Lazada is closing offices across Southeast Asia and Hanoi has not managed to dodge the axe.
Lazada Vietnam has confirmed closing its Hanoi office and move all operations to Ho Chi Minh City. The reason provided is not clear as the firm only cites ambitions to unify management and make training easier. A report by Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) mentioned.
“Most of the employees at the Hanoi office will retain their position or the position they would like in compliance with the company’s policy. They will also be supported when moving to Lazada in Ho Chi Minh City,” the representative of Lazada Vietnam told Zing.vn.
However, while some employees are indeed moving to Ho Chi Minh City, the majority of the Hanoi staff have quit, according to the newswire.
The demand for online shopping in the northern area in general and Hanoi in particular is increasing. Thus, Lazada Vietnam is developing its logistics department in Hanoi, including warehouses, shippers, and other departments.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the company is developing human resources on trade and technology, so some office and business development staff have been transferred from Hanoi.
Lazada started operating in Ho Chi Minh City six years ago and it opened its Hanoi office in 2015 with around 100 employees. This aimed to facilitate connectivity with firms and salesmen as well as expand Lazada’s market share in Hanoi and the whole northern area.
The closing of the Hanoi office and others in the region and over the world is in line with the firm’s strategy of unifying and concentrating human resources for Alibaba’s ambition of dominating the e-commerce market.
Alibaba spent $2 billion acquiring Lazada in 2016-2017. And this giant has just poured in an additional $2 billion last month to double its investment in Lazada in Southeast Asia.
Lazada also closed its technical centres in Bangkok (Thailand) and Moscow (Russia), and moved some of its employees to technical centres in Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and Guangzhou (China).
Three companies have opened up the foreign ownership limit to 100%, the State Securities Commission announced.
They include Vietnam-Italy Steel JSC (VIS), Petrovietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Corp (DPM) and confectionery Kido Group (KDC).
This decision was approved in the three companies’ annual shareholders meetings this year.
These companies are among the leading ones in their production industry.
Foreign ownership in Vietnam-Italy Steel JSC is almost 25% by February 21, 2018, of which Kyoei Steel Co is the largest foreign shareholder with a 20% stake.
Foreign possession in Petrovietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Corp was 24.5% and in Kido Group 19.62% by the end of last year.
Last year, the stock market witnessed a wave of listed companies lifting their foreign ownership restraint, including big companies in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries such as Hau Giang Pharmaceutical (DHG), Domesco Medical Import Export JSC (DMC), Bao Minh Insurance Corp (BMI) and PVI Holdings (PVI).
Ethnic-minority students have long been the subject of harrowing tales recounting school commutes laden with dangerous mountain climbs and river crossings in Vietnam.
For one group of ethnic-minority students in the northwestern region, the distressing commute comes in the form of a six-hour-long jungle trek, over streams and along cliffs, to make it between school and their isolated village.
Every weekend, the students of Hang Dong Middle School, a boarding school for underprivileged children in Bac Yen District, Son La Province, begin the treacherous journey back to the misty, remote village of Lang Sang.
The risk these students take for their education is high – 30 kilometers of jungle paths laden with venomous snakes and blinding fog along a path situated just inches away from steep cliffs, all without the aid of drinking water.
“Students can bring some food, but no water because it would be a burden during the uphill climb,” said Thao A Vu, a 33-year-old teacher at the school.
“I’m really sympathetic to them. Many adults baulk at entering the village through the jungle, but the children are forced to do it regularly.”
Students walk along a dirt road in the mountains of Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Students walk along a dirt road in the mountains of Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The first half of a recent journey consisted of the children walking along the trail and crossing several shallow streams. Then, the students reached the jungle separating them from their village.
Temperatures in the forest quickly dropped from the already frigid seven degrees Celsius measured at the foot of the mountain.
As freezing winds rustled showers of biting precipitation from treetops, Vu hurried the students through the cold, all the while keeping an eye out for venomous snakes and centipedes along the path.
The school does its best to prepare the students with survival skills that may help them prevent and mitigate the dangers of any animal attacks and flash flooding that might occur during the journey, such as using leaves from nearby trees to stop the spread of venom after a victim is bit.
Children study in groups while resting during their school commute in Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Children study while resting during their school commute in Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Most ethnic minority families in Son La Province live well below the poverty line – a situation which forces many parents to keep their children from attending school.
Teachers from Hang Dong, therefore, often visit their students’ homes to persuade parents to continue allowing their students to attend classes.
“Many students are forced to quit after middle school because their parents have passed away or their families are extremely poor. I feel sorry about their situation but don’t know how to help them,” Vu said.
“People in Lang Sang are so poor that they don’t have enough food to eat. They are also isolated from modern life, so they are slow in developing awareness,” said Dang Ngoc Phuc, the vice-principal at Hang Dong.
“The students are different though. They learn just as quickly as their urban peers.”
Students hide from the cold in blankets at a boarding school in Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Students work the land in Son La Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Mui Ne is losing its beautiful beaches to serious erosion which is damaging seaside resorts while local authorities have yet to find a solution.
The beach resort town in the southern province of Binh Thuan is now deserted as many tourists have decided to leave or not to come after seeing the situation.
A Mui Ne beach has no tourists on Labour Day holiday on May 1
According to several resorts in the area, over one kilometre of beaches in Ham Tien Ward have eroded up to 100 metres. Some resorts have had to spend lots of money to fix the problems.
A long beach has eroded
Manager of a resort in the area, Tran Van Minh, said his resort had spent VND400 million (USD17,629) to build an embankment to cope with the erosion but with little result.
“Waves have eaten nearly 100 metres of the beach at our resort,” Minh said.” We have lost 10 coconut trees, a beach-side spa facility and our restaurant is now being threatened. We have called for support from local authorities but have not received any response.”
Seaside restaurants are being damaged by the erosion
Director of Aria Mui Ne Resort, Mai Van Son, also said they are losing not only assets but also reputation when receiving many complaints about the beach from guests during the last month.
“They posted negative comments on websites and this has affected our rankings,” Son said. “Some foreign tourists even asked us to refund their bookings and leave right after arriving at our resort.”
Nguyen Hong Ngoc, owner of Suoi Tien Mui Ne Resort, said that she had never seen such serious erosion here before.
“I’ve run this resort for 18 years but we had never faced this problem before,” Ngoc said. “We’ve just lost the beautiful beach here in just a month. We’ve managed to create ways to the beach using sandbags but guests are still leaving us.”
Tourists face difficult finding a way to the beach
Ngoc said that she has had to pay over VND100 million in compensation to guests who did not agree to stay at her facility in that situation.
“Erosion is destroying our swimming pool and bungalows,” Ngoc said. “We’re losing them soon.”
Talking about the cause of the problems, head of Binh Thuan Provincial Irrigation Department, Vo Duc Anh, blamed the rampant construction of embankments by local resorts.
“The building of embankments to protect the beach should be carefully planned depending on the location,” Anh said. “These kinds of embankments cannot protect the beaches but will destroy them.”
The official also said that the embankment construction needed co-operation from different agencies including Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Department of Construction.
Meanwhile, former head of the Vietnam Institute for Sea and Island Research, Vu Thanh Ca, said that the shortage of sand was the main cause of erosion.
“We need to supply sand to the beaches,” Ca said. “But we need to carefully study the sand current in order to supply more sand to appropriate locations.”
Ca also warned not to build anything on the beach without carefully studying tides and the beaches to prevent erosion.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Granted Long Sought License for Business Operations in Vietnam; Prepares for Grand Opening
Issuance of License seen as the most significant commercial event in the biotechnology Company’s development of spider silk based materials
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB: KBLB) (“Company”), the leading developer of spider silk based fibers, is very happy to announce today the positive result of its five years of working with the Vietnamese government at both the central and provincial levels: The Company has been issued its long awaited Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC) required to begin its operations in Vietnam.
“These licenses to operate in a traditional silk producing region are the most substantial milestones for Kraig Labs commercial development since the creation of our first spider silk transgenics,” said Kraig Labs Founder and CEO, Kim Thompson. “Our teams in the U.S.A. and in Vietnam have been working closely with officials in Quang Nam province and with central government ministries to bring this long standing vision to reality.”
Kraig Labs receiving award at 2017 investment conference in Quang Nam, Vietnam.
The Company’s advanced silk production platform was designed specifically to fit within and utilize existing silk industry infrastructure. The Company’s systems were designed that way in order to provide what the Company believes to be a significant and nearly insurmountable competitive advantage. “Our work to obtain these approvals has been driven by our goal of producing recombinant spider silk on a large scale, which can only be achieved by harnessing the opportunities presented by existing large scale silk production infrastructure,” stated Thompson.
The Company has already proven through its contract with the U.S. Army that its spider silk technology can be scaled quickly and efficiently, moving from the laboratories of the University of Notre Dame and into its own research and production facilities. We are now on a path to scale our product to much greater levels, by harnessing existing silk production infrastructure with the capacity to match the demand for our spider silk materials.
“Today’s announcement is more than just a major milestone for the Company, it’s a revolutionary step in the commercialization of spider silk,” said Jon Rice, Kraig Labs’ COO. “More than five years of hard work, meetings, and extensive legal and regulatory paperwork, have gone into securing these approvals and licenses. We now stand ready to change an entire industry.”
“This is a historic moment for Kraig Labs and for all of our shareholders who have taken part in this journey with us. Our shareholders know how much time, effort and resources have been expended to reach this goal and for the Company to walk through this exciting threshold,” Thompson concluded.
Today’s announcement follows closely on the heels of last week’s announcement of the formation of the Company’s Vietnamese subsidiary Prodigy Textiles Co., Ltd., and the receipt of that subsidiary’s Investment Registration Certificate (IRC). Having been issued both its IRC and with today’s announcement, its Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC), Prodigy Textiles Co., Ltd. is preparing to begin operation. The issuance of these critical licenses mark a major milestone for Kraig Biocraft Laboratories and the commercialization of spider silk.
Kraig considers its new wholly owned subsidiary, Prodigy Textiles Co., Ltd., to be its spider silk production arm. Vietnam has been the focus of the Company’s efforts to launch commercial scale production of recombinant spider silk, due to the country’s existing silk production infrastructure. Kraig estimates that it can produce its recombinant spider silk at prices similar to mundane silk, giving the Company a tremendous competitive advantage.
The Company is now preparing for the grand opening of its subsidiary operations in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. Management is preparing to hire staff for the new facilities and is prepping the first allotment of transgenic silkworms to ship from its U.S. research headquarters.
To view the most recent edition of Kraig’s Spider Sense quarterly newsletter and/or to sign up for Company alerts, please go to http://www.KraigLabs.com/newsletter.
About Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (www.KraigLabs.com), a reporting biotechnology company is the leading developer of genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies.
The Company has achieved a series of scientific breakthroughs in the area of spider silk technology with implications for the global textile industry.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information
Statements in this press release about the Company’s future and expectations other than historical facts are “forward-looking statements.” These statements are made on the basis of management’s current views and assumptions. As a result, there can be no assurance that management’s expectations will necessarily come to pass. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “foresees,” “estimated,” “hopes,” “if,” “develops,” “researching,” “research,” “pilot,” “potential,” “could” or other words or phrases of similar import. Forward looking statements include descriptions of the Company’s business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions and goals. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security.
Contacts
for Kraig Biocraft Laboratories
Hansel Capital, LLC
Ben Hansel, 720-288-8495
ir@KraigLabs.com
To get your Enterprise Registration Certificate in Vietnam, contacts Global Business Service (GBS) Co., Ltd
Email: info@gbs.com.vn iMessage | SMS | Whatsapp | Viber | Call: +84903189033
Vietnam targets building at least three smart cities in 2017-2020. But to reach that goal, it needs to have better infrastructure, more money and a more qualified workforce.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), the biggest problem is that technical infrastructure cannot catch up with rapid urban development, causing traffic jams, lack of running water, flooding and pollution.
Smart cities will also require huge IT (information technology) human resources, which Vietnam is short of. VietnamWorks estimates that with the current 8 percent workforce growth rate, the country will lack 78,000 IT staff a year and 500,000 by 2020.
The ISO set of standards for smart city has 18 indicators in six areas: intelligent people, intelligent economy, smart living environment, intelligent digital government, smart life and smart communication.
However, Vietnam still has not set up national standards for smart cities that fit specific cultural, social and economic characteristics.
In Vietnam, a smart city is generally understood only as “the use of IT at a high level to improve the quality of people’s life”.
The difficulties were mentioned at an international conference on smart cities held in 2017. The participants warned that huge money will be needed to build smart cities.
Sharing economy
Though Vietnam is still struggling to build smart cities, experts believe the development of new economic models taking full advantage of technology from abroad will help Vietnam overcome difficulties.
The sharing economy is one of the models. In Vietnam, Uber and Grab are the most typical example of the sharing economy. The ride-sharing service has created a ‘revolution’ in Vietnamese travel.
With a phone app capable of handling thousands or millions of information at once, Uber helps connect idle means of transport with people with travel needs, and reduces traffic on the road, thus easing pressure on infrastructure.
Dang Thanh Hung, head of VNPT’s Smart City Research Division, said ‘sharing’ is the key word that creates smart cities.
“People talk a lot about ‘sharing city’ and ‘sharing economy’. Smart urban areas also have open data that needs to be ‘shared’ with people and businesses,” he said.
“Sharing information and connecting data will be effective solutions to help build smart cities,” he said.
A survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) commissioned by Uber found that HCM City’s urban infrastructure is overloaded with 8.2 million vehicles. However, if sharing vehicles become popular, the number of cars in circulation would decrease by 27 percent.
CV9 community football academy, found by the former captain of the Vietnam national football team Le Cong Vinh, made its debut in Ho Chi Minh City on May 2.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vinh said that the academy is a dream he has nurtured for a long time.
He revealed that he and Media Pool company, together with other partners, will coordinate in developing a healthy sport environment for trainees from 6-15 years old.
“I wish to develop community football to improve children’s physical health as well as their spirit of solidarity and mutual support in sport, while nurturing their love for football,” said Vinh.
He said that the academy will select talented players who want to become professional players and give them special training.
The CV9 academy has invited Australian player Marshall Soper, former member of the Australia’s national team, to work as technical advisor who will design training programmes for trainees.
The facility will also employ prestigious Vietnamese and foreign coaches, including Nguyen Thi Kim Hong, a player of Vietnam’s national female football team.
Along with football training, the trainees will also receive other caring services, including health care service.
As scheduled, the first courses of the academy will open in three locations at Districts 2 and 7 with a tuition fee of 2.2 million VND for eight classes per month.
Taiwan-based Formosa Group, which caused the largest environmental damage in 2016, is surprisingly not on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE)’s list of enterprises and industrial zones to be inspected this year.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental (MoNRE) has just announced the list of enterprises and industrial zones to be investigated for environmental compliance within the year.
90 enterprises in North Vietnam, including Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC, Saigon-Hanoi Beer JSC, Him Lam JSC, and Saovang Rubber JSC, will be inspected by MoNRE.
In the south, 106 enterprises appeared on MoNRE’s radar, including Thanh Le Import-Export Trading Corporation (the investor of Song Than 1 Industrial Zone), Dai Nam JSC (the investor of Song Than 2 Industrial Zone), Tan Thuan Co., Ltd., Minh Phu Hau Giang Seafood JSC, VietStar JSC, and Sao Ta Food JSC.
In Central Vietnam, MoNRE will inspect Chu Lai-Truong Hai Urban Infrastructure Investment and Development Co., Ltd., Chu Lai Industrial Zone Infrastructure Development Company, Lien Chieu Industrial Zone, Dana-Uc Steel JSC, and Danang Steel JSC.
MoNRE plans to spend VND34.5 billion ($1.51 million) on this bout of investigations, which will be sourced from its annual budget.
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index fell 21.18 points to close at 1,029.08 points on May 2 when the stock market reopened following the National Reunification Day and the International Labour Day.
More than 183 million shares were traded on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange at total value of over 5.7 trillion VND (250.8 million USD) on the day.
In large-cap stock group, PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation shares (GAS) and Vietinbank (CTG) hit the floor. The worst decliners in the VN30 basket included Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), which was down 5,000 VND per share.
Meanwhile, Vingroup (VIC), Vinamilk (VNM) and Vietcombank (VCB) closed its trading day with decreases ranging from 500 VND -1,800 VND per share. In stark contrast, green colour dominated shares of Masan Group Corporation (MSN) and Sabeco (SAB) until the end of the day.
In the basket, there were 22 declining codes, one moving sideways and seven others advanced.
The VN30-Index experienced a drop of 15.13 points to 1,012.84 points. There were 58 million units traded on the market, worth more than 2.73 trillion VND (119.24 USD).
On the northern bourse, the HNX-Index declined 1.67 points to end at 120.97 points. A total 45.6 million shares were traded on the Hanoi Stock Exchange for 695 billion VND (30.58 USD).
The UPCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) lost 0.64 point to close at 55.92 points. Nearly 19 million units were traded at a value of 326 billion VND (14.34 million USD).
Top music streaming platform Spotify said on Wednesday (May 2) that it narrowed its losses in the first quarter, but it disappointed investors by keeping its full-year guidance steady.
Filing earnings for the first time in the wake of its listing a month ago on the New York Stock Exchange, the Swedish company said that it lost €41 million (US$49 million) in the three months through March.
The losses were down from €139 million in the same quarter a year earlier and figured within the company’s expectations.
But Wall Street focused on Spotify’s full-year forecast, which it did not adjust despite the rapid growth of music streaming worldwide.
Spotify said that it still expected to lose €230 million to €330 million for the year.
After a robust debut on the market last month, Spotify share prices tumbled in after-hours trade on Wednesday. Spotify was down eight per cent two hours after its earnings announcement, up from initial lows.
Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek said that the company saw continuous growth in streaming and that he was not worried by competition from Apple.
“We don’t see any kind of meaningful impact of competition,” Ek told reporters and analysts on a telephone call.
“When we look at this, we don’t really think that this is a winner-take-all market. In fact, we think multiple services will exist in the market and we are all in a growing market,” he said.
STEADY SUBSCRIBER GROWTH
Spotify said that it had reached 75 million paying subscribers, with another 99 million monthly users on its free, advertising-supported tier.
The figures marked a growth of four million paying subscribers and nine million free users since the start of 2018.
Spotify said that it saw particularly strong growth for its free service in emerging economies such as Vietnam and Thailand, two markets which the company recently entered.
Spotify said it also was seeing “increasing momentum” in Japan – the world’s second largest music market where CDs still dominate.
Ek described Japan as an “S-curve” with slow initial traction followed by rapid growth and then quick maturation.
Barry McCarthy, Spotify’s chief financial officer, said that advertising revenues rose at a healthy pace except on desktop computers. He said that the United States was “far and away” the most profitable advertising market.
With the latest data Spotify remains well ahead of Apple Music. The technology giant said in March that it had 38 million subscribers on its service, which was launched in 2015 and does not have an equivalent free tier.
Streaming – which offers unlimited music online – has rapidly transformed the music industry in recent years, leading to three straight years of growth for the recorded music business.
Coffee culture gives way to a milky brew chocked with fruit and tapioca balls
HANOI — Taiwanese-style tea shops offering concoctions of cold milky tea filled with fruit, jelly and tapioca balls — often known as bubble tea — are all the rage in Vietnam, where coffee-drinking culture has long prevailed.
In central Hanoi, a Ding Tea outlet is usually crowded with female customers, who mix their milk tea with tapioca balls, jelly, chunks of fruit and other ingredients that fill about a third of the large cup, all of which is consumed through a large straw.
Ding Tea, a Taiwanese brand, is largely behind the growth in popularity of such drinks, becoming the biggest such chain since entering Vietnam in 2013, with 200 outlets nationwide.
The price of the drinks ranges from 30,000 to 60,000 dong ($1.32 to $2.64), slightly more than a cup of coffee. The relatively high price does not diminish the beverage’s popularity with businesswomen and students, however. Taiwanese milk tea is similar in texture to the traditional Vietnamese dessert beverage called che, making the locals more receptive to the brew.
Aside from Ding Tea, the local chain Toco Toco is one of the largest, with similar products and prices. Many of its outlets are located in downtown areas or near schools, operating as small take-away shops.
Hanoi businesswoman Nguyen Bich Ngoc said she visits Toco Toco at least three times a week. She does not like the bitter taste of coffee she adds, and tea is “easier to drink and delicious like desserts” when fruit and tapioca are added.
According to local media, there are 30 milk tea brands in Vietnam operating more than 1,500 outlets. The Taiwanese brands Gong Cha and Co Co are among them.
Tea sales have also been picking up at supermarkets and other shops. Co.opmart, a supermarket chain with a strong presence in Ho Chi Minh City, started selling milk tea at its eat-in section last October. Sales of fruit-flavored tea are also on the rise at Citimart, another chain owned by Japanese retailer Aeon.
The Coffee House, a chain focusing on coffee, opened a milk tea shop in November and plans to add 40 more this year.
The Vietnamese have traditionally preferred coffee over the western-style tea used in the Taiwanese milky tea beverages. Vietnam is the world’s second-biggest producer of coffee behind Brazil. In 2017, consumption of coffee stood at 150,000 tons, while that of tea was about a fifth of that, at 30,000 tons. But the gap is narrowing, as sales at tea shop chains have been growing by more than 20% annually.
Cafe culture was introduced by France during colonial rule from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. The ubiquity of coffee shops in the country is partly a legacy of this period.
Since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007, foreign products have been flowing in. Many foreign companies have established a presence, leading to more western influences on the local diet.
Sweet, milky Taiwanese tea fit comfortably into this trend, helping spread the popularity of western-style tea throughout the country.
Its popularity is also supported by the growing ranks of health-conscious consumers. While smoking is allowed at most traditional coffee shops, it is not at most tea shops. The fruit in these drinks is an added health bonus.
The sugar content can also be moderated, as milk tea shops usually allow customers to adjust the amount of sugar they want in their drinks. Typically, Vietnamese coffee contains a large amount of sweetened condensed milk.
Novaland Investment Group Corporation (NVL.HSX) – a property developer in Vietnam on Wednesday announced that it successfully listed its US$160 million offering of convertible bonds on the Singapore Exchange Limited last week.
A report by Vietnam News mentioned, this is the first Vietnamese convertible bond listing on an international stock market in six years, it said.
The issue attracted interest from many investors in Asia and Europe, it said.
The US-dollar denominated unsubordinated convertible bonds due in 2023 will be converted into ordinary shares of the company at an initial conversion price of VND74,750. The bonds, issued at par, carry a coupon of 5.5 per cent payable semi-annually in arrears and a yield to maturity of 6.25 per cent.
Novaland also successfully raised $150 million from an equity placement, taking the total capital raised to $310 million. It is the largest ever issuance by a Vietnamese company involving a concurrent equity placement and convertible bond offering.
The company said it would use the proceeds from the combined offering to further build its land holdings in prime locations and develop housing projects, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The company plans to start three new projects this year.
Last week at its annual general meeting, shareholder passed business plans for this year, with expected sales of VND21.78 trillion, after-tax profit of VND3.2 trillion, up 87 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.
Around 6,500 units are expected to be handed over this year at 11 projects, all of which have sold over 90 per cent on average.
Despite making billions of dollars in revenue, two giant technology brands Facebook and Google only paid miniscule taxes to the Vietnamese government.
Billions of dollars of revenue in this year’s first quarter
Facebook and Google’s revenue in this year’s first quarter increased sharply, despite being heavily affected by the scandals of data leakage at Facebook (late March) and YouTube (early April).
Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc.’s latest financial report stated that thanks to strong advertisement sales, Google’s profit in this year’s first quarter reached $9.4 billion, exceeding the $5.6 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Google’s first quarter revenue increased by 26 per cent, equaling $31 billion, including $26.6 billion in revenue from advertisements.
In addition, Alphabet has also benefited from the US tax reforms. Accordingly, instead of last year’s 20 per cent corporate income tax rate, this year’s rate dropped to 11 per cent.
Facebook in late April also announced its first quarter results. Specifically, Facebook’s total revenue in this quarter hit $12 billion, up 50 per cent on-year, thanks to advertisement sales.
Furthermore, despite being strongly affected by the March scandal of data leakage, 1.45 billion logged in to Facebook per day and 2.2 billion per month, up 13 per cent year-on-year.
Paying chump change in Vietnam
Slapping tax charges on Facebook and Google has been a difficulty for Vietnamese authorities in the past many years as the two technology companies have not established representative offices and branches in Vietnam.
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 via their partners, including advertising agencies and Vietnamese businesses directly purchasing their services.
The report stated that in 2016, domestic companies on behalf of Facebook and Google paid nearly VND46.9 billion ($2 million) in taxes, including value added tax (VAT) of VND25.3 billion ($1.1 million) and corporate income tax of VND21.6 billion ($951,541).
In 2017’s first nine months, these companies paid taxes of VND73.2 billion ($3.22 million), including VAT of VND39.1 billion ($1.72 million) and corporate income tax of VND34.1 billion ($1.5 million).
According to newswire doisongphapluat.com, one financial expert said that if MoF collected enough taxes via the two corporations’ partners in Vietnam, the state budget would be extended by thousands of billions of VND.
It seems that both Facebook and Google keep purposely forgetting their tax obligations in Vietnam. For instance, Google has employees in Vietnam, but maintains its representative office in Singapore, so they do not have to pay corporate income or personal income tax in Vietnam or social insurance for their employees in Vietnam. Therefore, they can easily afford paying their employees higher salaries.
Vo Do Thang, director of Athena Network Security Training Centre, said that cross-border technology companies do not want to be bound by Vietnamese law, so they do not establish any representative offices or branches in Vietnam. They only maintain a small personnel in Vietnam to communicate and provide information. Therefore, collecting taxes from them is really difficult.
Facebook and Google commonly use international credit cards to pay tax, causing difficulties for Vietnamese tax authorities to control and identify tax payers.
Furthermore, these companies are also researching cross-borders payment methods. For instance, Facebook has applied the Paypal payment system, which is an online payments system. Accordingly, consumers could easily buy Facebook’s advertisements by only paying fees for providers without having to pay tax.
T.V.L. in Kien Giang province is a “snake hunter” well known all over the Mekong Delta.
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. It is dubbed as a “biological treasure trove” with thousands of animal and plant species.
He said he ‘was not born to be a snake hunter’, but decided to earn his living from finding snakes after a drinking bout with a man who taught him how to catch the animals.
During two months of his apprenticeship, L learned how to use bait and medicinal herbs to treat snake bites and what to do in emergencies.
“The most dangerous case is when you meet snakes in pairs. While female snakes are hooked, the male snake waits for you to come and then can bite you,” he said.
L’s instruments include a catching rod, bait and drugs. The rod is made of old bamboo branches, large nylon rope and a hook. He uses mice as bait, while drugs are used in emergencies.
Snakes can be sought all year round, but the high hunting season is in dry season, when snakes often go out to shores and bushes to expose themselves to the sun and seek food.
“You need to successfully guess the ‘houses’ of snakes. And you need to put the hook and bait in places the snakes can discover and go to eat. The places must be quiet and full of brush, because snakes like quiet areas,” he explained.
L works everywhere, from Dong Thap and Can Tho to Hau Giang and Bac Lieu to Ca Mau provinces. He walks at least dozens of kilometres a day.
However, the biggest concern is that he faces risks every day. All snake hunters have bitten by snakes, at least several times.
“I can earn VND5 million one day, but can get a terrible snake bite the next day,” he said. “I had to get poisoned blood out once and then take medication for a bite.”
As for L, the king cobra, or Ophiophagus Hannah, is the most difficult to catch because it is quick and has toxic venom. If the king cobra’s bites are not treated immediately, a person could die.
“But you cannot seek support from colleagues, because there’s a saying that if you help another treat snake bites, you will sustain misfortune instead of him,” he said.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (CanCham) announces:
2nd Annual Canada Green Day Saturday, May 19th at the Canadian International School Campus
2nd Annual Get Green Competition for student sustainability initiatives
Get Green Competition will award 2 or more teams each with VND 22,500,000 funding to implement their initiatives in the local community
2nd Annual Canada Green Day
Canada Green Day is a fun, family-friendly event focused on building environmental awareness and sustainability in our communities. The event welcomes students, families, and organizations to enjoy food & beverage vendors, music, and games while learning more about what can be done to make Vietnam more Green. Organizations with Green products, services, or initiatives will be on-site promoting sustainable solutions to the environmentally conscious community in attendance. The showcase of Canada Green Day will be the 2nd Annual Get Green Competition for student sustainability initiatives.
2nd Annual Get Green Competition
The Get Green Competition challenges teams of 3-6 students to create viable sustainability initiatives for their local communities. Each team submits a proposal to the Get Green Competition judges panel and builds a poster to display at Canada Green Day outlining their sustainability initiative to the panel and Canada Green Day attendees. The judges panel will choose two or more teams as the winners of the competition based on the strength of an initiative’s concept, innovation, viability, and positive impact. Winning teams will be awarded VND 22,500,000 to implement their initiative in the teams’ local communities, with support from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Successful implementation of 1st Annual Get Green Competition initiatives
Award winners of the 1st Annual Get Green Competition – The Light of Knowledge and EcoSSIStem – have successfully implemented their initiatives. The Light of Knowledge has increased its stock and sale of solar lanterns, and donated 50 personal solar lanterns to VinaCapital Foundation to provide families with sustainable lighting for social gatherings, for students to use during evening study, and for individuals to travel safely after dark. EcoSSIStem increased the capacity of their school composting initiative by building another customized, rotating composting bin. They used excess funds to help organize and market an environmental awareness event at their school.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce Vietnam on Canada Green Day
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce Vietnam believes that future of a sustainable Vietnam starts with today’s students – tomorrow’s thought leaders. We are proud of the accomplishments of the winners of the 1st Annual Get Green Competition and look forward to supporting grassroots student environmental sustainability initiatives with this year’s 2nd Annual Get Green Competition and for many years to come. We look forward to seeing HCMC’s green-minded community at Canada Green Day!
For more information on being part of Canada Green Day or the Get Green Competition, please visit canchamvietnam.org.
