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Tag: Vietnam

  • Vietnam’s startup potential lures international students, overseas Vietnamese

    Vietnam’s startup potential lures international students, overseas Vietnamese

    Founders of Wisepass, Base.vn and WeFit are educated overseas, drawn back to Vietnam by its startup potential. Lam Tran, 34, is a French overseas Vietnamese with over 10 years’ experience in marketing at Google Europe. He returned to Vietnam and founded Wisepass, a lifestyle app that connects users to a wide range of dining, leisure and entertainment services through paid membership packages.

    In 2018, Lam made WisePass available in Thailand and the Phillipines. “I believe to succeed businesses must lead their home market first, before thinking of expanding overseas,” said Lam.

    Having set up the business in HCMC and then expanded to Hanoi, Lam regularly flew to the capital city to attend events and promote his products. After selling 10 memberships in a day, Lam was able to show employees the direction and potential of WisePass.

    “Global expansion may sound intimidating, but after all, founders must start from the smallest things: talk to customers, selling products,” Lam said. There is no need to wait for big events, he added, “all you need to do is show up and market your product at appropriate places.”

    WisePass currently operates in three countries, with 300 partners and over 1,000 monthly active users.

    The founder of Base.vn, Pham Kim Hung, is well-known  in Vietnamese math circles. He won Gold and Silver medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad and is the author of a math textbook published in four languages. Graduating in computer science from Stanford University, Hung did not stay on to work in Silicon Valley but decided to return to Vietnam.

    In 2016, he launched Base.vn, a business management software under the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, where software is leased under a subscription instead of installed. The app is built to unify corporate governance processes, from administration to human resources, task management, financial management to sales marketing.

    Base.vn currently serves over 500 enterprises, including many large organisations like VIB, VPBank, ACB, The Coffee House, McDonald’s and VinCommerce.

    Base.vn currently has the highest investment in all business-to-business startups in Vietnam.

    “After Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, we believe that Vietnam can become the next major technology powerhouse in the region,” Chandra Tjan, co-founder and partner of Indonesian fund Alpha JWC Venture said.

    In addition to Base.vn and WisePass, in the past few years, the Vietnamese startup community has received many other innovations: WeFit (fitness), Elsa (language learning), Logivan (van hiring), GotIt (gift delivery), and Uiza (video streaming). Most of these entrepreneurial efforts have been successful at carving their own niche in the Vietnamese startup ecosystem.

    Experts have said that with over 100 million people, Vietnam has great potential for socio-economic development, and with a rapidly growing middle class combined with quick adaption of digital developments, the ground is fertile for new ventures, especially startups.

    Apart from the economic potential, young people returning to Vietnam also have a sense of duty and obligation to their homeland, as also a realization that their efforts here can have greater positive impact on society as a whole, according to experts.

    Investment in Vietnamese startups rose to $889 million in 2018, three times that of 2017, according to a report recently released by Topica Founder Institute (TFI), a startup accelerator program in Vietnam and Thailand run by Hanoi-headquartered multinational educational technology company Topica.

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  • Northern Vietnam casino reports first profit in three years

    Northern Vietnam casino reports first profit in three years

    Royal Casino, the largest in the northern Quang Ninh Province, last year reported a profit for the first time in three years. Royal International Corporation, its operator, said revenues grew by 48 percent from the previous year to VND288 billion ($12.39 million), and profit after tax to VND17 billion ($731,263) in 2018. This is the company’s first profit since 2015.

    The owner of the company is Khai Tiep International Investment Limited, registered in the Cayman Islands.

    The casino accounted for VND178 billion ($7.66 million) with the rest coming from hotel, villas and hospitality-related services.

    The company’s management said in a financial report that the growth in the casino’s revenues was due to the sharp increase in the number of customers after an expressway connecting Quang Ninh’s Ha Long town  with northern Hai Phong City was built last September.

    Linking up with the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway, it cuts the travel time from the capital to Ha Long by half to just 90 minutes.

    The company also saved VND16 billion ($688,192) last year in sales and management costs.

    At the end of last year the casino had 1,346 employees, 80 fewer than at the beginning of the year.

    On Saturday Corona Resort and Casino in the southern Phu Quoc Island became the first casino in Vietnam to allow Vietnamese to gamble.

    The government has allowed a three-year trial period.

    Vietnamese who gamble here must be over 21, earn a minimum of VND10 million ($430) a month and have no criminal record or objections from family.

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  • Singaporean ride-hailing startup TADA launches in Vietnam

    Singaporean ride-hailing startup TADA launches in Vietnam

    Singapore-based tech firm Mass Vehicle Ledger (MLV) launched its ride-hailing app TADA in Ho Chi Minh City Monday. HCMC is the third Southeast Asian market that the firm is entering after Singapore and Cambodia. Instead of billing commissions from drivers like other major players Grab and Go-Viet, the app aims to profit off advertising as well as fees from B2B (business to business) partners that participate in their ecosystem.

    This ecosystem will operate on blockchain technology to store records such as payments and vehicle maintenance, and will engage transport-related companies such as traditional taxis, insurance, repair services, and car dealers.

    Kay Woo, the South Korean founder of MLV, said that among its current partners are Lotte Rental, a rental company of cars and equipment belonging to South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, local insurance provider PTI and local taxi firm Vinataxi.

    The app will also not offer promotions like its rivals.

    “They throw promotions everyday but this won’t last forever, and prices will eventually go up. We focus on stability, and without commission our prices will be lower.”

    The MLV founder revealed that over 2,000 drivers had signed up with the company. After HCMC, the firm plans to expand the app to Hanoi and Da Nang.

    TADA plans to get 25,000 drivers to register this year but has no plans to join the motorcycle segment in the near future.

    Currently, MVL is registered as a technology company in Vietnam. Operations manager Peter Nguyen explained that because it does not charge drivers, it is only a technological solution. However, the company is willing to comply with transport tax and regulatory guidelines should they apply, he said.

    TADA, which means “let’s ride” in South Korean, opened in Cambodia just last month, and in Singapore in July 2018.

    MVL Technology Co., Ltd, formerly known as MVL Foundation Pte. Ltd, was founded in March 2018 in Singapore by Kay Woo.

    It aims to connect different sectors in the car industry.

    TADA has over 25,000 registered drivers and made more than 970,000 trips in the last 6 months.

    Vietnam’s ride-hailing market has seen new entrants after Uber’s departure early this year, including Vietnamese firm FastGo, GoViet – a subsidiary of Indonesia’s Go-Jek, Aber, Be Group, and the latest, TADA.

    Grab, which counts Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp among its backers, had 175,000 drivers and bikers in Vietnam as of last September and is the most prominent player in Vietnam after it pushed out Uber.

    Rival GoJek entered Vietnam last August, eyeing to grab a share of the fast-growing market. Vietnam has 95 million people, most of whom use smartphones.

    A number of local taxi companies in Vietnam have come together to compete against ride-hailing firms, Grab has been in a legal battle for more than a year with local taxi firm Vinasun Corp.

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  • More bubble tea shops open in Vietnam

    More bubble tea shops open in Vietnam

    More and more Vietnamese entrepreneurs are banking confidently on the popularity of bubble tea among the nation’s youth.It was past 10 in the night, but the bubble tea shop was packed. “I opened this milk tea shop just a few months ago, but people have been pouring in every day. My six employees struggle to serve all customers, especially in the weekend,” 33-year-old Nguyen Quang Dung said.

    Located in northern Bac Ninh Province in an industrial area with some 10,000 young workers, Dung’s milk tea shop sells 150-200 cups every day, and he himself has to join his waiters in serving a large crowd.

    “It’s busy, but investing in milk tea shop is one of my best decisions. I have no regrets,” said Dung, who works fulltime as a manager at a nearby power plant.

    Dung is among many Vietnamese entrepreneurs who have been investing in the bubble tea industry in recent years, lured by good profit and high demand among the young population.

    The number of bubble tea stores in Vietnam reached 2,000 last year, with a new store opening every four days, according to the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

    Even though bubble tea entered Vietnam in 2000, the surge in the number of outlets has only happened in recent years, mostly through franchising.

    Vietnamese brand TocoToco opened its first bubble tea outlet in 2013 and now has almost 200 across the country. Taiwanese brand Ding Tea also has around 200 outlets, while local brand Bobapop has over 100.

    About 30 major bubble tea brands are operating in Vietnam. They are all seeking to compete for a slice of the $282 million dollar market, according to British research firm Euromonitor International.

    Hoang Thi Hien, owner of bubble tea chain Pozaa Tea with outlets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities, said that the number of outlets increased last year.

    “Many investors want to partner with us. In 2017 we had only eight shops, but the number has increased to almost 60 by the end of last year,” she said.

    She is confident that this figure will rise to 200 this year.

    Generation Z demand

    Visiting a bubble tea shop is among the most popular leisure activities among generation Z, people born between 1996 and 2015, according to a survey by market research firm Nielsen.

    The survey of 210 Gen Z people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last October found 81 percent of respondents saying bubble tea shops were their favorite hangouts.

    Vo Van Quang, a branding strategy consultant and marketing mentor, said: “Most 15-year-old girls don’t drink coffee, but they’ll gladly pay for a cup of bubble tea. Teenagers are a large customer group for tea-based drinks, hence the high demand for bubble tea.”

    High demand and high profits are irresistible lures for entrepreneurs.

    Nguyen Phi Van, a branding expert and board chairwoman of consulting firm Retail & Franchise Asia, said that an investor can earn up to 40 percent in profit on each cup of bubble tea, which sells for VND25,000-60,000 ($1-2.6).

    Therefore, entrepreneurs are willing to make big investments of up to VND1 billion ($43,000) for one store, including furnishing and brand franchising fees.

    “It takes less than a year for an investor to recover his capital, that’s why this business has been attracting so many,” Van said.

    Tran Thi Thuy Nga opened a bubble tea shop last September in the central Quang Ngai Province with an investment of almost VND800 million ($34,430).Many bubble tea entrepreneurs have other full time jobs and are using their savings to make more money. They can create their own brand or partner with a well-known brand.

    Even though Nga’s store is located in a very small town, students have been coming in every day with their friends and family. Nga often has to ask for help from her family members to join her eight employees in serving customers.

    “I haven’t recovered my capital yet, but so far I’m very happy with the revenue and demand,” Nga said, without revealing specific figures.

    She did reveal plans to open another shop soon.

    Dung, the bubble tea investor in Bac Ninh, has revenues of VND180 million a month ($7,760), and his profit is around half the amount. Dung estimates that he will recover his investment of VND700 million ($30,146) in just six months.

    He is also planning to open a second bubble tea store four kilometers away from the first one, which has been operating for only four months.

    “I’m confident that both stores will do very well.”

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  • Vietnam liquor maker makes a loss, 4 years in a row

    Vietnam liquor maker makes a loss, 4 years in a row

    Nation’s leading liquor maker Halico has reported a loss of VND75 billion ($3.22 million) for 2018. With Vietnamese consumers moving towards foreign brands, the 120-year-old liquor maker, in which Vietnam’s second biggest brewery Habeco has 54.29 percent ownership and British multinational Diageo holds a 45.5 percent stake, Halico has reported losses for the fourth year in a row.

    It reported a loss of over VND20 billion ($859,780) in the fourth quarter of 2018, raising the total annual loss to VND75 billion ($3.22 million).

    In its annual statement for 2018, Halico’s board expressed doubts that the company can continue operating, with Vietnamese consumer tastes shifting to imported beer and foreign alcoholic products. It conceded that it has failed to capture younger consumer segments.

    In addition, Diageo has been unable to negotiate any substantial supply contracts with foreign partners, so the company has not been able to do well in exports.

    Furthermore, management costs have risen to over 60 percent of revenue. Despite a 30 percent rise in sales in 2018 (VND155 billion or $6.66 million), the difference was not able to compensate for expenses incurred.

    The Hanoi Liquor Joint Stock Company was originally a Hanoi winery, founded in 1898 and equitized in 2004 with initial charter capital of nearly VND50 billion ($2.15 million).

    In early 2011, Diageo Plc, a British multinational alcoholic beverages company, acquired an 18.67 percent stake in Halico for a total of VND800 billion ($34.4 million) from investment fund VinaCapital.

    Diageo is the world’s biggest liquor company, owning famous brands such as Johnnie Walker, Bailey and Smirnoff. It bought another 26.83 percent stake in 2012, hoping to cash in on the growing consumer market.

    Halico’s accumulated losses at the end of last year topped VND330 billion ($14.19 million), 1.6 times higher than its current charter capital at VND200 billion ($8.6 million).

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  • ​Vietnam to remain a fast growing Asian economy

    ​Vietnam to remain a fast growing Asian economy

    With a 2019 GDP growth of 6.9 percent, Vietnam will remain one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. “We remain positive on Vietnam’s medium-term growth on strong manufacturing activity as FDI inflows to electronics manufacturing remain strong,” says economist Chidu Narayanan of Standard Chartered Bank. According to a report recently issued by the bank, the country is likely to reach GDP growth of 6.9 percent this year.

    The manufacturing sector has expanded by double digits for most of the past four years and this pace is likely to continue in 2019, says the report.

    The bank expects manufacturing growth to remain strong this year, though mildly lower than in 2018. Strong FDI inflows to manufacturing will likely support robust manufacturing output, it says.

    Standard Chartered economists also forecast FDI disbursement to stay at $15 billion this year and FDI inflows to the manufacturing sector, particularly electronics manufacturing, to remain high in the medium term.

    FDI disbursement in Vietnam reached a record $19.1 billion in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent,  according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

    “Most macro-economic indicators improved in 2018, interest and foreign exchange rates were kept stable despite the Fed’s hike in interest rates and U.S.-China tension, and non-performing loans were well-managed below three percent,” says Nirukt Sapru, CEO Vietnam and ASEAN and South Asia Cluster Markets.

    “We believe that the Vietnamese economy will remain one of the fastest growing in Asia and likely the fastest-growing ASEAN economy in 2019.”

    The World Bank forecast that Vietnam’s GDP is likely to drop to 6.6 percent in 2019 and 6.5 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates the country’s GDP for 2019 at 6.8 percent.

    Vietnam’s GDP growth of 7.08 percent in 2018 was the highest in a decade, according to the General Statistics Office.

  • Vietnam office space remains lucrative

    Vietnam office space remains lucrative

    Hanoi and HCMC will continue to be among the best performing office space markets globally in 2019, top property consultants have predicted. Troy Griffiths, deputy managing director of real estate service firm Savills, said that it was the case last year and this would continue on the back of very strong demand amidst supply constraints.

    “The demand driver is very strong, especially that from the booming financial services sectors like insurance and banking.”

    He said rentals would rise across the board as a consequence.

    “The Hanoi market’s rental might grow somewhere between 7 to 15 percent across all grades this year, while it will probably be slightly lower in HCMC, at 11 percent for A grade.

    “Rental will continue to trend up until supply catches up. Occupancy will be very strong at 90 percent and above. This will be much a story for 2019.”

    Official statistics show that at more than $19 billion, foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement for 2018 in Vietnam was the highest in a decade.

    The country’s commitment in free trade agreements (FTAs) including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into force on January 14, 2019, is also expected to boost economic prospects, resulting in a positive demand in office market.

    Dung Duong, head of valuation, research and consulting at CBRE, also said Hanoi and HCMC will continue to be two of the world’s the best performing office space markets this year.

    “Grade A average asking rent in HCMC is expected to increase by 4 percent in 2019, while occupancy will reach as high as 96 percent.”

    In Hanoi market, positive rental growth is expected in both Grade A and B, especially in Grade A on the back of new quality supply in the central business districts (CBD) in 2019, she said.

    “This will become the newest Grade A supply after three years of no new supply. In terms of demand, apart from traditional sectors such as banking, insurance, manufacturing and IT, co-working space is expected to continue to be a major source of demand.”

    According to a recent report by another real estate services provider, JLL, the HCMC market added 60,269  square meters of new supply from two grade B and four grade C buildings in 2018, taking the total inventory to nearly 1.97 million sq.m.

    The robust demand had pushed the occupancy rate to more than 96 percent by the end of last year, the report said.

    “Technology, IT companies and flexible space operators continued to show signs of expansion, while tenants in services, finance and manufacturing continued to dominate leasing demand in the market.”

    Average rent was $23.6 per square meter per month, up 4 percent from the previous year.

    There was no new grade A supply last year and only one new grade A building will be added this year, the Lim Tower 3 in Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 1.

    In Hanoi, given the buoyant Grade A demand and limited premium supply, some buildings in the CBD with high occupancy rates continued to increase rents in the fourth quarter of 2018.

    Thai Square fronting two streets in the capital’s Hoan Kiem District, Tong Dan and Tran Quang Khai, is expected to come into the market in the first quarter of 2019, adding more than 25,000 sq.m to the inventory.

    By the end of 2019 some 153,000 sq.m of space is expected to be added in Hanoi, the report said.

    While the opportunities in office investment in the HCMC and Hanoi CBDs are obvious, Griffiths said foreign investors interested in them would find a lot of challenges.

    “The reality is that land in CBDs in HCMC and Hanoi have a great deal of domestic ownership.”

    He advised foreign investors to seek good long-term joint venture partnerships.

    “There are more and more domestic real estate companies listed on local bourses and they are very active in the property market. That gives an opportunity for greater liquidity and great foreign ownership. I think it’s pretty essential for foreign investors to have good joint venture partnerships with such firms.”

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  • Vietnam trade deficit could balloon to $3 billion

    Vietnam trade deficit could balloon to $3 billion

    Vietnam could face a trade deficit of $3 billion this year, after achieving the highest trade surplus in a decade in 2018. Export turnover in 2019 is expected to reach about $265 billion, down 17.4 percent from 2018. However, imports are expected to rise by 13.2 percent, reaching $268 billion, meaning a trade deficit of $3 billion, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has predicted.

    The volatility of trade policies of major economies like the U.S. and EU could hurt Vietnam’s exports this year, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said at a recent review conference.

    Geopolitical tensions and monetary policies which were tightened earlier than expected in many economies are other challenges for Vietnam’s export sector this year, he added.

    Global agricultural supply this year is expected to rise as countries hike up production of own agriculture sectors to avoid reliance on imports, and competition for agricultural and seafood products is set to intensify.

    Meanwhile, imports are forecast to continue to grow in manufacturing sectors that rely on imported materials or machinery.

    “Trade protection looks to be on the rise, especially after the U.S. has raised tariffs on imports from other countries. The US-China trade war is also not showing signs of cooling down,” Vuong said.

    Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said at the conference that 2019 was going to be a more difficult year after 2018’s windfall.

    “We’ve hit very high targets last year, so going even higher is extremely difficult. In addition, world trade is unstable, U.S.-China trade relations have not returned to normal, and Brexit remains unfinished. These are difficult challenges for our industrial and agricultural sectors this year,” said Cuong.

    He suggested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade supports growth in the agricultural sector, using its influence on supply chain areas like marketing and distribution.

    Vietnam had an export surplus of $7.2 billion in 2018, three times higher than that of 2017 and the highest in the past decade.

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  • Indian rice prices slip as demand lags; Vietnam awaits major harvest

    Indian rice prices slip as demand lags; Vietnam awaits major harvest

    Rice export prices slipped in India as the rupee weakened and demand waned, prompting buyers to turn to other markets such as Vietnam. India’s 5 percent broken parboiled variety eased to $379-$384 per tonne this week from the $382-$387 range last week. “Demand is still weak due to higher prices,” said an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, adding that despite the fall, prevailing high rates were prompting buyers to look at other markets, such as Vietnam.

    The Indian rupee hit a month low on Thursday, increasing exporters’ margins from overseas sales and thereby prompting a reduction in prices.

    Export prices in India had shot up after the central state of Chhattisgarh, a leading rice producer, raised minimum paddy buying prices to 2,500 rupees per 100 kg from 1,750 rupees.

    In neighboring Bangladesh, an increase in domestic rates for rice could prompt the government to cut the import duty on the staple grain, traders said.

    The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer of the grain in 2017 after floods destroyed crops, imposed a 28 percent duty in June last year to support its farmers after local production revived.

    In Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice fell to $355-$360 a tonne from $370-$375 last week ahead of the country’s largest harvest, expected to begin in two weeks.

    “Indonesia’s state food procurement agency’s recent announcement that it may not import rice this year has also weighed on prices,” a Ho Chi Minh City-based source said.

    “We are negotiating a deal for around 10,000 tonnes to be delivered late February, and we are stuck at pricing. We’re asking for $360 and they are offering $345,” the trader said, adding that the shipment would be bound for Africa.”

    Another trader said China’s move to limit rice shipments from Vietnam may not be as bad as some traders initially feared.

    “It’s only the beginning of the year now and importing countries can change their import plans, especially when hit by natural disasters,” the trader said.

    In second biggest exporter Thailand, prices of the benchmark 5 percent broken variety widened to $385-$400, free on board Bangkok, from $390-$400 the previous week, mostly due to fluctuations in the value of the domestic currency.

    “Demand remains flat, but some exporters are starting to talk about possible orders from the Philippines,” a Bangkok-based trader said.

    The Thai market is likely to see additional supplies flowing in toward the end of this month, from the seasonal harvest, and this could in turn move prices, another trader in Bangkok said.

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  • Ikea to open Vietnam store with US$450 million investment

    Ikea to open Vietnam store with US$450 million investment

    Ikea Vietnam plans to invest US$450 million on a retail centre and warehouse system in Hanoi, according to a government official. Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, told a recent conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade that the Swedish furniture giant’s local subsidiary is well advanced with plans to launch in the country.

    Once completed, the centre will be Ikea’s main supply hub for its Southeast Asian market.

    “At present, all parties involved are [in] the process of negotiation,” Chung added.
    The centre is expected to boost Ikea’s e-commerce business in the region.

    During an interview in 2017, Torbjorn Loof, chairman and CEO of Inter Ikea Holdings said the company was planning potential expansion in Vietnam “within five years”.

    Ikea is steadily expanding its Southeast Asian footprint, the latest largest store planned in Philippines.

    Founded in 1943, Ikea is the world’s largest furniture retailer with 400 stores in 49 countries all over the world.

    In recent years, Vietnam has been a potential hub for retailers to build warehouses. Last November, Lazada finished a 4000sqm warehouse in Danang.

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  • Shilla Vietnam to open hotel at Da Nang

    Shilla Vietnam to open hotel at Da Nang

    Hotel Shilla announced Tuesday that it will actively begin expanding its brand abroad this year, the first new location being a resort in Da Nang, Vietnam. “Starting with Da Nang, we hope to expand our brand to more than 10 overseas locations in Southeast Asia, United States and China,” the hotel company said in a statement. Hotel Shilla is Samsung’s hotel and duty-free business arm. The 46-year-old company currently operates The Shilla Seoul and The Shilla Jeju.

    It also runs 11 business hotels under its Shilla Stay name.

    The company said that it will expand overseas through hotel management agreements with local companies, a common structuring for hotel chains. This means the local partner will own the hotel building while Shilla will operate the business. For Shilla, this minimizes investment risks.

    Shilla’s new Da Nang hotel – slated to open this year under the brand-new Shilla Monogram name – will be a nine-floor building with 300 rooms. The hotel will be located on Non Nuoc Beach in Da Nang, a popular destination for Korean tourists.

    The hotel, still under construction, will feature an outdoor pool, restaurants and bars. Every room will be equipped with a balcony.

    Hotel Shilla also announced that it is preparing to open a 200-room premium business hotel in San Jose in Silicon Valley, California, under its Shilla Stay brand by 2021.

    “We hope to continue raising more revenues abroad by expanding our overseas hotel business,” said a Hotel Shilla spokesperson.

    Some 20 percent of the company’s total revenues today, or 1 trillion won ($892.5 million), come from abroad. Hotel Shilla operates several duty-free stores in domestic and foreign airports, including locations at three of Asia’s busiest airports: Singapore’s Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and Incheon International Airport.

    Hotel Shilla has been operating Jinji Lake Shilla Hotel in Suzhou, China, since 2006. It was the first overseas hotel managed by the company.

    Following Tuesday’s announcement, Hotel Shilla’s stock prices closed at 76,100 won on Tuesday, 1.33 percent higher than Monday.

    As for upcoming domestic projects, Hotel Shilla is planning to open a hotel themed after hanok, or traditional Korean houses, by 2023 in central Seoul.

    If the company receives approval to build the new hotel from domestic land authorities, it will become the first to operate such a hotel in Seoul.

  • Japan offers most overseas jobs for Vietnamese workers

    Japan offers most overseas jobs for Vietnamese workers

    Japan is expected to receive more Vietnamese workers this year, having become the most attractive labor export market in 2018. Last year marked the first time Japan became the most popular destination for Vietnamese migrant workers with over 68,700 people finding jobs there, beating Taiwan with nearly 60,400 people and South Korea with over 6,500, according to statistics released by the Department of Overseas Labor.

    The department’s deputy director, Nguyen Gia Liem, said the Japanese market’s rise in popularity was due to the implementation of a new law that allows migrant workers to stay for five years instead of three.

    Furthermore, Vietnam was the first country to sign with Japan a memorandum of cooperation on the latter’s technical intern training program, which came into effect last June.

    In 2018, a total of 13 Vietnamese businesses were also licensed to directly bring Vietnamese citizens to Japan to work as caregivers. The long language and skill training required, however, limited the number of Vietnamese citizens taking this route last year.

    However, Liem asserted: “These establishments would help increase even further the number of Vietnamese laborers going to Japan.”

    Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Doan Mau Diep, has said the ministry will reduce the number of labor export firms. The move follows last October’s request by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Vietnam shut down bad labor export agencies and reduce costs for people wanting to work abroad.

    “The country currently has 2,000 companies taking workers overseas, which is too many, causing companies to compete with each other for contracts, and they collect high fees,” Diep said.

    The ministry would also review current regulations on overseas students to prevent this system from being abused as many Vietnamese citizens wanting to work in Japan have been using student visas in recent years to reduce cost and time spent on language and skills training.

    Last year, Japanese authorities already reviewed and suspended multiple companies for taking Vietnamese workers to Japan under the guise of international students.

    Diep also warned that citizens wanting to work overseas need to use legal labor export firms and not use tourist visas, as happened in the recent infamous case in Taiwan.

    “If going on a worker’s visa the fees can be expensive, such as about VND80 million [$3,400] for Taiwan. The travel route meanwhile only costs flight tickets and visa fees so many still choose to travel then escape to work, but they will face many risks,” he said.

    A Vietnamese migrant worker can make $1,000 to $1,200 a month in Japan and South Korea, four times the average monthly salary in Vietnam, which was VND6.5 million ($290) last year.

    A total of over 142,800 Vietnamese laborers went to work overseas in 2018, a six percent increase compared to the previous year.

    With this number, which includes about 50,300 female workers, 2018 became the fifth consecutive year in which the number of Vietnamese working overseas exceeded 100,000 people.

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  • Investment in Vietnamese startups triples in 2018

    Investment in Vietnamese startups rose to $889 million in 2018, three times that of 2017. According to a report recently released by Topica Founder Institute (TFI), a startup accelerator program in Vietnam and Thailand run by Hanoi-headquartered multinational educational technology company Topica, 92 investment deals totalling $889 million were struck in 2018.

    Domestic funds invested over $500 million, over half of total investments in startups, director of TFI Mai Duy Quang said. “This means that domestic funds are paying more attention [to Vietnamese startups], and that there is an abundance of domestic capital available for startups right now.”

    Of these, the top 10 investments alone totaled $734 million, accounting for 83 percent of the total value of all investments in startups. The three biggest deals were made by Vietnamese multichannel media giant Yeah1 ($100 million), e-commerce company Sendo ($51 million) and tech education company Topica ($50 million).

    The five most profitable fields for startups were fintech, e-commerce, traveltech, logistics and edtech. Fintech returned to the top spot in investment volume in 2018 with 8 deals totaling $117 million.

    In second place was e-commerce, which saw just 5 deals worth around $104 million, down from 21 deals in 2017. Traveltech (technology services related to tourism) was an unexpected third, with 8 deals worth $64 million by online hotel booking service Vntrip, homestay platform Luxstay, cheap flight booker Atadi, and business to business travel network Vleisure.

    Logistics and edtech fields respectively attracted 3 and 4 deals worth a combined $50 million.

    “Vietnam is a vibrant startup market full of potential for breakthroughs if proper investments are made,” said Yinglan Tan, founder of Insignia Venture Partners.

    According to the TFI report, startups struck 92 investment deals in 2017, too, but the total investment capital was just $291 million.

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  • Vietnam seafood export remains red

    Vietnam seafood export remains red

    Agifish, a major seafood company, reported a second straight year of losses in 2018 as both exports and domestic sales fell. The recently released 2018 audited financial report of one of Vietnam’s 10 largest seafood export companies puts its loss at VND178 billion ($7.66 million). The An Giang Fisheries Import Export Joint Stock Company, to give its formal name, had lost VND190 billion ($8.2 million) a year earlier.

    The company said the loss came as sales downed 43 percent to VND1.29 trillion ($55.27 million) in 2018, due to lower fish exports and domestic sales as well as lower revenues from by-products.

    The poor performance last year caused auditors to raise doubts about the company’s ability to remain a going concern, but the management rejected this, saying it would increase domestic and export sales, adjust prices and reduce costs to return to the black in 2019.

    Agifish has total assets of VND1.23 trillion ($52.92 million) and debts of VND800 billion ($34.42 million).

    The Vietnamese seafood industry faced some challenges last year such as being subject to a “yellow card” warning by the European Commission for failing to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. There were also technical barriers and anti-dumping duties in several markets.

    Seafood export value rose 5.8 percent year-on-year in 2018 to reach $8.8 billion, according to the Vietnam Customs.

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  • VinFast announces seven new car models

    VinFast announces seven new car models

    VinFast, Vietnam’s first fully-fledged car manufacturer, plans to launch seven new ‘premium’ models. Following the first line of Lux (short for Luxury) automobiles aimed at the high-end segment, VinFast, a unit of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, Vingroup, has announced it will launch a Pre (short for Premium) car line with the aim of tapping a larger customer base.

    The company has opened a polling page for customers to vote on the seven most popular models out of a potential 35.

    The seven Pre models will include a hatchback and a CUV (crossover SUV) for the A and B segments; one Sedan and CUV for the C segment; and 1 Sedan, 1 SUV and 1 family car for the D segment.

    VinFast will continue to work closely with the famous Italian studios, Ital Design, Torino Design, and Pininfarina on designing the new models.

    VinFast showed off its first two car models, a sedan and an SUV, at the Paris Motor Show in France last October just a year after its incorporation, grabbing the attention of the local and international media.

    VinFast’s first production models built under its own badge hit the streets in August 2019.

    According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, total car sales in the country topped 288,000 units in 2018, up 5.9 percent from around 272,000 units in 2017.

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