Household businesses

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

Entering the village at this time, through the gate of Ong Hao village, visitors can feel the bustling atmosphere with the sound of carving, drums and laughter. The vitality of the traditional craft village exists in each country lane. The places that can catch the sun, the large yard in front of the house, the wall or the road in the village are packed with logs for making drums or paper masks. On the porch, skilled artisans and craftsmen diligently carve and colour to perfect the final products.

The toys for Mid-Autumn Festival in Ong Hao village are made from natural materials. Bamboo is used to make the star-shaped “ keo quan ” lanterns (a traditional hand-made lantern with vivid rotating paper-cut figures on the cover), while wood and buffalo skin are used to make drums. Meanwhile, scrap paperboard and paper are “enchanted” to become the paper masks. Even the glue used for paper backing is made from cassava starch, making it user-friendly.

Besides the traditional masks, the villagers of Ong Hao village can make more than 20 different types of paper masks, with large and small sizes depending on the preferences of their “little” customers. Visitors to the village want to make their own colorful toys. Without heirloom secrets, guests can participate in the process of making paper masks under the guidance of skilled craftsmen.

The most interesting is the step of paper backing and mask painting or the step of covering the drumhead; while the trickiest step is making unicorn hair. The steps are usually supervised and controlled by experienced artisans.

Hearing the thumping drum sound, holding hand masks that are dried up, or finding fruit in the village’s market, everyone feels that Mid-Autumn Festival is coming very close.

Childhood memories from the Mid-Autumn Festival night come rushing back. That atmosphere explains why Ong Hao village has become an early destination welcoming the Mid-Autumn Festival in the country.

The programme, themed “Seven localities – attractive and safe tourism”, will be implemented by Ho Chi Minh City and six other provinces including Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai and Tay Ninh.

Under the programme, the localities will enhance their cooperation to effectively promote and explore tourism products as well as stimulation activities such as the reduction of prices for accommodation services, entrance fees and vouchers for tourists attractions.

In Lao Cai province, Sapa is one of the destinations pioneering the second tourism stimulation initiative with a programme entitled “I Love Sapa”.

Accordingly, Sun World Fansipan Legend is applying the programme “Love Vietnam” with a free buffet lunch worth VND200,000 for tourists buying cable car tickets to the top of Fansipan mountain or a return ticket on the Muong Hoa train worth VND100,000 on all weekdays from now until the end of December.

In addition, Sapa town will welcome visitors with unique art performances by local artists.

In the near future, huge discounts and promotions will be offered by a series of travel businesses, hotels and restaurants in the town.

However, the locality will continue to strictly implement measures to prevent and control the epidemic.

Da Nang has been the locality most affected by the second COVID-19 outbreak in late July. Once the epidemic was brought under control, the city’s tourism sector launched the campaign “Da Nang misses You” campaign to attract tourists.

Ho Chi Minh City also has a programme themed “Hello Ho Chi Minh City” to introduce the image of a safe, dynamic and friendly city. Accordingly, tickets to tourist attractions and tourism service providers have been reduced.

Meanwhile, Quang Ninh province issued a stimulation package worth around VND100 billion; offered a 50% discount on tickets to destinations in Ha Long Bay, entrance fees to famous sights and selected accommodation in the locality.

On the occasion, Binh Thuan and Khanh Hoa provinces have also developed many new tourism products as well as expanding their stimulation programmes to attract more visitors.

In its article, the leading financial newspaper of Japanese media giants Nikkei Inc., said Vietnam is targeting a growth rate of 6.5% this year.

The agency stated Vietnam’s exports will likely continue to be supported by US tariffs on Chinese goods and that in order to avoid US tariffs, importers have shifted demand from China to alternative suppliers, with this trend likely to continue.

According to the agency, before the pandemic, Southeast Asia achieved collective annual growth of about 5% for many years, making it one of the world’s best-performing regions.

The region also became an attractive investment destination, with a relatively young population driving demand and providing plenty of labour. These advantages remain in place, but first the region needs to stamp out COVID-19.

Nikkei also reported that Southeast Asian economies are aiming to this year regain the growth momentum they had before the COVID-19 pandemic caused historic declines in 2020. A look at early forecasts around the region, however, shows a wide range of scenarios as risk continues to lurk.

The agency said that Singapore hopes to achieve its forecast of gross domestic product growth of 4% to 6% for 2021, Indonesia expects GDP to grow by between 4.5% and 5.5% this year, the Philippines projects a growth range of 6.5% to 7.5%, while Thailand has lowered its targets, revising its 2021 forecast down to between 2.5% to 3.5% growth.