​Animals Asia director calls on Vietnamese city to end buffalo fight festival

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Daniel Neale, animal welfare director at Animals Asia, has penned an open letter to authorities in a northern Vietnamese city to call for the abolishment of buffalo fights held yearly in one of its districts as part of a long-standing tradition.

The decades-old Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival is an annual spectacle, held on the ninth day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, where thousands of locals in Hai Phong City’s Do Son District gather around a giant ring to cheer water buffalo as they are made to fight one another until a single contender is crowned the year’s champion.

In his letter addressed to Hai Phong chairman Nguyen Van Tung, Neale expressed his concerns over the welfare of buffalo pitched against each other during the festival, as well as the community’s safety at the event.

In July, a man was gored to death by his own buffalo that he had brought to the 28th edition of the festival.

During the 2007 festival, a 73-year-old referee was seriously injured from a slam by one of the participating buffalo, Neale recounted in his letter.

A man is thrown into the air by his own buffalo during the qualifying round of the 2017 Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival in Hai Phong City, July 1, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In his letter, Neale cited how fighter buffalo are fed bagasse, beer, vitamin supplements, bear bile, ginseng and python fat to increase their aggressiveness and stamina for the festival.

The animals are also trained in harsh conditions for long periods of time prior to the event without regard for their suffering, he added.

According to the animal rights activist, all aspects of the festival, from the method of training the buffalo to fight to the way they are slaughtered for meat after the event, are no longer compatible with Vietnam’s vision of developing a civilized and modern culture.

This vision, he wrote, seeks to promote humanity and good traditional cultural values, while eliminating evil and outdated customs.

Neale called for the administration of Hai Phong to work with Animals Asia to put an end to the festival out of concern for the safety of the community and respect for the law.

Two buffalo engage in a fight at the 2017 Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival in Hai Phong City, July 1, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In related news, Animals Asia on Saturday held a debate in Hanoi on maintaining ceremonial sacrifices in festivals as a way of conserving traditions.

Most youths and animal welfare workers who attended the event agreed that fests involving the abuse of animals should be terminated to fit with the development of a modern and civilized society.

Buffalo are slaughtered for meat after a fighting festival in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Source: Tuoi Tre News

 

 

Philippines stock retreats into red from record high; Vietnam jumps

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Philippine shares retreated from a record high scaled earlier on Friday to close 1.6 percent lower as investors locked in profits from three straight sessions of gains, while Vietnam reversed earlier losses to close higher.

Industrials and financial stocks led the losses on the Philippine index, reducing its weekly gain to nearly 1 percent.

Conglomerate JG Summit dropped 3.8 percent while Bank of the Philippine Islands lost 4.2 percent.

“During the biggest part of the trading session investors were quite optimistic anticipating better-than-expected third-quarter results for some of the big companies,” said Lexter Azurin, an analyst with Manila-based AB Capital Securities.

Companies such as Ayala Corp, SM Investments and JG Summit are scheduled to report quarterly results later this month.

“But I guess some investors were seeing mixed reactions given that current valuations (of the index movers) are quite rich at this point so we’re seeing a lot of investors starting to take profits,” said Azurin.

Vietnamese shares pared earlier losses to close 1.3 percent higher.

Industrials and financial stocks accounted for the gains on the index, with builder FLC Faros Construction and Vietcombank rising 6.9 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Singapore ended marginally higher, with gains in telecom stocks offsetting losses in consumer stocks.

“Traders are being more cautious today, heading into the weekend… the STI may turn range-bound these few days,” said Liu Jinshu, director of research at NRA Capital.

Telco Singtel was the top gainer on the city-state’s index while Thai Beverage lost 1 percent and led the decliners.

The index has dropped 0.1 percent this week, its first weekly loss in five.

Indonesian shares also closed marginally higher, with the index gaining 1.1 percent on the week, its best in twelve.

Malaysian shares ended flat, resulting in the index’s fifth weekly drop in seven.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Young Vietnamese students: Facebook, bubble tea, and no physical exercise

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In fact, most Vietnamese college students have a tight weekly schedule at school, so the need for a good rest prevails

A large proportion of young people in Vietnam are living a sedentary lifestyle as they spend more time surfing the internet, playing online games, working on computers, or simply just sitting down doing nothing.

After class, Nguyen Hoang Ha, an undergrad at Bach Khoa University in Ho Chi Minh City, would simply go back home for dinner, lesson revision, movies, and sleep.

He does not do sports even in his spare hours.

“I once signed up at a gym, but after working out several times, I lost my motivation. The thing is I also had to get up too early in the morning for class, so I quit.”

In fact, most Vietnamese college students have a tight weekly schedule at school, so the need for a good rest prevails: they would love to put up their feet at home, in the dorm, or at a bubble tea house.

Few take time to do exercise as they attribute little importance to this habit.

Vovinam is a popular sport in Vietnam. Photo: Vovinam Club, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law

In her idle time, Nguyen Thi Huynh Nhu, a student from the University of Science in Ho Chi Minh City, tends to review her lessons, surf her Facebook newsfeed, or enjoy herself over movies or books.

She has, however, recently realized the adversity such a lifestyle is inflicting upon her: she finds it hard to think straight and stay focused on work, and her health is suffering.

She is considering taking up badminton as a way to boost her general constitution.

There are many reasons for such a passive way of life.

A large number of college students living far away from home are under pressure from school and work: they have to fare well academically while striving hard to earn a living.

Therefore, they have no time left for sports activities.

Others recoil at the thought of jogging, swimming or volleyball, saying they would rather save energy and thus go for passive forms of entertainment.

For better academic performance

A third-year student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanity in Ho Chi Minh City, Huynh Thanh Doan still seeks time for jogging despite his busy school work.

Ho Chi Minh City offers varied sports activities for young people. Photo: TERRY FOX RUN 2016

He spends merely 30 minutes a day for the activity, but this is enough for him to clearly sense a boost in stamina.

“I used to feel a wreck after school, but now my health has improved a lot,” he said. “I also feel mentally refreshed and better ready for productive learning sessions.”

Insufficient physical activities lead to common problems like stress, shoulder, neck, or joint pains, which both depletes health and breeds laziness.

To university students living far from home, their daily food intakes are already lacking in nutrition. Therefore, doing exercise and having balanced diets are essential if they are to study effectively.

Kungfu master Vo Nhat Son, who has a B.A. in educational management and a specialist in Vovinam, a traditional form of Vietnamese martial arts, notices the distraction caused by technology in young people’s lives. He says they prefer computer games to sports.

“Internet and game bars are packed like sardines all day and night,” he said. “Young people basically do not have an adequate awareness of good health.”

The Vovinam master also notices how lots of young people fail in their attempts to work out physically, saying poor health prevents efficiency at work.

“I hope the students will spend time for sports, martial arts, and physical activities in general,” he further commented. “I look forward to a day when the younger generations can tell for themselves what is vital for their future.”

Sports activities available at the present time are not appealing enough, but students are totally capable of taking it out on their own by balancing their schedules and work.

Mai Toan Thinh, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Sports, advises that students opt for suitable sports, considering their own hobbies, abilities, budget, and time.

“There are easy sports to do, such as jogging, cycling, swimming, and soccer. There is simple, home-based exercise for shoulders, chests, backs, bellies, and legs as well. Making a habit out of sports will get you in shape,” he added.

“A healthy mind in a healthy body is definitely the best policy,” the lecturer concluded.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Asia-Pacific leaders kick off key economic summit in central Vietnam

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U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive on Friday and deliver a speech at the CEO Summit, according to the White House.

Leaders from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations are gathering in Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang for the start of a key regional summit, with speeches expected from Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

APEC Leaders’ Week opened on Monday and is scheduled to welcome between 12,000-14,000 delegates. Thousands of businesspeople will be attending, including Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, UPS’s CEO David Abney, and Chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific Nicolas Aguzin.

Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang will host the opening of the APEC CEO Summit on Wednesday and the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Da Nang on Friday and will deliver a speech at the CEO Summit, presenting the United States’ vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region and underscoring the important role the region plays in advancing America’s economic prosperity, the White House said in a statement last week.

Japan’s President Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping will also deliver speeches on Friday while the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte will speak on Thursday, according to the schedule.

The remaining 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement are also expected to make a final announcement on the fate of the trade deal this week. The deal had been viewed as the world’s largest until Trump nixed it soon after his inauguration in January, using the argument of job protection for people in the U.S.

This year’s APEC, themed “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future”, is discussing sustainable growth, deepening economic ties, increasing competitiveness of small businesses and enhancing food security in times of climate change.

Around 2,000 journalists from Vietnam and overseas have registered for the high-profile event, which is being hosted by Vietnam for the second time.

Da Nang has stationed nearly 3,000 crime, fire and traffic police to ensure security at the event.

Source: Phuong Vu

Why foreigners aren’t buying houses in Vietnam

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There’s a wealth of expats and overseas Vietnamese interested in the real estate market, but red tape is putting them off.

“Only a few expats are able to buy houses in Vietnam because there are still so many legal barriers,” said real estate manager Nguyen Chien Thang, counting on his fingers the number of potential foreign buyers who had visited the housing developments he’s in charge of in Hanoi over the past two years.

Thang said there is foreign interest in Vietnam’s housing market, but it often fades due to the complicated rules and excessive paperwork.

“Expats do not have a clear understanding of the legal procedures here, while some administrative agencies are not used to dealing with foreign buyers,” he said.

Official estimates vary greatly. The Ministry of Construction was widely quoted by local media last August as saying that 750 foreigners had bought houses in Vietnam since a new housing law came into effect two years before. That’s six times more than before, the ministry said in a statement, claiming that the new procedures were “really clear and open.”

The 2015 Housing Law allows foreign investment funds, foreigners with valid visas and international firms operating in Vietnam and overseas to buy unlimited residential properties with leaseholds of 50 years.

Before that they had been only eligible to buy one apartment providing they were either married to a Vietnamese national, held a managerial position or had contributed to the country.

However, earlier this week, Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Construction said only 15 foreigners had bought houses in Vietnam since the new law came into effect.

While the data remains strikingly conflicting, industry insiders have taken the ministry’s statement with a grain of salt.

Sitting in his office overlooking Hanoi’s skyscraper-dotted West Lake, Thang’s own estimate stands in the hundreds, and that’s counting since 2009 when Vietnam first opened its real estate market to foreigners. With 80,000 expats and more than four million overseas Vietnamese, that’s virtually an untapped gold mine.

“The expat community living and working in Vietnam is large, while the number of overseas Vietnamese is huge,” he said. “Many of them have money and want to own houses in the country, but only a small number are able to do it.”

The shortage of publicized projects that foreigners are eligible to buy is one of the biggest obstacles, according to industry insiders.

According to the Housing Law, developers can sell a maximum of 30 percent of units in an apartment building to foreigners, and a maximum of 250 houses in a ward. Areas considered sensitive to national defense and security are off-limits to foreign buyers.

Given the restrictions, authorities are required to publicize housing projects eligible for sale to foreigners, but in practice they don’t.

Another barrier facing foreigners and overseas Vietnamese is the lack of property title insurance, a standard document issued in many countries, said economist Nguyen Tri Hieu, who is an overseas Vietnamese.

Because of this, Hieu, who returned home eight years ago after living in the U.S. for 30 years, has been unable to buy a house.

“Unlike Vietnamese people who buy houses with their savings, expats often need bank loans,” he said. “However, foreign banks will only offer a mortgage if their customers can provide property title insurance, which is unavailable in Vietnam, so they are unable to access credit.”

Hieu said many overseas Vietnamese want to buy houses in their home country. “Many old people buy houses so they can spend the rest of their lives in their homeland, while young people want to invest in the lucrative property sector.”

Hot market

In a move aimed at attracting more foreign buyers, the Ministry of Planning and Investment tabled a draft law in August suggesting that foreigners should be offered leaseholds of 99 years in special economic zones.

Vietnam has 18 special economic zones and is developing more in Quang Ninh Province near the Chinese border, the central province of Khanh Hoa, and Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang.

Industry insiders believe that removing more barriers would create more interest in the local housing market.

Vietnam is becoming one of the region’s hottest property markets for Hong Kong and mainland Chinese investors, as prices continue to go through the roof at home, according to the South China Morning Post.

More than 300 potential individual investors recently attended a two-day Vietnam property investment seminar in Hong Kong .

Encouraged by fast economic growth, supportive government policies and low entry costs, housing prices in the country’s two largest cities, Saigon and Hanoi, have seen considerable growth in recent years.

In Saigon, new apartment prices grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2017, and 7.3 percent in Hanoi, data from real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle shows.

It now forecasts 8 to 10 percent annual growth in residential value in the country’s major cities this year.

“On the back of its economic improvement and with a GDP target of 6.7 percent in 2017, market sentiment is very positive,” said Stephen Wyatt, the country head of JLL Vietnam.

“Foreign buyers typically like the new urban districts such as Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 and District 7,” he said. “And many investors from mainland China are hoping to see these cities replicate the same growth as Beijing and Shanghai.”

There is also a trend to buy second homes in coastal areas such as Da Nang, he added.

Neil Jensen, a financial industrial worker from Malaysia, said Vietnam would be an ideal property market for investors if legal procedures are improved.

He is looking to buy a condominium in Saigon to lease to overseas workers there.

“I will do it only when legal procedures are clearer and opener,” Jensen, 34, said. “I don’t want to take risks.”

Tourists paddle to safety after Storm Damrey drowns Hoi An

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Some parts of Vietnam’s popular ancient tourist town are under 1.5 meters (5 feet) of water.

The spouses of some APEC leaders are scheduled to pay a visit to Hoi An next week. However, since Sunday morning, the atmospheric port town and popular stop on Vietnam’s tourist circuit has been submerged in water.

Boats have become the only means of transport from flood-affected areas to higher places.

“Living in Hoi An we are accustomed to floods,” said Hoai Nam, whose sourvenir shop has been submerged. “However, this time the water rose so fast that I could not clean up my goods in time. Some of them got soaked in water.”

Many other shops and restaurants are under water too. Traffic has been paralyzed as floodwater continues to rise.

Hoi An residents are moving quickly out of the flooded areas.

… or simply to higher ground.

“The water rose quickly from midnight. Our house is submerged in the water so we’ve had to move to my relative’s house. This is some food I prepared earlier for the flood,” said Sa, a local resident.

Foreign tourists were being transferred by boats to hotels in higher areas.

By Sunday afternoon, floodwater had reached 1.5 meters (5 feet) in some parts of town.

The Japanese Pagoda under water.

Weather forecasters said that water levels will continue to rise over the next six hours.

Source: Duc Dong, Quynh Tran

 

44 dead, 19 missing as central Vietnam braces for ‘possibly the worst-ever peril’

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Many reservoirs are nearly full now and could burst at any time after Storm Damrey leaves a trail of destruction in the region.

The death toll rose to at least 44 on Sunday from the typhoon that pummeled central and southern Vietnam just days before the region is due to host the APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.

Typhoon Damrey, the 12th major storm to hit Vietnam this year, made landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 135 km/h (84 mph) that damaged more than 40,000 homes, knocked down electricity poles and uprooted trees.

The Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention said 29 people were now counted dead and 19 were missing. It said over 600 houses had collapsed entirely and 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of rice were damaged. More than 30,000 people have been evacuated.

With heavy rains expected to continue pounding the region on Monday, Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, warned at a meeting Sunday that many rivers and reservoirs were nearly full now, implying they could burst at any time.

“We are facing possibly the worst-ever peril,” Cuong said at the meeting.

Heavy rain and high winds lashed the coastal strip on Sunday. Flooding led to a 30 km (19 miles) tailback on Vietnam’s main north-south highway in Thua Thien Hue Province.

Flooding has held up traffic on the north-south highway in Thua Thien Hue Province. Photo by VnExpress/Phuoc Tuan

The heaviest impact of the typhoon was near the popular resort town of Nha Trang, which is around 500 km (310 miles) south of the coastal city of Da Nang, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is taking place this week.

Nha Trang has been among the hardest hit by the typhoon. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc

Danang itself also suffered. A gateway proclaiming “Welcome to Da Nang” collapsed in the storm, state media said. Authorities in the area called on citizens to volunteer to help clean up.

A gateway proclaiming “Welcome to Da Nang” collapsed in the storm. Photo by VnExpress

Da Nang will host U.S. President Donald Trump from Nov. 10, as well as China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and counterparts from other APEC members.

The storm moved from the coastal area into a key coffee-growing area of the world’s biggest producer of robusta coffee beans. Traders had expected the storm to delay harvesting, but were not sure whether it would damage the crop.

The government said on Saturday more than 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of crops had been damaged, including sugar cane, rice fields and rubber plantations.

Floods killed more than 80 people in northern Vietnam last month, while a typhoon wreaked havoc in central provinces in September. The country of more than 90 million people is prone to destructive storms and flooding due to its long coastline.

Damrey touched down in Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces early Saturday with wind speed of 135 kilometers (83.9 miles) per hour. In this photo, metal roofs are swept to National Highway 1 in Khanh Hoa.

The storm knocks down a gas station in Khanh Hoa…

… and floods many streets of Nha Trang, a popular resort town in the province.

A car is buried under metal roofs in Nha Trang.

A restaurant on Tran Phu Street of Nha Trang totters in the strong wind. Locals said strong winds and heavy rains have started since midnight on Friday. As the storm came closer the situation kept getting worse until morning.

An electric pole in Khanh Hoa. Many areas in Khanh Hoa have lost power.

This is how the coach station in Nha Trang looks like now.

A tree is uprooted in Tuy Hoa Town of Phu Yen Province. Hoi, a 40-year-old local in Tay Hoa District, said he has never seen such a big storm in Phu Yen since 1993.

 

A street in Tuy Hoa Town.

Source: VnExpress, Reuters

Oakwood State Bank

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GBS – The Oakwood State Bank is a small bank with a single branch in Oakwood, Texas formerly operated by Roddy R. Wiley, Jr. (born c. 1923 – August 6, 2010).

It is called the smallest bank in the United States. It serves some six hundred accounts in the same manner that it did in the 1950s—without new banking conveniences of recent decades. Even account numbers are ignored, for the bank focuses on the customers’ names. Wiley’s unique bank, which was founded when Theodore Roosevelt was U.S. President, was featured on Bob Phillips’ Texas Country Reporter television series on March 29, 2008,[1] as well as on the CBS Evening News on April 25, 2008.

On May 15, 2017, Plano Texas-based Oakwood Bancshares announced that it had raised $38 million and had acquired Oakwood State Bank.

– Wikipedia

Since 2016, the bank Oakwood State Bank has been acquired by a Vietnamese company and changed the name to TIN THANH OAKWOOD BANK CORP.

Company formation services in Vietnam

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Through investment consulting practice, Global Business Services (GBS) Company helps its clients to capture investment and business opportunities that exist in today’s rapidly increasing business climate in Vietnam.

To increase the chance of success for clients, GBS offers unique, complex, innovative and cost-effective consulting solutions to clients, by bringing them better understanding of investment and business opportunities and risks, linking commercial issues to their business objective and assisting them in carrying out their business strategies.

Related: How to start your business in Vietnam as foreigner

With GBS’s comprehensive legal understanding of the international business environment in Vietnam, the team can supply clients with fundamentally beneficial legal advice in areas of foreign investments.

Whether it is setting up a 100% foreign invested or joint venture enterprise, joint stock company, representative office, or finding partnerships, settling negotiations and Review and drafting of legal documents, GBS’s strength’s lies in the attention to the specific demands of the client, as well as, in the support of our client’s business activities and developments in Vietnam.

GBS’ service portfolio includes:

Any support you may need, contact GBS via:

  • Email: info@gbs.com.vn
  • iMessage | SMS | Whatsapp | Viber | Call: +84903189033

The outstanding bankers of 2017

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Bankers Ngo Chi Dung, Duong Cong Minh and Dang Khac Vy frequently appeared in local media in 2017.

Ngo Chi Dung is a veteran banker. From 1996-2004, he was the founding shareholder of VIB Bank. Later, he became vice president of Techcombank and since 2010, has been VPBank’s chair of the board of directors.

2017 was the most prosperous year for VPBank, with Ngo Chi Dung’s name mentioned more frequently.

In 2016 and the first half of 2017, VPBank led joint stock banks in profitability. The bank has been so successful that analysts have compared it with Vietcombank, one of the best banks in Vietnam, though VPBank is just equal to half of Vietcombank in scale.

VPBank has been the only bank so far this year and the first bank since 2014 that has listed shares on the bourse. VPBank shares made their debut on August 17 with the starting price of VND39,000 per share, double the price early this year.

Soon after VPBank entered the bourse, Dung added his name on the list of the 15 richest businessmen in the stock market with total stock assets of VND2.8 trillion by October 13.

Duong Cong Minh is now president of Sacombank (STB), but has been well known for many years, since he took the post of president of LienViePost Bank. When Minh took post of president of Sacombank, he had to divest LienVietPost Bank’s shares and earned VND1.2 trillion in mid-June.

Minh is now in the 69th position on the list of the Vietnamese richest stock billionaires with VND689 billion worth of STB shares. However, Minh’s total assets are much higher.
His Him Lam Company, a real estate developer, is developing large projects throughout the country, from golf courses and resorts to housing projects, capitalized at billions of dollars.
Minh became even more famous recently after he took the ‘hot seat’ at Sacombank, which has gone downhill after many years in its golden age. He has changed the key personnel of the bank, applied a new pay mechanism, and cooperated with VAMC to settle bad debts. He has vowed to bring Sacombank back to its heyday within 3-5 years.

2017 was a ‘year to remember’ for Dang Khac Vy, president of VIBBank, who is in the 67th position on the list of richest stock billionaires.

VIB Bank has medium scale of operation, but it is respected for its business performance and asset quality. It is one of the ‘cleanest’ of the banks in the banking system.

Vietnamnet

APEC’s Startup Revolution Brings the Next Big Thing

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You see now, especially in the APEC region, many startups in new areas inspired by successful cases in Silicon Valley.

Enabling next generation startup growth and positioning emerging businesses in APEC member economies to capitalize on new, digitally-driven trade opportunities will be a top priority for the region’s Leaders and Ministers during their upcoming meetings in Da Nang.

In an interview with the APEC Bulletin, Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Chair of the APEC Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group, discussed startup trends, the impact of changes in technology and trade policy, and how APEC can open the door to the next Airbnb, Ofo, Rappler, Red Mart or Traveloka.

APEC Bulletin: What is the progress of startup development around the APEC region?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: More and more startups are using high technology and new production processes. This includes new ways of marketing, for example. There is some risk during the process of doing business but it is actually expected to generate a lot more income than in the past.

You see now, especially in the APEC region, many startups in new areas inspired by successful cases in Silicon Valley. A lot of new business opportunities are opening up in many member economies such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam.

It is important that policymakers and private sector groups pay attention to these startups and bring about the best support for them.

APEC Bulletin: Is the development of digital technology translating into increased startup growth and what about the survival rate of these new businesses?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: We see more new businesses actually operating in new prospective sectors. In Viet Nam and in many other APEC member economies, we see new startups trying to imitate what Uber or Grab are doing, for example. Many startups are also thinking of ways to utilize existing resources to bring about benefits for their business owners and also to bring about cheaper costs for consumers.

In terms of the success and failure rates, this is an increasing challenge. Yesterday, I attended a symposium on innovative and dynamic small and medium enterprises and startups, and a participant asked if another dotcom bubble is on the horizon. This is something we need to pay attention to.

APEC Bulletin: Which sectors have the most new opportunities for innovative startups and small businesses, and what is the significance for trade among APEC economies?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: There are many new areas, especially those related to the use and application of ICT. You see them now in transportation, in delivery services, and even in healthcare systems and a lot of bio-related sectors.

Now everyone is talking about big corporations like Apple. They charge fees for downloading and buying software. In fact, all that comes from some company in Ireland or some other small European countries. In Viet Nam now—and in many other APEC member economies—flows of goods and services, and cash, have changed. This is opening new opportunities for small businesses.

APEC Bulletin: How can a startup or small business fit into cross-border production and supply chains that underpin so much of trade today?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: Global value chains are very fashionable. They denote a group of upstream-downstream enterprises and their connections and interlinkages. The big one is providing product output that acts as input for downstream enterprises.

For small and medium enterprises, they will never ever have a bigger, better opportunity to grow and learn that to join a global value chain.

In the past, small and medium enterprises exported products that were usually just a one off—lots of products going from one market to another. The more important thing now is how value is added to this process so that the product of one enterprise, one startup, can play a bigger role, adding value to other businesses and production, and thus, how this synergy can bring about much more value and efficiency.

APEC Bulletin: Most businesses are small businesses in APEC, but their participation in trade is relatively low. Is this trend changing and what are the implications for economies in the region?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: The majority of the enterprises in any particular economy in the region are small businesses. In Japan, the level is 99.7 per cent. In Viet Nam, it is 98 per cent. In most of the APEC member economies, it’s between 97 and 99 per cent. But when we look at their contribution to trade and exports in the region, the figure is much, much lower.

There are different figures if we count all the different ways of calculating how much they participate in trade. For example, there are those who are direct exporters. In Viet Nam there are not so many. But if you count all those that participate in indirect exporting activities, that number can double or triple.

The role of governments here is that we have to clearly see the whole process so we can come up with proper policy measures to strengthen small and medium enterprises and startups’ roles in it.

APEC Bulletin: Small business participation in trade should also be important for jobs.

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: Yeah, absolutely.

APEC Bulletin: So what are the biggest hurdles to small business trade and how are they changing with new technologies and innovations emerging?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: One of the most challenging hurdles is access to finance. Another is technical barriers to trade that keep changing and are getting more and more complicated. Small and medium enterprises need stronger coordination between government agencies to provide sufficient information and support measures to help small businesses and startups to overcome them.

APEC Bulletin: What are the barriers on the investment side? There are many startup opportunities around the APEC region but what’s holding investors back?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: Investments in startups are increasing. Startups have a chance for support investment in exchange for shares in their companies. Of course there are difficulties when the startups themselves are not willing to relinquish control to investors. Many individuals, when they start to develop their business ideas, they feel a bit reluctant to give away part of their company.

The other difficulty startups often face is that they don’t have any collaterals. They are new to everything. They are new to intellectual property, to management of the enterprise. Also there is so much information. What would be the best option in terms of investors or funding out there? No one is there to tell them. This can be a very expensive lesson. A startup may have many good business ideas, but it is not easy to make them a reality. Bigger investors can actually take away that opportunity easily.

Efforts by governments to improve the accessibility of finance for small businesses and startups is rather new. For example, someone recently asked whether Viet Nam now has a regulatory framework for crowdfunding and I told them no. Even among developed economies such as the US, very few, less than ten, have some regulation on crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is what everyone is talking about but not every government knows exactly what to do about it to improve access to finance for startups.

APEC Bulletin: How is APEC seeking to bring startups, investors and policy people together to improve the financing landscape?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: We are doing a lot of things on this in APEC, including holding startup accelerators and pitching sessions with investors. We are putting together all stakeholders—all the accelerators and mentors also interested in the investors as well. We are also introducing a lot of training activities, information consultancy and consulting activities in APEC to help startups to develop their ideas.

We are also trying to create a regulatory framework that can support small and medium enterprises, and startups specifically. This is a good time for all the APEC member economies to pay close attention to startups and put together all existing facilities and resources for the benefit of this sector.

APEC Bulletin: Can you describe any particular startups that you’ve worked with in APEC that you found impressive or inspiring?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: In Ho Chi Minh City we have seen a lot of people and organizations which are really interested in supporting startups. We have a lot of co-working spaces and technical facilities. In Ha Noi also, we have so-called “beehives,” or working spaces for startups, as well as support facilities and a great deal of mentors.

We’ve never had so many initiatives going on in Viet Nam and around the region to support young people, especially students, who have opted to choose startup development as a real professional career instead of working for a big business, or working for the government.

APEC Bulletin: There are a lot of trade agreements in the APEC region and more in the pipeline that are potentially very big and complex. How prepared are small businesses to take advantage of these agreements and is that an area that APEC is working on?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: In terms of the preparedness of small and medium enterprises for free trade agreements, it’s not that good, I have to admit. This is not only about the information. Small and medium enterprises often think that free trade agreements are relevant to big enterprises only. We may be exempted from the influence from these free trade agreements.

The question is how can governments convey information about free trade agreements to small and medium enterprises so they are aware of it? We can do this though websites, business association channels and also to those who can provide specific information about those particular markets.

If a small business is interested in some market, they need to know whether there are any existing free trade agreements that apply to them or any about to be approved or under negotiation that could have a very big influence on their cross-border activities.

APEC Bulletin: How is APEC addressing trade policy knowledge gaps among entrepreneurs?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: APEC is setting up some quite innovative apps and information-sharing platforms. The internet is good in this regard but it can induce you to click farther and farther. This can drive small businesses away from the original subject that they may be interested in so it is important that APEC economies keep the online resources they deploy for them focused.

APEC Bulletin: What are your expectations for the small business sector in the region and the next generation startups driving it moving forward?

Nguyen Hoa Cuong: We must continue to work very actively in APEC to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of small and medium enterprises. With the arrival of the digital age, with increases in digital literacy, we have never seen stronger support from ICT-related tools. The key is to apply them efficiently and effectively to help small businesses and startups grow sustainably, in an innovative way.

Source: apec.org

VN to perform well at Asian U19 qualifier

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Coach Hoàng Anh Tuấn of Việt Nam has asked his players to have convincing victories at the upcoming qualifier of the 2018 Asian Football Confederation U19 Championship.

Tuấn and his players left yesterday for Chinese Taipei for the tournament, which is from November 4 to 8.

Speaking with players before their flight, Tuấn said Việt Nam has to display technique and spirit at a higher level compared with their rivals in the group so that they get the opportunities to compete against the continent’s powerhouses.

Việt Nam are in Group H with Laos, Macao and the hosts.

“They are getting better, but it is not enough to meet my demand. I always ask them to perform better everyday, as you know we are at a lower level in Asia, so we need to work harder and harder,” Tuấn said.

“We have to pass the qualifier first before thinking ahead. I want my players to focus 100 per cent on every match. Do not think they are a weak team and look down on them,” Tuấn, who trained his team for one month in Hà Nội, said.

“I think if we advance to the finals with poor performance in the qualifier, we will not go far. The World Cup is really difficult,” he said.

Tuấn has finalised 22 players to accompany him to Taipei but admitted they were not as strong as their seniors, who won the World Cup U20 ticket last year. He said the selected players were not the best because they lacked experience, while some players he wanted could not make it due to injuries. Meanwhile, the AFC’s best young player of the year, defender Đoàn Văn Hậu, was called up for the national team.

He said most players had only played at the ASEAN level. Striker Nguyễn Khắc Khiêm was the only one who had a chance of participating in a continental U16 event.

“Other difficulties will be the time of the match which is 1pm and the artificial grass that we are not familiar with. These will be challenges for all teams, but we must have plan for it,” he said.

As part of his plan, Tuấn invited fitness coach Dominic Palmer to work with the team since last week.

The German, who used to work with different clubs in Germany and Spain, including European giant Real Madrid, focuses on improving players’ physique.

According to the coaching board, the 36-year-old introduced interesting exercises for players, which got them enthused and motivated to do their best during practice.

According to the schedule, Việt Nam will first meet Macao on Saturday. Their next rival is Chinese Taipei on Monday and then Laos two days later at the Hsinchu County Second Stadium.

The 10 group winners and five best second-placed teams will advance to the finals alongside hosts Indonesia.

China are the first team through to the finals after winning Group G in Phnom Penh last week.

Source: VNS

 

SHB posts $59.1m pre-tax profit in 9 months

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Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) on Wednesday posted pre-tax profit of over VND1.33 trillion (US$59.1 million) in the first nine months of the year.

This was an increase of 69 per cent from the same period last year.

The bank said the high profit was due to its strong growth in services, especially bancassurance.

SHB’s financial report revealed that its other important financial criteria saw high growth rate from the corresponding period last year and were expected to surpass the set target for 2017.

Its total assets reached more than VND265.3 trillion, while capital mobilisation was VND212 trillion, meeting with 97.55 per cent of the whole year’s target. The results have helped the bank ensure liquidity, stability and sustainable growth.

Its total outstanding loans were VND191.7 trillion, up 18 per cent from the beginning of the year. Loans were focused on sectors with less risk and prioritised by the Government, such as agriculture, export, processing, manufacturing and hi-tech industries.

The bank’s chartered capital reached nearly VND11.2 trillion. The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) allowed SHB to increase its chartered capital to over VND12 trillion, which was approved at this year’s SHB shareholder meeting.

SHB said it had targeted safe and sustainable development as its first priority. Its safe indexes have always met the central bank’s standards. Its Capital Adequacy Ratio reached 12.15 per cent, which was higher than SBV’s stipulation.

SHB expanded its network this year to Ha Nam, Ha Tinh, Dak Lak, Binh Dinh and Tay Ninh provinces. The bank will also open a new representative office in Myanmar to increase its presence in Southeast Asia.

The bank currently has 7,000 employees and 500 transaction points in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia to serve some four million customers.

Source: VNS

Opinion: 4 things that are making Vietnam’s startup future brighter

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Vietnam’s advantageous place in the hyper global economy of the future isn’t assured—not by a long shot. But the country has a strong potential to make its mark in the world.

The country’s greatest strength, its human capital, has thus far leveraged the benefits of globalization via low-wage manufacturing and the low cost of mobile computing, complemented by increasing access to the internet. But this manufacturing and outsourcing model is reaching its limits. So, Vietnamese entrepreneurs and companies must find new ways to create, add value, and move up the value chain at home and abroad to remain competitive in the global economy. Whether or not this happens largely relies on the foresight, vision, and commitment of leaders in both public and private sectors.

International education for its youth

The youth have embraced international education experiences and the latest cultural trends from South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Presently, there are more than 130,000 Vietnamese students studying at institutions of higher education outside of Vietnam (mostly in Japan and Australia) at a collective price tag of over US$1 billion.

These young Vietnamese are bright, optimistic about the future, talented, eager to learn, and focused on improving their socioeconomic conditions. This current generation may unlock the full potential of Vietnam’s human capital resources, as they understand both local and international norms and seamlessly transition between them.

These graduates are interested in working with and learning new techniques, best practices, and new skills from foreigners and are candid about the challenges ahead for today’s Vietnam, having witnessed the visions of other societies in relation to their own. These are largely positive signs—especially the attitude toward daunting and unknown challenges—because not everyone is positively impacted by globalization.

An engineering nation

With more than 100,000 engineers produced in Vietnam per year, Vietnam has a competitive advantage that places it in the top 10 countries for engineering output. It would stand to reason that some of these engineers would go on to found companies and become incredibly successful in the process.

According to a 2015 policy brief by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), these engineers are fueling Vietnam’s “app economy.” It declared that Vietnam has “the top-rated app economy in Southeast Asia (including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines).”

This advantage may enable Vietnam to grow its economy on the creation of apps by keeping Vietnamese employed or by developing homegrown intellectual properties, which offer greater value than outsourcing projects. It’s less capital-intensive to become an app hub than a manufacturing hub, after all. Thus, according to the PPI, Vietnam may be in the “early stages of a virtuous cycle,” where the demand for app economy personnel leads to more workers getting app development training.

Fast-growing economy

Looking ahead to the midpoint of the 21st century, a recent PwC report identified Vietnam as potentially one of the three fastest-growing countries in economic terms (along with India and Bangladesh) between 2017 and 2050. By 2030, Vietnam is expected to be a top-30 economy, valued at US$1.3 trillion, up from approximately US$595 billion today (on a purchasing power parity).

Moreover, Vietnam ranked 47th out of 127 economies (and third in ASEAN behind Singapore and Malaysia, respectively) with a score of 38.3 in the Global Innovation Index (GII), published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The country also has some of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of 7.3 million in 2015, is the fourth largest city in Southeast Asia behind Manila, Jakarta, and Bangkok, respectively. And the population is still predicted to increase to 9.2 million by 2025.

According to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, Hanoi is also expected to increase its population from 3.6 million in 2015 to five million in 2025. Vietnamese cities such as Can Tho, Bien Hoa, Hai Phong, and Da Nang will all experience double-digit population increases by 2025 as well.

Robust internet and smartphone usage

What do the current internet and smartphone spaces look like in the country today? Here are some interesting statistics:

In 2014, only 41 percent of all mobile phones shipped to Vietnam were smartphones. But by 2016, that number rose to 67 percent.
Today, more than 60 percent of Vietnam’s population is online.
By 2015, Vietnam had more internet users than any other country in Southeast Asia.
About one-third of the population accesses the internet via mobile and this number is expected to increase.
3G and 4G coverage is expected to be available for 95 percent of residential homes by 2020.
Continued investment in Vietnam’s telecommunication networks—projected to be worth more than US$10 billion by 2022—will be vital to fostering communication, commerce, and collaboration between Vietnam, its different regions, and the world.

Conclusion

Moving toward the future, new business models—with an emphasis on transparency—and technological innovations, such as blockchain, will accelerate the leapfrogging of Vietnam’s economy, as people continue to flock to urban centers.

In particular, fintech has the power to enable the participation of underbanked and unbanked consumers in Vietnam’s formal economy. This focus on financial inclusion, combined with systemic reforms and investments in education, innovation, and best practices, could further propel Vietnam’s GDP growth rate even beyond the most favorable current projections.

Source: Andrew Rowan

Hanoi DocFest 2017 to start this Sunday

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The 5th edition of Hanoi DocFest, Vietnam’s only annual festival, dedicated to independent creative documentaries, experimental and hybrid films, will be jointly held by Hanoi DocLab and Goethe-Institut Hanoi on November 5-12.

This year’s festival has an important structural change: the program will last for a week and happen in many places in the city, to give the audience a broader perspective of what’s happening in the independent film scene.

At DocFest 2017, you will find films that contemplate the many aspects of the social and the personal, manifested not only in informational routes but also in unique formal approaches.

A 2-day symposium dedicated to cinema of the region, titled “Time, Space, and the Visceral in Southeast Asian Cinema”, will be organized, with the Southeast Asian Cinema Research Network, with speakers including Philippa Lovatt, Gaik Khoo, Jasmine Trice, Mariam Lam, Hitomi Hasegawa, Sow-Yee Au, Davide Cazzaro, Merv Espina, Thaiddhi and some from Vietnam – Siu Pham, Truong Minh Quy, Tran Ngoc Hieu, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Tran Duy Hung and Tran Trung Hieu.

Birgit Glombitza, the art director of Hamburg International Short Film Festival, will introduce the audience to contemporary aesthetics and current trends of short films in international festivals through three screening programs and presentations.

Furthermore, the schedule includes an intensive 3-day field recording and sound design workshop at our festival, led by Ernst Karel, a sound engineering specialist from Harvard University’s Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL).

During the weekend, there will be two main screening programs: “Then and Now” and “Portrait”.

Here, the audience will travel through the different landscapes of Vietnam, the Gia Lai region with Drowning Dew – a collaborative project between Art Labor Collective and Truong Que Chi and Do Van Hoang, the Mekong area with “Flat Sunlight” by Lena Bui, the street of Kham Thien in “March 23” by Pham Thi Hao … to meet an ex-freelance interpreter at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the mid-1960s, a man who came home after spending 18 years in prison, and families from the North, the South, and Middle Vietnam who live together in an apartment near the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, and many more.

They are the stories that we believe, to a certain extent, will tell a story of a Vietnam in which we are living and witnessing its many changes.

The event will take place at the Goethe-Institut Hanoi, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi.

Source: PV

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