Many foreign fashion brands have entered the Vietnamese market, creating stiff competition in the market for local brands.
Unlike other businessmen, Le Viet Thanh, CEO of K&K Fashion, doesn’t think foreign fashion brands will ‘choke Vietnamese brands to death’.
“The domestic fashion market has different segments with diverse needs. So, foreign fashion brands, though powerful, won’t be able to satisfy all the demands. Vietnamese brands still have their positions in the market if they have distinct products and can find niche markets,” he said, adding that local companies understand Vietnamese taste and can design products that fit Vietnamese.
The niche market for Michiko, for example, is high-end fashion for women aged over 30, priced at VND1.5-2.5 million. This group of customers likes special styles and original models.
Luu Nga, CEO of Elisa, commented that Vietnamese fashion industry can satisfy customers’ requirements on design and quality, and that Vietnamese brands can compete with foreigners.
Viet Tien Garment has been expanding its retail network with 650 shops, while An Phuoc has 115. Blue Exchange has 200 shops, Elisa 70 and Canifa 100.
The brands have seen revenue increasing directly proportional to network expansion. K&K reported a 50 percent growth rate, An Phuoc 15-17 percent and Garment No 10 22-25 percent.
Some Vietnamese brands have been succeeding in niche markets with self-designed products targeting middle-class and high income earners such as Cashew, Labella, Kelly Bui, Marc, Dotty, Camellia and Mora.
Hoang Thanh Tu, the owner of Mora, said that many Vietnamese fashion brands are now confident enough to join the international market and participate in fashion weeks in the US, South Korea and Japan.
Mora’s showrooms in Nha Trang and Da Nang show that it has stable and loyal clients.
IVY Moda, which develops high-end fast fashion products, has launched IVY Men and is going to launch IVY Kid in the time to come.
Meanwhile, a NEM representative said NEM’s advantage lies in 10 factories and thousands of skilled workers.
Doan Bich Ngoc, CEO of Canifa, commented that while foreign brands pay attention to color and pattern, Canifa focuses on developing products with longer life made of good material.
Vietnamese brands also have advantages in branding. Elisa tends to fund pageant contests, while Canifa sponsors Project Runway and Vietnam Next Top Model TV shows and Marc supports Fashion In Me competition.
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.
Vietnamese scientists and students and their Australian friends, including one revered professor, are credited with the introduction of the Internet to Vietnam over 20 years ago.
The respected young academics from both countries were instrumental in the ushering in of the Internet into the Southeast Asian country in the early 1990s.
One of the first foreign experts to make Vietnam’s connection to the global grid possible was Professor Rob Hurle from the Australia National University (ANU).
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters recently contacted Prof. Hurle during his stay in Germany to visit his son.
“I’m delighted to tell this story, which reflects one of the most intriguing parts of my life,” he wrote in an email.
As a young man, he taught biology at high schools in Victoria, Australia upon his graduation from university.
He did not take a keen interest in computer science until four years later, and joined the Australia National Center of Natural Sciences.
In 1987, Hurle became a professor at ANU, an information technology expert and a Southeast Asian researcher with a perfect command of Bahasa, whose usage typically refers to the languages of Indonesia and Malaysia.
“Despite carrying out extensive research into Southeast Asian languages and cultures and traveling widely across the region, I somehow had never set foot in Vietnam,” the 77-year-old admitted.
Professor Rob Hurle from the Australia National University
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, students at ANU would use a mainframe computer for statistical work and related tasks.
The personal computer, which was not powerful enough to perform such tasks then, was mostly used to type documents and send emails.
Prof. Hurle shared his disturbance at learning that overseas Vietnamese students had limited use of personal computers, preventing them from putting what they had learnt in Australia into practice upon their return to their home country.
The nagging question prompted him to travel to Vietnam in 1991.
“I brought with me a hefty modem and gifted it to Pham Bich San, one of the Vietnamese students in Australia, so that he and others could connect to the mainframe computers in Vietnam more easily,” the professor recalled.
“Totally uninformed about Vietnam, I had not been aware that the bulky modem would be a burden, as computer engineers in Vietnam, who earned a mere US$20 per month, could hardly afford phone calls from Vietnam to Australia at $5 per minute,” he added.
This reality encouraged the scientist to devise ways to connect to Vietnam through an international phone toll of $2 per minute, which engineers in Australia, whose monthly salaries were approximately $3,500, could afford.
A few months later, Prof. Hurle returned to Vietnam and contacted an overseas Vietnamese in the U.S., who suggested that he approach Tran Ba Thai from the Institute of Information Technology in Hanoi.
“By then we had made strides in substituting the mainframe system with smaller yet higher-configuration computers adopting the UNIX system [a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems] at ANU,” he added.
Prof. Hurle, Thai and a few other colleagues then embarked on experiments in connecting computers in Vietnam and Australia through landline phone lines.
The Aussie designed new pieces of software for the UNIX system, so that modems could be utilized to link computers in Vietnam by allowing users access to the UNIX system before they could connect to the Internet.
The experiments were a success.
And Thai was then able to send emails to his colleagues around the world, using the email address hanoi@coombs.anu.edu.au.
Prof. Hurle added that he and Thai had talked on the phone and never met in person at that stage.
In September 1993, Telstra Corp Ltd., Australia’s biggest telco company, sponsored a conference in Hanoi, and invited the professor to the event, where he sat down with Thai for further discussions on fostering the growth of the Internet in Vietnam.
Engineers work at Quang Trung Software City in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Reparation
Prof. Hurle revealed that he also helped government agencies, banks, research institutes and national libraries in China, Bangladesh and the Philippines with their Internet connections during that time.
“My greatest effort and time, however, were expended in Vietnam for different reasons,” he noted.
One of the reasons was his encounters with overseas Vietnamese students who had a voracious appetite for knowledge but were unable to put it into practice.
“This spurred me on to seek ways to give them better access to the Internet world,” he said.
He was also overwhelmed with a sense of guilt as Australia had participated in the American war in Vietnam, which ended in April 1975.
“As an Australian, I desired to do something in recompense for our wrongs,” he confided.
While working with agencies in the Philippines, Prof. Hurle learned that the domain .ph had been registered by an individual user, who wanted to trade it to the government for a huge sum.
Foreseeing a similar predicament in Vietnam, he advised Thai to promptly register for and acquired the .vn domain in 1994.
Piloting milestones in Vietnam
The Internet pilot program in Vietnam stemmed from the partnership between Tran Ba Thai and his associates and Professor Rob Hurle’s group from the Australia National University to launch VAREnet, short for Vietnam Academic Research & Educational Network, on a trial basis in 1994.
Back then, NetNam was a service network under the Information Technology Institute and had yet to become the enterprise it is today.
The National Center for Science and Technology Information, under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (now the Ministry of Science and Technology), connected to the Netherlands’ Toolnet in 1994.
In 1995, the Center of Science and Technology, under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science, Technology and Environment, liaised with a networking node in Singapore to form the so-called HCMCNET.
One year later, Vietnam Data Communication Co. (VDC), which belongs to Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, connected to the U.S.’s SprintLink, a tier-1 global Internet service provider network that provides services through an OC-192 Internet backbone, at two points in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City through two international portals operating at 64kb per second.
As Vietnam is entering a new phase of development, the government focuses on new strategy in FDI attraction, with more attention to quality instead of quantity, as such, FDI enterprises should contribute more to the human resources training and technology transfer.
According to the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE), provinces/cities with large scale foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, such as Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa (in the north), Binh Duong, Dong Nai (in the south), the contribution of FDI sector has basically transformed the economic structure of each province and city. For example in Bac Ninh, thanks to efficient attraction of FDI, in recent 5 years, Bac Ninh has transformed from an agricultural province to an industrial province, as agricultural activities contribute to 8% of the economy, while industrial activities and services contribute for 82%.
However, besides positive results, reality shows that FDI enterprises also have disadvantages, or even negative influences such as environmental pollution and using obsolete technology. The rate of FDI disbursement is still low compared to the registered capital; the use of resources is still wasteful, and limited projects using modern technologies.
As such, VAFIE suggested the government to have new strategy in attracting FDI. Specifically, while there are still priority for sectors requiring large number of employees in underdeveloped provinces, it is necessary to focus on calling for FDI in sectors with high technology requirements, creating high added value such as Information & Technology (IT), Internet of things, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing and massive data analysis, training & education of high qualified human resources, research & development, community health care. With this being said, it is necessary to modify preferential policies, especially for provinces with advantages of developed industry and services with high added value. In other way of saing, these provinces should not consider FDI projects using large amount of employees, causing environmental pollution and green house gaas emission. For underdeveloped provinces/cities, FDP projects with low added value can still be considered, but enterprises have to ensure environmental protection.
Many experts also suggested to orients FDI attraction in sustainable way, not only for economic purpose, but also for society and environment. Instead of looking fo quantity as before, the government should now look at the quality and sustainable development. Besdies, another factor to consider is the growing trend of Mergers & Acquisitions activities (M&A), which is estimated to be at 4.16 billion USD since the beginning of 2017, and going to the 5 billion USD – mark. This trend will only grow in the futuer. Direct and indirect investment will no longer be different, which can impact to the FDI attraction policies in the coming time.
Bearing this in mind, FDI enterprises should pay more attention to their responsibilities to give something back to the society, and set aside a portion of their revenue to train human resources and transfer technologies. Recently, the government has encouraged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) enteprises to increase cooperation with domestic enterprises, with an aim to spread the effect of FDI to the economy as a whole. After 30 years of the government’s effort in attracting FDI, there remains work to be done to increase the efficiency of this important fund to the economy.
One of the reasons for only few Vietnamese enterprises to take part in FDI enterprises’ supply chain is that they still lack the confidence and belief in their own capabilities. All of these have lead to Vietnamese enterprises do not reach out to cooperate with FDI enterprises, so that they have not really taken part in the FDI enterprises’ supply chain process.
In addition to the lack of confidence, Vietnamese enterprises would need to have long term strategy for development, being able to quickly adapt to requirements of FDI enterprises; continuously improving capabilities in the context of global integration. Besides, the government also needs to increase the role of associations and organizations in connecting domestics enterprises and FDI enterprises.
Southeast Asian stocks were largely subdued on Tuesday after data showed China’s factory growth slowed more than expected in October, with Vietnam dropping nearly 1 percent, while Thailand gained for the sixth session on strong industrial output data.
In Vietnam, real estate developer FLC Faros Constructions fell 4.6 percent after briefly touching a record high earlier in the session, dragging the main index.
The builder said its third-quarter net profit fell 20.8 percent, year over year.
“A purely speculative stock in the Vietnamese market that has been going up ceiling after ceiling in the last week-and-a-half has become one of the largest companies on the stock market and so has an exaggerated impact on the index,” said Fiachra Mac Cana, head of research at Ho Chi Minh Securities.
Singapore shares closed down 0.1 percent, with the city-state’s largest mobile network operator Singtel pulling down the index.
The index gained 4.8 percent this month, after two straight months of losses.
“Southeast Asian markets fared mixed as the fall in China PMI numbers… affected the economies with strong trade ties with China namely Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam,” said Redza Rahman, head of research at MDIF.
Growth in China’s manufacturing sector cooled more than expected in October in the face of tighter pollution rules that are forcing many steel mills, smelters and factories to curtail production over the winter.
Meanwhile, Thai shares closed 0.2 percent higher, buoyed by industrials and energy stocks.
Thailand’s industrial output rose for a third straight month in September on an annual basis, beating forecasts. The country’s October inflation data is due on Wednesday.
Airports of Thailand rose 1.7 percent, while renewable energy company Energy Absolute surged 8.1 percent.
The Thai index has risen nearly 3 percent this month, marking its fifth straight monthly gain.
Indonesian shares snapped three straight sessions of declines to close 0.5 percent firmer.
The index has risen 1.8 percent this month, its ninth straight monthly gain.
Bank Central Asia, the country’s largest lender by market value, led the gains and rose 2.3 percent, while Chandra Asri Petrochemical surged 7 percent.
The Philippine stock market was closed on Tuesday and will remain shut on Wednesday on account of public holidays.
Overview of best prospect sectors, major infrastructure projects, significant government procurements and business opportunities.
Continued strong economic growth, ongoing reform and a large population of 93 million —half of which are under the age of thirty — have combined to create a dynamic and quickly evolving commercial environment in Vietnam. Sales of equipment, technologies and consulting and management services associated with growth in Vietnam’s industrial and export sectors and implementation of major infrastructure projects continue to be a major source of commercial activity and interest for U.S. firms. In terms of infrastructure, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released figures in April 2017 that mark Vietnam’s public and private infrastructure investment as the highest in Southeast Asia, accounting for an average of 5.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Per capita GDP was estimated to be $5,370 in 2014 (in 2011 PPP). The government’s recently stated goal is to increase this to at least $18,000 by 2035. With disposable income levels in major urban areas four to five times the national average, significant opportunities in the consumer and services sectors are fast emerging, as evidenced by strong growth in the number of Vietnamese students attending university in the United States, and the growing number of middle-class that are choosing the U.S. as a vacation destination.
Telecommunications, information technology, oil and gas exploration, power generation, transportation infrastructure construction, environmental project management and technology, aviation and education will continue to offer the most promising opportunities for U.S. companies over the next few years as infrastructure needs continue to expand with Vietnam’s pursuit of rapid economic development. Health care will also be a growing sector as the government expands programs and an increasingly wealthy population spends more on medical treatment.
The government of Vietnam (GVN) plays a significant role in the economy, with state-owned enterprises (SOEs) making up 35 percent of GDP. The GVN strategy to “equitize” (partially privatize) SOEs in all sectors of the economy is slowly moving forward. While the GVN will maintain majority ownership in the largest and most sensitive sectors of the economy, which includes energy, telecommunications, aviation and banking, the equitization process could present opportunities for U.S. companies.
Key U.S. agricultural inputs to production such as hardwood lumber, cotton, hides, skins and feed ingredients will also continue to play a key role in helping fuel Vietnam’s export led manufacturing strategy, as noted earlier, and are responsible for U.S. agricultural products accounting for nearly half of total exports to Vietnam. Demand continues to also grow for consumption oriented products such as meat, dairy and fresh and dried fruits.
Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices
Famous silk brand Khaisilk may face a range of investigations after a scandal triggered widespread calls for the boycott of the once-luxury Vietnamese brand last week.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said on October 30 it had passed on all relevant documents to the police, who are set to launch a criminal probe into Khaisilk after an inspection last week uncovered fake Chinese-made products at one of its Hanoi outlets.
Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh set up a joint task force on October 30, tasked with launching an independent probe into the case. “Khaisilk’s actions violated the law, damaged the value of Vietnamese brands, and deceived Vietnamese consumers,” Minister Anh said at a meeting on the same day.
The scandal came to light on October 23, when a businessman in Hanoi took to Facebook to rail against products his company had bought from the brand, saying they were actually made in China.
According to the post, the company bought 60 Khaisilk-branded scarves at the Hang Gai shop in Hanoi for VND644,000 ($28) each, but one scarf had two labels: “Khaisilk Made in Vietnam” and “Made in China”.
The company said it had checked the rest of the scarves and found signs that “Made in China” labels had been removed.
The brand’s owner, Hoang Khai, later admitted that half of the silk used by Khaisilk came from China, while the remainder came from Vietnamese craft villages. But he was adamant that his company always used high-quality materials.
Khai said there has been a shortage of domestic silk from handicraft villages while market demand saw diverse requirements. For this reason, they imported silk from China without noting the origin of the products.
He also admitted that, due to expanding business into other fields such as real estate and tourism, the silk business had not been controlled and supervised strictly.
Khai has apologized to customers and offered compensation. However, the public has begun questioning whether Khaisilk had received help from market surveillance authorities, as the brand’s shops have allegedly been selling Chinese silk for years without being detected.
Khaisilk is a renowned high-end brand with a history of over 30 years, famous for its supposedly high-quality “Made in Vietnam” products. The scandal has triggered widespread boycott calls. Vietnamese lawyers have also weighed in, saying aside from denting public confidence, the Khaisilk Group, which owns the eponymous brand, could face legal action.
Its outlets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been closed since October 27.
He reached the French capital by crossing through 23 countries in just 150 days.
Tran Dang Dang Khoa, a 30-year-old backpacker from Vietnam’s southern province of Tien Giang, arrived at the Eiffel Tower last Saturday. This symbol of Paris marks the end of the first part of his journey around the world by motorbike, which he started on June 1. According to Khoa, he has been dreaming about embarking on this journey for 20 years and spent 2 years preparing for it.
Khoa finished the third quarter of his journey to Paris in Italy more than 20 days ago. He shared that the book “In Vespa. Da Roma a Saigon” by the late Italian writer Giorgio Bettinelli served as an inspiration for him to embark on his journey.
One of his most memorable experiences was being escorted for 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) through a dangerous area by police in Pakistan.
Being a pilot was another of his childhood dreams, and Khoa was able to realize that dream when he reached Bulgaria. For just BGN50 ($30), he was able to enjoy 30 minutes of flying a real aircraft with a flight instructor.
Santorini, Greece was the first island Khoa visited on his journey. While the island offered a large variety of activities such as snorkeling and donkey riding, Khoa spent most of his three days there relaxing, taking pictures and refueling.
On day 18 of his journey, Khoa experienced a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in Bandipur, Nepal.
In Georgia, Khoa had a surprise meeting with Vietnamese singer Ho Quang Hieu, who was also visiting the country at the time. From strangers, the two soon became friends as they explored Georgia’s capital Tbilisi together.
Georgia is also where Khoa celebrated the 100th day of his journey, as well as where he took the best pictures, enjoyed the tastiest food and met many good friends.
However, there were also times when he felt scared and depressed, such as when he rode through Iran’s scorching hot desert on roads that seemed endless.
The first half of Khoa’s journey was 20,000 kilometers (12,500 miles), costing him 500 liters (110 gallons) of gasoline and 25 bottles of motor oil, and taking him through 23 countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
Some of the coins and banknotes Khoa managed to collect on his journey
On day 108 of the journey, Khoa boarded a cargo ship to cross the Black Sea from Georgia to Bulgaria. As the only passenger on board, he was given a VIP room which even included an en suite bathroom.
In Bulgaria, Khoa was invited by his friend Lesley, a Bulgarian motorcyclist who has traveled across Europe, to visit Granitovo. He also met Bob Dibble, a 70-year-old man who was traveling the world on his Honda CT110.
During the first part of the journey, Khoa lost 7.5 kilograms (16.5 pounds). However, he has not fallen sick and says a healthy diet and a good balance between traveling and resting is the key to staying fit.
Khoa was reunited with his friend Fabio in Ligura, Italy after first meeting him in Pakistan when they were traveling in opposite directions. Khoa was heading to Europe while Fabio was heading to Asia, but while Fabio has returned home, Khoa is still on the road.
“A journey is not measured by the number of kilometers covered but by the number of friends made. Only now do I fully understand that statement,” Khoa said.
Throughout his journey, Khoa has received help from both locals and the Vietnamese communities in Europe.
His motorbike, nicknamed Memo for Mekong Delta Motorboat, has broken down multiple times but Khoa has always managed to put it back together.
A selfie with local children in Bulgaria.
Pakistan is one of Khoa’s most memorable destinations. This is where he met and became good friends with a group of motorcycle enthusiasts from Lahore.
A group of locals help Khoa change the oil in Sukkur.
Khoa and Memo on the snow-capped Alps in Switzerland.
Việt Nam spanked Myanmar 3-0 to set up a semi-final showdown with Malaysia at the ongoing Southeast Asian Futsal HDBank Cup in Hà Nội yesterday.
Việt Nam came into the game with Myanmar knowing they needed a win to avoid tournament favourites Thailand in the semi-final on November 1.
Though unfancied, Myanmar have improved recently and withstood continuous pressure from Việt Nam in the opening stages, before Phùng Trọng Luân opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a shot in the left corner.
The Myanmar defence stiffened and the first half finished without any further goals.
In the second half, Việt Nam dominated possession but were largely thwarted by the Myanmar defence.
With only a few minutes left, Myanmar pressed for an equaliser, almost scoring when Pyae Phyo Maung struck goalkeeper Văn Huy’s post with a shot.
That was the closest Myanmar would come, with Ngọc Sơn’s header with 20 seconds left sealing victory, before goalie Huy tapped into an open goal to secure the 3-0 win.
Việt Nam have won all four games so far and will feel confident of besting their best ever result in the tournament of second in 2009 and 2012.
Viettel has won one gold and four silver awards at the 2017 International Business Awards – Stevie Awards in various categories and for its operations in various countries.
The Gold Award went to Viettel’s Youtube fee package (in Cambodia, Peru and Tanzania) in the best Entertainment – Communication Product of the Year category.
Within six months of the package’s launch it had garnered over one million customers in the three countries by helping achieve a breakthrough in the consumption of entertainment on smartphones and saving 40 – 80 per cent cost when using data.
The four silver awards were for Fastest-Growing Company of the Year in Europe, Middle East and Africa for Halotel (Tanzania); Most Effective Marketing Campaign of the Year for Bitel (Peru); Best Customer Care Service of the Year for My Viettel application (Việt Nam); and Best Telecommunication Product of the Year for telecommunication secure solution (Việt Nam)
This is the first time that Halotel, Viettel’s Tanzanian operation, has won an international award.
Within three months of launching its mobile service in October 2015 Halotel had signed up one million subscribers, and after nine months doubled the figure, both records that no other international telecom service provider has ever achieved.
Halotel remains one of the fastest growing telecom companies in Tanzania. As of October 2017 it has over 3.5 million customers to rank fourth out of eight telecom companies in the country after surpassing some that have been in the business for over 10 years.
According to the Tanzanian Communication Regulatory Authority, the speed of growth of Halotel’s subscriber numbers in July and August surprised authorities after it signed up a full 50 per cent of the 427,500 new mobile customers.
When the country switched to a system of migrating between networks while retaining the mobile number in March 2017, Halotel attracted the highest proportion of customers wanting to switch, with around 1,000 from other networks joining it every month.
The company has the country’s largest telecom network with 2,500 base-transceiver stations and 18,000 km of optic-fibre cable and covering 90 per cent of the country. It was also the first to set up and provide mobile broadband connections to some 3,000 villages which had never enjoyed internet or mobile services until then.
Tanzania is now Viettel’s biggest overseas market with a population of 55 million and is also where it has made the biggest investment – worth US$800 million. Its investment in Tanzania was considered the best project in 2014 in Eastern, Western and Central Africa at the 2015 Global Investors Conference.
The International Business Awards – Stevie Awards is a leading global award given annually for achievements and contributions by enterprises and individuals that benefit the community, including in information technology and telecommunication.
To win, candidates must persuade 200 examiners, all famous CEOs or entrepreneurs. The name “Stevie” comes from Stephen, which is Greek for “Crowned”.
Coc Coc, or “Knock Knock” in English – a Vietnam-based search engine – has become one of the most popular browsers in Vietnam, with around 23 million users as of August.
Le Van Thanh, co-founder of Coc Coc, said that in the local market, the browser has made strong leaps, just behind Google’s Chrome and has surpassed all other browsers of foreign brands like Firefox.
Data from internet-monitoring firm StatCounter shows Chrome has taken the lead with 58.7% of users, followed by Coc Coc (26.6%) and Firefox (7.5%).
Thanh ascribed the strong growth to the integration of many features such as search, automatic punctuations, correct spelling suggestions, dictionaries, Facebook access, download and shopping suggestions among others.
The Vietnamese search engine, behind Google and Facebook, has made up around 20% of the online advertising market. The number of Coc Coc users has helped the company take the second place, accounting for 26.6%.
Not many countries worldwide develop their own Internet browser, according to Thanh.
Set up in 2010, Coc Coc launched the Coc Coc Internet browser in 2013. Germany’s media platform Hubert Burda Media injected US$14 million into the Vietnamese enterprise in 2015.
Peter Kennedy, chairman of Hubert Burda, said Coc Coc had respective growth rates of 100% in 2015 and 80% in 2016. The figure is estimated at 50% this year.
He said the company is very pleased with this investment. Vietnam is an attractive place to invest in, as online services are growing fast compared to other places, and the online community is very strong.
Thanh revealed Coc Coc reached the break-even point in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Kennedy added the current value of Coc Coc may be four or five times higher than the initial investment, but he could not determine its market value.
The firm’s profits and share price have rocketed this year.
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics logged a record profit of 11.2 trillion won — $10.0 billion — in the July to September period, it said Tuesday, its best for any quarter.
The world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker has faced the jailing of its de facto leader for bribery and a recall of its flagship device, but said in a statement its net profits soared 148 percent on the same period a year ago.
The figures come only two weeks after its chief executive Kwon Oh-Hyun resigned, saying South Korea’s biggest company was facing an “unprecedented crisis” and its current profitability was “merely a fruit of decisions and investment made in the past”.
The firm described Tuesday’s numbers as an “overall robust performance”.
Operating profit nearly tripled on-year to 14.5 trillion won — also a quarterly record — thanks to strong sales of its memory chips and a recovery in smartphone sales from the huge recall of its Galaxy Note 7 device a year ago.
At the time the firm suffered a crippling blow to its mobile business due to the scandal over exploding batteries.
Third-quarter sales also surged to a quarterly record of 62.05 trillion won.
Samsung’s semiconductor unit, which has been riding high on surging global demand for memory chips for servers and smartphones, saw its operating profit soar nearly 200 percent to 9.96 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics is the key subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung Group, whose heir Lee Jae-Yong was found guilty in August of bribery, perjury and other charges stemming from payments to the secret confidante of ousted president Park Geun-Hye.
Lee, who was jailed for five years, says he is innocent and is appealing.
The firm’s profits and share price have rocketed this year and it said separately it would double its dividends in 2018, although it would keep them fixed for the following two years.
It also confirmed a further share buyback for the fourth quarter.
Widespread public backlash. A raft of looming investigations. What’s next for the once-posh Vietnamese garment brand?
Khaisilk is poised to face a series of investigations after a made-in-China scandal has triggered widespread calls for the boycott of the once-posh Vietnamese silk brand since last week.
On Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said it had transferred all relevant documents to the police who are all set to launch a criminal probe into Khaisilk after an inspection last week uncovered fake products made in China at one of the brand’s Hanoi outlets.
Trade minister Tran Tuan Anh also on Monday set up a joint task force charged with launching an independent probe into the case.
“Khaisilk’s action has violated the law, damaged the value of Vietnamese brands and deceived Vietnamese consumers,” Anh said at a meeting on Monday.
The scandal came to light on October 23 when a businessman in Hanoi took to Facebook to rail against products his company had bought from the brand, saying they were actually made in China.
According to the post, the company bought 60 Khaisilk-branded scarves at the Hang Gai shop in Hanoi for VND644,000 ($28) each, but one scarf had two tags: “Khaisilk Made in Vietnam” and “Made in China.”
The company said it had checked the rest of the scarves and found signs that “Made in China” tags had been removed.
The brand’s owner Hoang Khai later admitted that half of the silk used by Khaisilk came from China, while the rest came from Vietnamese craft villages. But he was adamant that his company always used high-quality material.
Khai has apologized to customers and offered compensation. However the public has started questioning whether Khaisilk had been receiving help from the market surveillance authorities, as the brand’s shops have allegedly been selling Chinese silk for years without being detected.
Khaisilk is a renowned high-end brand with a history of over 30 years, famous for its supposedly high-quality “made in Vietnam” products.
The scandal has triggered widespread boycott calls. Vietnamese lawyers have also weighed in, saying aside from denting public confidence, Khaisilk Group, which owns the eponymous brand, could face legal action.
Since Friday, Khaisilk has shut down its outlets in both Saigon and Hanoi.
Viet Nam topped the Group A of the ASEAN Football Federation Futsal HDBank Championship after their 18-0 win over Brunei in HCM City yesterday.
With three wins, the hosts led the group and met their target of advancing to the semi-finals. They also secured a berth in the Asian Futsal Championship final next year.
Being one of two best teams in the region, Viet Nam met with no difficulty in setting up their domination over Brunei from the beginning.
Brunei played defensively, but they could not stop the Vietnamese players from scoring early.
Duc Hoa opened the result with a crossing finish just 45 seconds from the first whistle.
The hosts continued scoring six more goals in the first half by Quoc Hung, Thai Huy, Van Toan, Trong Luan, Ngo Ngoc Son and Quoc Nam.
Brunei was under heavy pressure in the second period. Viet Nam made a shower of goals with 11 successful finishes.
Thai Huy and Danh Phat netted a hat-trick each. Luan and Son added a double to their own hat-trick, while the last one went to Xuan Du.
After the match, coach Miguel Rodrigo of Viet Nam said it was not a difficult game for his side. Players were asked to score as many goals as possible to ensure they have the advantage of better goal difference when vying for the top position.
The Spaniard was satisfied with the team’s performance. The next step would be to secure the top position in the group and prepare for the last-four round, he said.
Viet Nam will vie for the top position in the group with Myanmar in the last qualifying round match at the Phu Tho Gymnasium today.
Rodrigo said the match against Myanmar would not be a piece of cake. Viet Nam played Myanmar in the recent Southeast Asian Games and Myanmar have shown great progress, he noted.
On the other side, coach Yonos Yusof of Brunei said Viet Nam were the toughest rivals among the three teams that they had met in this tournament. It was a team of strong players. Brunei tried to defend but did not succeed, he said.
Brunei will play the last match against the Philippines, who are at the same level, and Yusof hopes to secure a win before leaving Viet Nam.
Myanmar beat Indonesia 3-2 yesterday in a crucial tie to make the cut for the semi-finals. They have also qualified for the first time ever for the Asian championship.
“The game was very important. So we had to be patient and not react too quickly,” said Myanmar head coach Htay Myint on aseanfootball.org.
“The game was very close, but in the end, we were a little lucky to win this game, especially, when Indonesia went for the power play at the closing stage.”
Meanwhile, Indonesian head coach Vic Hermans said: “We were losing out in the one on one just like yesterday (against Viet Nam). This is the price we pay when we only train for months without playing any matches. We were just lacking in the defence.”
Vietinbank pocketed their first National Super Volleyball Cup in their fourth attempt after beating VTV Binh Dien Long An 3-1 in the final match on Saturday.
It was the only title that Vietinbank lacked in their collection.
Vietinbank with young players such as Doan Thi Xuan, Thu Hoa and Dinh Thi Thuy made it difficult for Binh Dien Long An to resist their strong attacks in the first two sets, which they won 25-20, 25-17.
Binh Dien Long An, without their key spiker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, played below expectations. They could only fight back in the third set to win 25-20, before losing quickly 16-25 in the fourth.
