Did focus 21 go out of business

Nguyen Thi Bich Van

In early 2021, on its Facebook page, IBM Vietnam for the first time announced the appointment of a female Vietnamese CEO to replace a foreign CEO who had been working for IBM for 25 years.

The woman, Pham Thu Diep, is the first IBM’s ‘female general’ in the company’s 25 years of operation in the Vietnamese market.

It is now more common to see women managing large corporations in Vietnam such as Mai Kieu Lien, CEO of Vinamilk; Nguyen Thi Nga, president of BRG; Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet; and Le Thi Thu Thuy of VinFast are some of the names.

However, becoming a CEO of a foreign invested technology firm is still rare in Vietnam.

Before taking the office as CEO of a technology firm, Diep was a high ranking manager with 23 years of experience in the IT field. Starting her career at TRG International, she later held posts at Exact, which provides ERP service and cloud software to clients specializing in accountancy.

Diep joined IBM in early 2011 and has had many leadership positions since then.

In 2017, a Vietnamese woman became the highest ranking leader of Unilever Vietnam, a foreign invested enterprise specializing in personal and family care products and food. The first Vietnamese female president of the leading company in the FMCG sector is Nguyen Thi Bich Van, who has had a strong attachment to the company for the last 24 years.

Le Diep Kieu Trang is another well known name among businesswomen. She worked as CEO of Facebook and Go-Viet before choosing a new way to go.

The ‘golden girl’ with respectable achievements during school has had leadership positions at the world’s largest groups in Vietnam.

The brilliant achievements gained by VietJet Air, the air carrier with the largest market share, in the last decade bear the hallmark of CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Last year Vietjet was one of only a few air carriers in the world which did not lay off workers and also made a profit, despite the Covid-19 crisis.

After a period of holding the post of CEO at Fossil Vietnam, Trang chose Facebook to use her experience to connect to the business community, both in Vietnam and overseas.

Global vision

Van said in Forbes Vietnam that being a leader in a multinational environment requires a high level of professionalism. She needs to understand multinationals’ vision and define their role in the multinationals’ business.

The working environment at multinationals is very diverse, so there is high requirement on the ability to work, communicate, and think in that environment. To encourage people to raise good ideas, leaders not only need to understand national cultures, but also understand the abilities of each worker so as to combine their talents and lead the staff to the finish point.

According to Van, this is not an easy work, because the more talented people there are, the more difficult it is for the team to reach a common purpose. In modern times, CEOs need to not ‘issue orders from the top down’, but ‘serve others’. They need to set orientation and then give power to workers to implement the strategies.

Some important positions at foreign corporations were and are held by Vietnamese women. These include Nguyen Phuong Anh, who worked as Google Asia Pacific marketing director in charge of the Vietnamese market; and Nguyen Mai Phuong, who became the youngest branding director of Unilever at the age of 24.

Vietnamese businesswomen also play an important role in the development of Vietnamese enterprises.

The brilliant achievements gained by VietJet Air, the air carrier with the largest market share, in the last decade bear the hallmark of CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Last year Vietjet was one of only a few air carriers in the world which did not lay off workers and also made a profit, despite the Covid-19 crisis.

Thao has been included in Bloomberg’s list of 50 global influential leaders for many years. Thao is also chair of the board of directors and founding shareholder of Sovico Holdings, and deputy chair of HDBank.

In the manufacturing sector, Le Thu Thuy, president of VinFast, is a respectable name. Just within a short time, VinFast introduced its first two products – LUX A2.0 sedan series and LUX SA2.0 SUV at Paris Motor Show 2018. Most recently, its first three SUV smart electric cars were launched.

The great strides made by VinFast has created a stronger belief in the future of Vietnam’s automobile industry. This is the first time in history that a Vietnamese company can manufacture luxury cars with good design and high quality, to be sold in Vietnam and in the world market as well.

V. Ha

In the industrial field, the province gives the priority to luring investment in Quang Chau and Hoa Phu industrial zones and industrial clusters of Bac Giang city and Viet Yen, Yen Dung, Luc Nam, Lang Giang, Tan Yen and Hiep Hoa districts, and in the fields of mechanical engineering, manufacturing, electronics, power generation, garment and textiles and support industry.

In trade and services, Bac Giang is focusing on attracting investment in urban areas, commercial centres, luxury hotels and resort projects, particularly in Lang Giang, Luc Ngan and Luc Nam district, Thang stated.

Attention will be paid to drawing investment in tourist site projects such as Suoi Mo (Mo Spring) in Luc Nam, Cam Son and Khuon Than Lakes in Luc Ngan, Nham Bien Mountain in Yen Dung, and several golf courses.

In the agricultural sector, the locality is encouraging the development of preservation, deep processing, fine processing and hi-tech processing in order to increase the added value of agro-forestry-fishery products, and investing in waste, wastewater and carbon emission treatment to protect the environment.

To achieve the target, Thang said that Bac Giang will continue improving its business and investment environment, stepping up administrative procedure reform, implementing policies to encourage enterprises to pour capital into the locality, and supporting investors and businesses to remove difficulties in carrying out their projects.

At the same time, the province is focusing resources on transport infrastructure and infrastructure at industrial zones, especially Quang Chau, Van Trung and Hoa Phu, he added.

Statistics show that since the beginning of this year, Bac Giang has approved investment plans and granted investment licences for 17 projects, including 10 domestically-invested projects worth VND302 billion (US$13 million) and seven foreign-invested ones totalling US$69.5 million. In addition, VND142 billion was added to two existing domestic projects and US$73.1 million to six ongoing FDI ones.

To date, the province has had 1,242 domestic projects with a total registered capital of VND84.4 trillion and 451 FDI projects worth over US$5.8 billion.

Visitors to the Hùng Temple Relic are asked to wear masks and keep their distance from others. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Kiên

HÀ NỘI — The Hùng Kings Festival, which pays tribute to the founders and first kings of the nation, will be held similarly to last year, with ceremonial activities but no festivities.

The plans for the national major festival were decided at a meeting of the People’s Committee of the northern province of Phú Thọ where it is held annually.

The ceremonies will be conducted with the death anniversary of the great father of the nation Lạc Long Quân and the incense offering to commemorate great mother of the nation Âu Cơ on April 17 and incense offering ceremony to commemorate the Hùng Kings and the flower offering ceremony on April 21.

Speaking at the meeting, vice chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Hồ Đại Dũng said the event would take place in a respectful atmosphere, while strictly abiding by measures to prevent COVID-19 from spreading under the guidance of the Ministry of Health.

This is the second year the Hùng Kings Festival will include only ceremonial activities and no festivities.

According to Lê Trường Giang, director of the Hùng Kings Temple Relic Management Board, the temple received more than 20,000 visitors on the occasion of Tết (Lunar New Year).

“The measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have been taken seriously at the historical site. At the same time, the visitors’ awareness has been much improved this year,” he said.

The Hùng Kings Temple Relic Complex covers more than 1,000ha, more than half of which is forest. The complex is scattered with dozens of temples dedicated to the legendary kings.

There are some 300 temples dedicated to the Hùng Kings and other figures from the Hồng Bàng dynasty (2879 to 258 BC) in Phú Thọ, and nearly 1,500 sites dedicated to the kings throughout the country.

UNESCO placed the “Worship of Hùng kings in Phú Thọ” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on December 6, 2012,

The Hùng Kings Festival is held annually from the 8th to the 11th day of the third lunar month, which falls on April 19 to April 22 this year, as a tribute to the Hùng Kings who are credited with establishing the nation.

The main festival day, which is also a public holiday in Việt Nam, is on the 10th day or April 21. — VNS

The campaign will take place from October 2020 to the end of January 2021 and is aiming to promote images of Ho Chi Minh City and encourage every Vietnamese person to travel within Vietnam and every citizen of Ho Chi Minh City to discover the beauty of where they live.

The campaign has been divided into two main phases. The first phase will focus on introducing the image of Ho Chi Minh City – a safe, lively and friendly city. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism HAS also implemented many activities such as organising an Ao Dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress) Festival, and signing a cooperation agreement on safe,attractive tourism between Ho Chi Minh City and provinces in the Southeast region as well as Binh Thuan province.

In the second phase, the campaign is expected to promote the official identity of Ho Chi Minh City tourism and organise activities to link and promote tourism. Some typical activities will include: Conferences linking Ho Chi Minh City region with provinces in the Northwest, Northeast and Central regions; and the Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon.

In addition, the tourism industry of Ho Chi Minh City will continue to boost the promotional activities and communication channels of international tourism organisations such as the Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asian-Pacific Cities (TPO), the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations and the International Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), of which Ho Chi Minh City is a member.

According to Vo Thi Ngoc Thuy, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, in order to restore tourism activities in the city after the “hit” of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Hello Ho Chi Minh City” is considered as the pioneering activity in a series of events and programmes to promote the city’s tourism brand as identified in the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Development Strategy to 2025 and vision to 2030.

In addition, “Hello Ho Chi Minh City” will be one of the most important activities aimed at realizing the goal of building Ho Chi Minh City into Asia’s leading lively tourist city where visitors can experience different the values of local cultural heritage and lifestyle in a safe, smart city; bringing inspiration and emotion to every journey.

Low disbursement rate

The important project of building urban railway line No.3 connecting Nhon and Hanoi Station (with a total length of 12.5km and an investment of VND32.9 trillion) is facing slow progress with only 43% of investment disbursed.

Investment capital in railway line No.2 connecting Nam Thang Long and Tran Hung Dao also cannot be disbursed in time in 2020 due to project adjustments after the Law on Public Investment was enacted.

The Yen Xa wastewater treatment plant project started in October 2016 with investment of over VND16 trillion but only 40% of construction items has been completed.

These are key public investment projects in Hanoi that are stagnant, with low disbursement rates. In addition, there are a number of other sluggish projects such as 11 projects to build police headquarters at district, commune and ward levels with a total investment of VND237 billion and only 40% of capital disbursed as well as the project to build the Le Van Luong – Belt road 3 underground tunnel with an investment of VND50 billion but with onlyVND5.8 billion disbursed, among others.

Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Le Hong Son said that the city decided to spend VND45.5 trillion worth of public investment on public projects in 2020. The city has disbursed VND26.6 trillion in the first eight months of this year, up 2.8% over the same period last year and equivalent to 58.6% of the yearly plan.

Regarding infrastructure construction projects, the city set the target of allocating VND14.8 trillion to 272 projects but only 50 projects have been completed, Son noted.

Removing problems

According to the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee, the disbursement of public investment and the implementation of public projects remains slow mainly due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequacies in legal documents, prolonged land clearance and the weaknesses of deployment units.

Director of the Urban Railway Project Management Board Nguyen Cao Minh said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign experts could not go to Hanoi while equipment and components ordered from abroad were also delayed, slowing down the progress of urban railway lines.

In addition, land clearance and resettlement of affected residents continues to encounter problems including the identification of the origin of land and complaints against compensation policy and prices, which also affect the construction progress.

The complicated overlapping of regulations between the Law on Public Investment and other laws also reduces the speed of public projects.

Director of the Hanoi Management Board of Projects on Water Supply, Drainage and Environment Nguyen Van Hung added that the stagnant disbursement is also attributable to irresponsibility in the operating process of investors and the lack of capacity of staff on project management boards.

To speed up the disbursement of public investment, Hanoi will continue to implement ten groups of tasks and solutions. In particular, the city will focus on directing investors to urgently carry out projects on the list of medium-term public investment plans as approved by the City People’s Council.

The city will also strengthen the inspection and supervision of investment projects with low disbursement results to promptly handle delayed projects. Meanwhile, departments and agencies should continue to review and implement administrative reform for procedures regarding construction investment and compensation for land clearance and land acquisition, amongst others.

“The city will closely monitor the implementation of projects and promptly adjust the capital plans from projects with slow disbursement to other projects. The city will also give specific directions on the handling of problems regarding each project while strengthening management and supervision at construction sites to achieve the disbursement target of 97% to 100% of public investment capital in 2020 and in January 2021, making an important contribution to achieving set growth targets,” said Standing Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu.

The MoU focused on setting up a climate-resilient agricultural value chain and aims to develop human resources for agricultural development and investment promotion, particularly through Japanese cultural exchanges and language training.

Under the MoU, a working group composed of members from the public sector, enterprises and civil society organisations in the province will be organised.

Currently, the JICA has been assisting Ben Tre with infrastructure projects under loan projects. One of the projects includes Ben Tre Water Management, which is tackling climate-change effects such as saltwater intrusion and shortage of freshwater by building water sluice gates and other facilities.

In addition, the JICA has also provided consultancy in agricultural development policies.