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A year on since the Covid-19 pandemic first began Vietnamese are taking more control of their health and finance, driving greater interest in fitness and well-being along with insurance and retirement planning. — Photo courtesy of Manulife

HCM CITY — A year on since the Covid-19 pandemic first began Vietnamese are taking more control of their health and finance, driving greater interest in fitness and well-being along with insurance and retirement planning, as Asia looks to the longer-term impact of the disease, according to new research from Manulife.

The latest version of the ‘Manulife Asia Care Survey’ takes a closer look into customers’ concerns, priorities and aspirations, polling 4,000 people across the region who either own insurance or intend to buy it in the next six months, including around 520 in Việt Nam.

Nearly all (95 per cent) of those who worry most about Covid have made an effort on a personal level to improve their overall health, mostly through more regular exercise (58 per cent) and improved diet (54 per cent).

In Việt Nam, all the respondents said they had taken action to help them manage Covid, with 72 per cent saying this included doing more regular exercise. More people in Hà Nội (85 per cent) do more regular exercise than in HCM City (73 per cent).

Almost everyone is self-monitoring health, and Vietnamese pay the most attention to the number of steps walked (44 per cent) among the four emerging markets covered in the survey, against a regional average of 38 per cent.

Three out of five (60 per cent) of Vietnamese also own fitness wearables, well above the regional average of 46 per cent.

A large majority of Vietnamese (79 per cent) also said retirement planning has become more important since Covid-19 started, below the Philippines (90 per cent), Indonesia (88 per cent) and Malaysia (83 per cent) but higher than all the developed markets.

The regional average is 73 per cent.

This high level of interest in retirement ties in with their concerns about personal wealth.

In Việt Nam, more than half (52 per cent) thought their personal wealth would decline as a result of Covid-19. The rate was only higher in Hong Kong (58 per cent) and Singapore (55 per cent).

Aligned with taking better control of health and finance is an interest to buy new insurance.

In Việt Nam, a remarkable nine out of ten (91 per cent) said they intend to buy new insurance in the next six months, higher than anywhere else in the region. The regional average is 71 per cent.

The Vietnamese respondents were most interested in life, hospitalisation, accident and critical illness cover.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of Vietnamese respondents, again more than anywhere else in the region, said they prefer to manage their policies through digital means such as mobile apps, including for claims and payment.

The survey found that 71 per cent of them had spoken to an agent about purchasing insurance, well above the regional average of 64 per cent, with only Hong Kong (77 per cent) and mainland China (76 per cent) scoring higher.

“Vietnamese insurance customers are seeking more digital touchpoints that are safe, simple and convenient,” Sang Lee, CEO of Manulife Vietnam, said.

“While those digital habits are here for the long term, a good many still like to speak to their agents. This underscores the importance of our omnichannel approach, one that fully integrates digital, while maximising our human qualities of empathy, trust and a holistic understanding of our customers’ needs.” — VNS

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), newly registered capital, supplemented capital and capital contributions of foreign investors in the first four months of 2020 reached a total of US$12.33 billion, equivalent to 84.5% of the figure for the same period in 2019.

The decrease in FDI pledges in the four-month period was also less than the decrease in the three-month period. This is an indication that the decline of FDI inflow will soon end and it is expected to increase sharply in the near future.

According to economic experts, Vietnam’s successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the driving force to lure FDI inflow into Vietnam in the near future. Not only FDI, Vietnam has the opportunity to attract investors who wish to relocate their projects.

American, Japanese, and European enterprises who intended to move their production out of China due to increasing labour prices and the impacts of the US-China trade war will accelerate this process amid the pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the transition process will also receive support from their own countries.

Specifically, Japan will spend approximately US$2.2 billion to support Japanese enterprises in relocating their factories to Japan or to diversify production facilities by moving to the Southeast Asia region.

According to Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift of production chains out of China appeared mainly due to the need to diversify the supply chain and to reduce risks of over-reliance on a single market, the increasing labour costs in China and especially the effect of the US-China trade war.

Amid the development of the pandemic, the trend has become more visible. The production in China has been recovering but production and transportation costs have become more expensive. The COVID-19 pandemic has promoted the shift of investment out of China, the restructuring of the value chain and the trend of bringing production closer to the consumer market.

When the US-China trade war began, Vietnam was forecast to be an attractive location for many foreign investors that may receive a wave of investment movement from China. However, Vietnam has yet to see benefits as expected.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung said that, from the perspective of globalisation, where has better financial efficiency and cheaper costs will attract more investment capital. China became the “factory of the world” because it met the conditions of investors. It means that if Vietnam wants to attract production chains, it needs to meet the above conditions, and even exceed them.

Regarding industry, it is necessary to revise the industrialisation strategy with specific plans for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2045, including solutions to help Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the global supply chain.

The “2019 Supplier Day” event, held for the first time by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in Hanoi on April 25, 2019, attracted more than 60 Vietnamese suppliers and more than 300 businessmen, including representatives from large US enterprises. The event marked an important development step in the quality and scale of the programme on connecting global value chains in Vietnam.

According to US enterprises, Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, particularly in the past two decades. American businesses have looked forward to doing business with Vietnam businesses, helping Vietnamese businesses to participate in global value chains. This was also the clearest evidence of the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market and the most specific opportunity that Vietnamese businesses need to seize.

In fact, there is a wave of enterprises moving away from China and looking to Vietnam, but about 90% of Vietnamese enterprises are currently not ready to provide services for international businesses.

On the other hand, Vietnam needs to have young and high-quality human resources. But Vietnam currently has an aging population and the supply of labour will only be able to meet the demand of the manufacturing and assembly industries in the next 10 years. This is a problem that Vietnam should have a solution for in the near future.

According to Dr. Tran Toan Thang from the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (Ministry of Planning and Investment), FDI attraction is very important but keeping investors, especially large enterprises, is more important. Incentives regarding tax, land, natural resources, and cheap labour can only attract foreign investors but it is difficult to keep them.

If Vietnam wants to keep foreign investors, besides open and transparent business environment, modern and synchronous transport infrastructure, and stable law systems, the country must have high-quality human resources, a large enough domestic market and a system of domestic enterprises capable of providing supporting industry products for FDI enterprises.

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

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