion.
State-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) takes over third position from Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest real estate company. With a value of US$416 million, VNPT gets its name in the list for the first time.
The other brands in the top ten are the country’s biggest brewery Sabeco (US$393 million), Vinhomes, the residential property arm of Vingroup (US$384 million), Vinaphone, one of Vietnam’s big three mobile operators and belonging to VNPT (US$308 million), Vingroup (US$307.2 million), food and beverage producer Masan Consumer (US$238 million), Vietcombank (US$177.9 million), and tech giant FPT (US$169 million).
Vinhomes and Vinaphone are also newcomers in the list.
Forbes compiled the list by looking at brands’ incomes before and after tax based on their financial reports and data on the stock market.
MobiFone has named deputy general director Nguyen Dang Nguyen as its new CEO in place of the disgraced Cao Duy Hai.
Hai, 57, was removed last Tuesday for his role in the illegal acquisition of a TV firm in 2016 by the Ministry of Information and Communications, which runs the corporation.
Nguyen also remains deputy general director in charge of technology area.
Hai has also been sacked from the company’s board after being found responsible for “serious violations” in the acquisition of private pay TV firm Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG).
According to the Central Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Hai had been personally involved in the acquisition and signed many documents in violation of laws to come up with a deal that caused a significant loss to the government.
MobiFone had made headlines in 2016 when it announced it was breaking into the pay TV market with the acquisition of a 95 percent stake in AVG.
But the Government Inspectorate concluded the deal, which had not been approved by the government, had violated investment laws and caused an estimated VND7 trillion ($307 million) loss to the government.
In a report on the deal last March inspectors said MobiFone had committed multiple violations in proposing the deal and AVG’s valuation.
The ministry and MobiFone were responsible for the serious violations of the laws in assessing, approving and going ahead with the deal, the inspectorate said.
MobiFone’s after tax profit dropped 26 percent year-on-year to VND1.95 trillion ($86.6 million) in the first half of this year as revenues fell 8 percent to VND14.7 trillion ($653.3 million).
But the country’s third largest telco has said with the new CEO taking over it expects to achieve the full year’s financial targets.
Few things capture ‘history’ like the difference between one generation and the next. Years ago, these athletes’ parents fled Vietnam. But for their basketball-loving sons, it offers the chance to live out a dream.
One day in 1980, a teenager named Nelson Nguyen left home in Da Nang, Vietnam.
He got onto a barge with hundreds of others fleeing their war-torn country, and disembarked at a Hong Kong refugee camp after three days at sea. It took two more months before he could send his parents a telegram to tell them he was alive. From Hong Kong he went to Washington, D.C., and then to southern California, where he raised a son who loved basketball.
Horace Nguyen grew up watching Kobe Bryant lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships. Nelson set up a hoop at home and cheered as his son played for the local rec league and travel teams, then his high school and university. As graduation approached in the spring of 2016, Horace doubted he would make a professional team – but he didn’t want to give up on his dream.
Then he heard that the Vietnam Basketball Association, the country’s first major pro league, was holding tryouts in Los Angeles ahead of its inaugural season. A few months later, Horace was flying to join the Da Nang Dragons, in a coastal city not wholly unlike L.A.: miles of palm tree-lined beaches, bright tropical sunshine, and an increasing number of sleek high-rises.
Horace Nguyen – Danang Dragon’s Guard
“When I came over to join the VBA, on both my mom and dad’s side [of the family] it was their first time watching basketball,” Horace said. “And now they’re in love.”
Basketball is becoming big business in Vietnam – and an experiment in building a sports culture essentially from scratch. Key to its sales pitch are so-called heritage players like Horace: a dozen VBA athletes who grew up outside Vietnam, mostly in the United States, and have at least one Vietnamese parent or grandparent. Many are children of refugees. Today, they’re often star players in a league whose existence underscores Vietnam’s transformation in a single generation, from war-torn and isolated to booming and internationalized.
Horace, who at 5’10” led the VBA in three-point field goals in 2016 and 2017, has become a familiar face of the Da Nang Dragons. (For part of the year, he plays for the Saigon Heat in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Basketball League, as well.) A fluent Vietnamese speaker, he helps local players connect with American teammates and coaches, and spends spare time with his grandparents and aunts. In Facebook posts, he writes that he’s playing “for the hometown.”
“When I’m putting on my jersey and playing for my team, it’s also playing for the city and my family,” he says.
Playing to prove
“Let’s go Warriors, let’s go!” chants a crowd wearing the Thang Long Warriors’ signature red. The Dragons have flown to Hanoi to play the Warriors, the capital city’s second team, and the gymnasium is packed. Dancers perform between quarters, and fans grasp for t-shirts hurled into the stands. When the game ends with a victory for the Warriors, 93-79, balloons rain down to the tune of DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win,” and fans flood the court for pictures and autographs.
All of this – a sports event as flashy entertainment from beginning to end – arrived in Vietnam with the Saigon Heat in 2011. Previous national basketball tournaments drew few spectators, and Vietnam’s soccer crowds, while often huge and energetic, are generally focused on the field.
A sports-entertainment company, the XLE Group, established the team to compete in the ASEAN Basketball League, founded in 2009, and to help lay the groundwork for the VBA. XLE Group founder Connor Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and grew up in Kansas, says the company viewed fast-developing Vietnam as increasingly likely to embrace new entertainment trends.
Connor Nguyen – Founder of XLE Group
“We had to attract a lot of people to come to the game and learn basketball along the way,” says Connor. Rather than recruit talent with no ties to Vietnam, they searched for heritage players, hoping potential fans would identify with them.
Da Nang Dragons assistant coach and interpreter Nguyen Khoa Cap, who grew up playing basketball in the Mekong Delta, the rice bowl of Vietnam, says many people think of the game as a “royal sport” that requires expensive equipment to succeed. Some assume Vietnamese players were too short to be good. But the heritage players’ dynamic playing style proves that isn’t true, says Mr. Cap, who, like many Vietnamese, prefers to be referred to by his given name.
In Hanoi, as the Dragons vs. Warriors game begins, Nguyen Anh Quan’s 9-year-old son is among the young players escorting the pros onto the court. When Mr. Quan was growing up, basketball wasn’t popular, he says, but now kids learn it at school – and he and many other parents encourage them to practice, hoping it will help their children get taller.
Rules of the road
Heritage players feel cultural differences on the court and off. Because fans’ preferences haven’t yet solidified into rivalries, for example, they tend to cheer for both teams, creating what Horace calls the best atmosphere he’s ever played in.
“The fans will literally cheer about everything. Even if you’re at a home game and the other team scores they’ll cheer, or like on a dead ball where the ref called a foul already and the guy scores,” Horace says. “You can see the love and joy while they’re watching. It’s super intense, it’s nerve-wracking.”
Traffic and road rules were a shock to many foreign players: to the uninitiated, crossing the street safely amid Vietnam’s swarms of motorbikes can appear as miraculous as parting the Red Sea – and Dragons player Chris Dierker, a Michigander whose mother was born in Da Nang, crashed the first time he tried to drive one. The VBA plays other cultural differences for light-hearted laughs, inviting foreign players to eat traditional foods in a series of YouTube videos called Just Try It. They enjoy noodle dishes and sticky rice with banana, but pinch their noses as they sniff durian, reputed to be the world’s smelliest fruit, and leap from their chairs when presented with a bowl of wriggling coconut larvae.
In many ways, however, life in Vietnam is similar to life in the US. When Horace was a kid, he spent family trips to Vietnam mourning the absence of McDonald’s. But the Golden Arches opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014. Zach Allmon, a so-called import player for the Dragons (each team is allowed one athlete with no Vietnamese heritage), says he gets questions from home about culture shock. His response? “Man, I’m sitting in Starbucks, listening to Taylor Swift on the radio, a Range Rover is driving by. I’m in southern California.”
For some parents of heritage players, however, painful family memories shadowed their sons’ decisions to come here.
Warriors guard Mr. Le’s parents were among the roughly 2 million refugees who left in the two decades after the fall of Saigon (today, Ho Chi Minh City). They spent several years in a refugee camp in Thailand, where they met, before getting paired with a Canadian sponsor. Before Mr. Le moved to Ho Chi Minh City, he’d never been to their home country. His parents weren’t happy with the idea, but to their son, Vietnam meant opportunity, not turmoil.
“I wasn’t thinking about their history at all,” he says. “I was more focused on trying to become a professional athlete.”
When Horace told his parents he wanted to try out for the VBA, they asked if he was sure. The war, he says, “was a scar to them.” Now, though, they’re glad.
“They always joke around, especially my dad,” Horace says. “‘I fled the country for the betterment of my life and my kids’ lives and now you want to go back to Vietnam to play basketball.’ ”
Inspiring the next
On a summer Saturday, Horace is at Da Nang’s Basketball Development Center, teaching 40 kids to dribble around cones he’s set up on the floor. Though the Center is independent of the VBA, the Dragons frequently help out – one of many ways the league is turning its popularity into more players.
The XLE Group aims to introduce basketball programming to 25,000 Vietnamese schools through a partnership with the National Basketball Association, says Connor. The NBA’s second-biggest market is next door, in China, and it aims to replicate that success in Southeast Asia. Jim Wong, who oversees youth programming in Asia, says the NBA hopes to reach up to 10 million Vietnamese kids in the next decade. But since the American league is still relatively little-watched here, Nguyen and Wong agree role models will most likely come from the VBA.
After the kids’ clinic, it’s time for team practice in an unairconditioned military gym a few kilometers away. “Be healthy to build and defend the fatherland,” a banner exhorts – referencing the call by Ho Chi Minh, founding father of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party.
As the Dragons work out, three teenagers wander in through an open door. They play for their school’s basketball team, visit every new court in Da Nang, and come to the gym almost every day to watch the Dragons practice. Pham Quoc Thai, 15, wears an orange Da Nang Dragons backpack and stands with his hands on his hips as he surveys the court.
“They are professionals,” Thai says. “It’s like we’re watching the NBA.” He praises Horace’s three-pointers and team leadership before heading outside. The soccer stadium next door is full of people cheering for a match, but Thai and his friends head for the basketball court.
A downpour which brings about 50-100mm of water during a two-hour period likely causes flooding in at least 15 areas in the city, said director of the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Chu Phu My.
“Flooding occurred because of high density of construction in the city’s inner districts and an improperly-managed sewage system, with pumping stations in the city unable to meet drainage demand during heavy rain,” My said.
In a workshop on sewage and wastewater treatment technology held in Hanoi yesterday, vice director of the city’s Department of Construction Hoang Cao Thang said that the seven wastewater treatment stations operating in the city could deal with about 270,000cu.m daily, meeting just 22 per cent of the city’s wastewater treatment demand.
According to the construction department, the city faced other problems relating to water drainage and wastewater treatment such as polluted surface water of rivers and lake, a lack of atlas data on drainage systems and wastewater treatment.
The sewage system in the city crosses other underground works like electricity/tap water and telecommunication services.
Mud dredged from wastewater treatment plants, sewers and lakes and rivers’ beds was all dumped, harming the environment.
Thang said that for years, Hanoi has called for investment for its sewage and wastewater treatment, especially via official development assistance (ODA) or Public-Private Partnership (PPP) investment projects.
In this area, he said, Japan was a partner that helped the city much.
Japan’s ODA was spent on projects including Yen Xa wastewater treatment plant and a garbage collection system in Thanh Tri District, a water drainage system in the To Lich River basin, embankments along the To Lich, Lu, Set and Kim Nguu rivers as well as sewers in the inner city.
Between 2013 and 2015, the city’s Department of Construction and Japan’s Department of Innovation Management and Environmental Sciences of Yokohama City joined the first phase of a project improving capacity building for sewage management in Hanoi.
Under this phase, Japan’s Yokohama Water Ltd Company under Yokohama City Waterworks Bureau assisted Hanoi to improve capacity to deal with mud waste, identify problems relating to mud treatment and introduce advanced technology to tackle them.
The project’s second phase commenced last December and is expected to conclude in March, 2020 with total investment of about 60 million JPY (US$541,300).
It will cover the operation and maintenance of pilot wastewater treatment plants, mud treatment, mitigation of losses from floods in pilot areas and organisation of seminars with the co-operation of member firms from the Yokohama water enterprises’ association.
Ha Thanh Tung, head of the project, said the project will also help Hanoi develop effective mud treatment plans and solutions to mitigate damage caused by flooding.
The city is also recommended to develop a Geographic Information System map database on its sewage to provide an overview of its sewage system and then.
Nomura Norikiko, head of Department of Innovation Management and Environmental Sciences of Yokohama City, said Yokohama was one of few cities in the world that developed its sewage system quickly since the 1970s to improve living conditions.
“Green space and lake/river with clean water are evidences for our success in managing environment,” he said.
“Synchronised actions are needed to create good environment as well as to protect residents in cases of natural disasters, for example heavy rains,” he said, adding that sustainable urban management required co-operation among government, organisations, businesses and schools.
The Tam Nho Cai Luong Club (reformed opera), a newly opened private art troupe in HCM City, will offer a new show featuring young artists this Saturday.
The event, Dem Tam Nho (Night of Little Silkworm), will stage popular excerpts from historical plays directed by Chi Linh.
Young talents Chi Linh, Van Ha, Kim Thoa and Thuy My, students at HCM City University of Theatre & Cinematography, play the leading roles.
Minh Truong, winner of Chuong Vang Vong Co (Golden Bell) Awards 2014 presented by HCM Television, will perform in excerpts highlighting national heroes.
“Our performance highlights patriotism and loyalty. The plays feature very old stories but will be staged in a new style to meet the demand of young people,” said the show’s art director Linh.
According to Linh, free outdoor shows at rural cultural houses of Can Gio, Binh Chanh, Nha Be, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon will also be planned.
“We face difficulties in offering a stable income to our staff. However, we love to entertain rural people,” he said.
The first show of Dem Tam Nho will open at 8pm at the HCM City Drama Theatre, 30 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1, on Saturday.
Young actor Bao Khanh and his colleagues will stage a live show at only VND50,000 ($2.1) for students.
He will perform extracts from popular operas like Than Nu Dang Ngu Linh Ky (Goddess offers Magical Flag) and Mong Hoa Vuong (A Dream of Thrones), which are about love and women.
He will sing with support from Binh Tinh, Hoang Dang and Cong Minh, who work for leading cai luong theatres in HCM City and southern provinces.
The show will be staged at the Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre, 136 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1, on August 31.
Vietnamese are increasingly borrowing money to spend on consumer goods as consumer loans had reached $5 billion by the end of 2017.
The high demand for consumer credit has prompted more and more investors to set up finance companies. The Cement Finance JSC has changed its name to VietCredit Finance Company, while EVN Finance has begun recruiting workers in large numbers to prepare for the operation.
SeABank has announced the purchase of the entire capital contribution by VNPT at VNPT Finance. SHB at the 2018 shareholders’ meeting stated it will soon implement the plan on building a finance company of its own.
Shinhan Bank has made its presence in the market by taking over Prudential Finance at $151 million. Lotte from South Korea has wrapped up the deal of taking over Techcom Finance at VND1.7 trillion.
Reports all show that finance companies have been expanding their business as they are encouraged by fat profits. FE Credit reported revenue up by 45 percent and profit up by 55 percent in 2017 compared with the year before.
Meanwhile, Home Credit’s revenue in 2017 increased by 50 percent.
Even Mcredit, a joint venture of Military Bank and Shinsei Bank, which just joined the market last year, also reported profits in the first year of operation.
Regarding the market scale, a report of the National Finance Supervision Council (NFSC) showed that the consumer credit in 2017 increased by 65 percent, much higher than the 50.2 percent increase of the year before.
Consumer credit now accounts for 18 percent of total outstanding loans, higher than the 12.3 percent of one year before.
It is estimated that the consumer credit market is valued at VND1,100 trillion, or $48.5 billion. However, if excluding the large loans provided to fund some house purchases, consumer credit for individual borrowers is valued at VND90 trillion, or $5 billion only.
Even with $5 billion, the consumer credit market is also very attractive. According to StoxPlus, about 48 percent of population with low income of less than $300 a month could be potential clients of consumer credit companies.
Analysts noted that in the last two years, some finance companies have begun pushing up lending via credit cards. The revenue from credit cards amounts to 2.8 percent of total consumer credit, which shows the great potential of the market segment, according to StoxPlus.
Some finance companies said they will focus on developing their own ecosystems. Mcredit, for example, is providing lending packages for purchase of motorbikes and home appliances by instalment, applied to soldiers in active service.
Mcredit mostly targets individual clients who are working in enterprises with which the Military Bank has relations.
Vietnam welcomed San Francisco’s landmark verdict against Monsanto and called upon the company to pay compensation for Agent Orange victims in Vietnam, deputy foreign ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra told a press briefing in Hanoi on Thursday.
“The verdict serves as a legal precedent which refutes previous claims that the herbicides made by Monsanto and other chemical corporations in the US and provided for the US army in the war are harmless,” Tra said in response to the media’s queries on the Vietnamese Government’s reaction to the decision by a US court asking that Monsanto pay US$289 million to an American citizen who claimed that the company’s weed killer contained undisclosed carcinogens.
“Vietnam has suffered tremendous consequences from the war, especially with regard to the lasting and devastating effects of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange,” Tra said, referring to a heavily controversial herbicide and defoliant manufactured by the Missouri-based agrobusiness multinational and used extensively by the US Army during the war in Vietnam in the 1960-70s, which have shown links to widespread illnesses and birth defects among those exposed to it.
Up to 80 million litres of herbicides were sprayed over an area comparable to one-fourth of southern Vietnam, destroying the natural environment and leaving three million Vietnamese grappling with health issues.
Vietnam is home to talented designers whose brands are increasingly being thrust into the international spotlight. From bamboo furniture to graceful gemstone jewelry, here are 10 product designers in Vietnam introduced by Katie Kalmusky (The Culture Trip‘s contributor) you should know about.
The designers behind this unique Vietnamese brand drew their inspiration from the dreary day they came upon a small blue bird as it lay dying outside an abandoned shopping mall. They were inspired by the haunting beauty of the dead bird and channeled that into their unique collection of gemstone jewelry and other elegant, handmade accessories. The Dead Bird is currently in the process of moving to their new location on Le Thanh Ton, but in the meantime check out their Instagram and try to resist ordering the many beautiful pieces in their collection!
Duong Jewelry & Objects
The designer behind Duong Jewelry & Objects is Nga Duong, who grew up in Hanoi amidst her father’s extensive gemstone collection. In 2001, Nga graduated from the Hanoi Industrial Art College and then attended a three-year course on jewelry design at the European Institute of Design in Milan, Italy. She returned to Vietnam in 2013 and created her empire in picturesque Hoi An using the gemstones in her father’s collection. Each gorgeous piece of statement jewelry is handmade with gemstones found in Vietnam. Her flagship store is inside Hoi An’s Gemstone Art Museum, which was opened by her father.
Freewill Leather
This collection of handmade leather goods is the brainchild of Thanh Huynh, who previously studied industrial design but quickly discovered it wasn’t for her. Instead, she took a basic course to learn about leather crafting and found her passion. She opened her business with a few friends and went on to design this sleek, popular line of leather products. “I wanted to do something that has a touch of Asian vibes in colour and design that make us different to other local brands,” she wrote to Culture Trip. “I love the feeling when I see my customers happy with their bags which are custom-made… [the brand] becomes more unique this way.”
Her line ranges from simple, elegant wallets to stylish bracelets and to classic handbags – all of which can be described as minimalist-chic. Check out her Facebook page for more information and to see her full range of gorgeous accessories. She runs a small working studio in Saigon’s Binh Thanh district but mostly sells her products though her Facebook account.
District Eight is a design firm based in Ho Chi Minh City. According to their website, the designers create quality work inspired by the industrial age. Their website says much of their work is a reflection of the “raw, bold character” of their surroundings in the big city. District Eight prides themselves on creating handcrafted furniture that combines “industrial elements with modern aesthetics”. Have a peek at their website,Facebook and Instagram for more information and to see new pieces of their cool, minimalist collections.
The designers behind these amazing custom, handmade metals are co-founders Greg and Oanh, who create each piece in their Saigon workshop. Their products are named after areas in Saigon and Vietnam, such as the “District 4” earrings and “Hue” bracelet. Their silver is sourced from northern Vietnam, while copper and brass are sourced from Italy or Japan. According to their Facebook page, each piece is struck with a hammer 300 times and is then shaped, sanded, twisted, and filed in their workshop. Check out their Instagram page and website for more pictures, products, and order details.
Bamboo Master
Bamboo Master is run by Lam and James Wolf, who represent the perfect blend of East and West. American-born James heads design and quality control, as Lam owns and manages the company. Their quality products range from furniture, home and garden decor, water fountains, children’s toys, and even bicycle frames! They also take on custom projects. According to Bamboo Master’s website, Lam and James select the highest quality bamboo sourced from several sustainable plantations in central and southern Vietnam. Speaking of sustainability, bamboo is one of the most sustainable resources in the world – so featuring one of Bamboo Master’s pieces in your home or garden will look beautiful while supporting renewable resources.
Marrakesh Leather
According to their website, founder Grant Hawkins was previously smitten with a leather messenger bag he bought while traveling in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2014. One year later he started to crave more adventure. “I worked for a giant solar energy company in America but wasn’t happy,” he wrote to Culture Trip. “I wanted to do something related to design, open a company, move to Asia and do something related to sustainability, and handmade leather checked all the boxes.” Three years later, Marrakesh Leather sells a variety of sustainable leather goods that are made from high-quality, low-impact materials that are selected from around the world. Craftswomen make everything by hand in its Ho Chi Minh City studio.
As for how Marrakesh Leather integrates sustainability into its business model, the company only uses full vegetable grain, tanned cowhide leather, eliminating dangerous chemicals (such as chromium) often used in the tanning industry.
Thuy Design House
Thuy Nguyen, founder of Thuy Design House, routinely blends art with fashion to create her mesmerizing designs. She started her career as a painter before transitioning into the world of fashion. She launched Thuy Design House in 2011. According to Nguyen Kien, the brand manager of the company, Thuy is inspired by traditional Vietnamese elements combined with contemporary features. Her ao dai designs were recently featured in the popular Vietnamese film Co Ba Sai Gon! Furthermore, Thuy founded The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre to “create and host interdisciplinary contemporary art and cultural activities, connecting art and art lovers alike”. Check out her Facebook , Instagram, and YouTube channel to see more of her incredible designs.
Neo Nguyen is an industrial designer in Ho Chi Minh City who describes himself as a “perfectionist, especially in design,” His impressive portfolio includes elegant watches, modern teapots, redesigned air purifiers and more, plus a seriously amazing sketchbook. This talented designer is also a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City’s University of Architecture. You can keep up with his latest designs by following him on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
YNOT Design
YNOT Design is run by Marie and Kien, each bringing distinctive elements into their designs from their different cultural backgrounds. Marie is French and Kien is Vietnamese, and together they run their design store in Tay Ho, a cosmopolitan area of Hanoi. YNOT is known for its rich, brightly hued furniture produced using local bamboo and traditional techniques, which have proved to be popular with their Vietnamese and international customers. YNOT designs also feature elegant spins on usual household items, to the point where you find yourself really craving a new dustbin. Browse their products on their website or head to their store if you’re in Hanoi!
Goods & Tourism Week is to demonstrate the close relationship and cultural exchange that have long existed between Thailand and Vietnam, at Central World Bangkok, Thailand from August 22-26.
Vietjet invites visitors to explore the airline’s booth and enjoy exciting activities during the week, which include live dance performances, games, lucky draw prizes, free promotions and chances to win free flight tickets around the region.
The airline currently operates six routes between Thailand and Vietnam including Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City / Hanoi/ Hai Phong/ Dalat; Phuket-Ho Chi Minh City and Chiangmai – Ho Chi Minh City. As part of Vietjet group, Thai Vietjet now has a fleet of five A320 aircraft that operate five domestic routes including Bangkok-Chiangmai/ Chiangrai/ Phuket/ Krabi and Phuket-Chiangrai. The Vietnam News Agency reported.
There were more than 140 Vietnamese-made commodities merchandised at the Vietnam Week last year, and this year’s event is set to be the largest yet.
“Vietjet is very pleased to partner with Central Group at this event to further promote Vietnamese cuisine, tourism and goods. With an expanding flight network of six Thailand-Vietnam routes and five Thai domestic routes, Vietjet proudly serves as an ambassador connecting local and international travelers between the two countries and beyond. I believe that, apart from typical and popular Vietnamese cuisine, goods and tourism products, visitors may also enjoy a wide range of Vietjet’s activations and promotions, including opportunity to win free flight tickets at the event,” said Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, Vietjet’s Vice President.
Vietjet is the first airline in Vietnam to operate as a new-age airline with low-cost and diversified services to meet customers’ demands. It provides not only transport services but also uses the latest e-commerce technologies to offer various products and services for consumers.
It is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. The airline was also named in Top 500 Brands in Asia 2016 by global marketing research company Nielsen and the “Best Asian Low Cost Carrier” at the TTG Travel Awards 2015, which compiles votes from travelers, travel agencies and tour operators in throughout Asia and Asia’s Best Employer Brand by the Employer Branding Institute and World HRD Congress for many years.
The airline was also rated as one of the top three fastest growing airline brands on Facebook in the world by Socialbakers.
Currently, the airline features a fleet of 60 aircraft, including A320s and A321s, and operates more than 385 flights each day. It has transported more than 60 million passengers on a network featuring 94 routes in Vietnam and across the region including Thailand, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Moving forward, the airline plans to expand its network across the Asia Pacific region. To prepare for this plan, Vietjet has signed agreements with the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers to purchase more brand-new and modern aircraft.
Viettel, a state-owned telecommunication company of Vietnam has set its sights on the Philippines as the next destination in its overseas expansion drive, the company said on Thursday, as the archipelago’s economy clears the way for the entry of a third operator.
Fixing the Philippines’ notoriously patchy and expensive telecom services was a campaign promise of populist President Rodrigo Duterte, who had said late last year that a third player would join the market and end the duopoly of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc., which have a combined market capital of about $10.7 billion.
“Viettel is interested in the third license on telecommunications in this market,” the military-run Viettel Group, Vietnam’s largest mobile carrier by subscription numbers, told Reuters in an emailed statement.
“Viettel will thoroughly consider participating in case the conditions of the bidding documents are in line with the strategy of Viettel.”
The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) issued draft rules this month on the entry of a third player, which require foreigners to team up with local partners holding congressional franchises.
Foreign ownership of a telecom firm in the Philippines is capped at 40 percent, although Eliseo Rio, the acting ICT head, told Reuters in a recent interview that moves were underway to change that, so foreigners can raise their stakes later on.
The Philippines has one of the world’s largest rates of average daily social media usage, yet insufficient infrastructure means its 105 million people suffer frequent dropped calls, weak signals and intermittent data.
Viettel has already invested in 10 countries across Asia, Africa and America, and had 43 million subscribers overseas, as of the end of 2017.
Last month, a Viettel official said the company was also eyeing opportunities in Ethiopia after the government there announced its intention to liberalize key economic sectors including telecommunications.
In June, Viettel and its local partners launched a $1.5 billion 4G network in Myanmar, making them the fourth telecom operator in the country.
Syria and Uzbekistan join Vietnam and South Korea in the last eight of the 2018 Asian Games after respective wins in the Round of 16.
South Korea finally showed their true colour in the 2018 Asian Games when they defeated Iran 0-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the competition. After a nervy slender 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan to confirm their place in the knock-out stage, the Koreans produced an outstanding performance to oust their rivals.
Dominating the match for most parts, Korea eventually took the lead five minutes before half time through Hwang Ui Jo. Lee Seung-moo confirmed the win over Iran with another goal just 10 minutes after the restart as Son Heung-min retains his chances of winning the gold medal.
Meanwhile the runners-up of the 2018 AFC U23 Championships had to toil for long periods before finally getting the goal they deserved in a slim 1-0 win over Bahrain. Vietnam shaded the match but had to wait until the 88th minute before Nguyen Cong Phuong rifled home the winner from close range.
It was a similarly close fight between Palestine and Syria with the latter also needing a late goal to seal their passage through being one of the best eight teams in the region. Ahmad Ashkar scored the only goal in the match in the 78th minute to keep Syria’s hopes alive.
Over at Wibawa Mukti Stadium, the result was more clear cut than the others as AFC U23 champions cruised to an easy 3-0 win over Hong Kong to set their sights on another success in this calendar year.
Uzbekistan was in a class of their own, with the Hong Kong side not even managing to win a single corner kick. Goals came through Ikromjon Alibaev (27′), Javokhir Sidikov (60′) and Zabikhillo Urinboev (65′) as they stomped their superiority on the match.
In the quarterfinal, Uzbekistan will played against South Korea while Syria will come up against the challenge of Vietnam with both matches scheduled to be played on August 27.
Another education official involved in a high school graduation exam cheating scandal in Sơn La Province was put under house arrest on Wednesday as the investigation expanded.
Sơn La Province launched an official investigation against Nguyễn Thanh Nhàn, deputy head of the Division of Examination and Quality Management under the provincial Department of Education and Training, accusing her of abuse of power – Vietnamnews reported.
The police also issued search warrants at her place of work and residence in Sơn La City.
An inspection by the education ministry into the results of the high school exit-cum-university entrance exams in Sơn La last month found that an unknown number of multiple-choice test results had been altered, while students were awarded inflated grades for their literature tests.
On July 31, police arrested Lò Văn Huynh, head of the examination and quality management division, his division officer Nguyễn Thị Hồng Nga, and Tô Hiệu High School vice rector Đặng Hữu Thủy.
Sơn La’s education department deputy director Trần Xuân Yến and Cầm Thị Bun Sọn, deputy head of the political ideology division, were also put under house arrest.
All of the involved were said to have abused their power to intervene in the tests’ results.
Cheating this year was deemed the biggest scandal in the education sector for a decade. Three localities were found to have raised the test scores of hundreds of students in the most important examination they take that determines their path to college.
Police have also arrested two education officials in Hòa Bình and Hà Giang provinces as separate probes into the fraud continues.
