Pham Tan Phuc and Nguyen Xuan Bang, founders of Gcalls, which develops infrastructure and software for a web-based call center, speak about their startup after receiving an investment of 1 million USD from Vina Capital in December 2017. (Photo:VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam hasbecome an ideal location to start a business, not only for young overseasVietnamese people but also for expats thanks to the country’s strong economicgrowth in recent years.
Vietnam has had many programmes that havehelped create a dynamic startup ecosystem by facilitating a wide range ofsupporting activities, such as training, mentorship and business incubation andacceleration.
Nguyen Xuan Bang, one of the founders ofGcalls in Singapore and has come back to Vietnam since 2016 to start thebusiness here with an aim of developing the company’s product in the Vietnamesemarket, said that startups get benefits from these programmes.
“Startup Vietnam Foundation, for instance,helps Gcalls connect with mentors, investors and customers. We also have beenguided in how to develop our business,” Bang said, adding that Gcalls hasjoined business incubators and startup centres under Vietnam NationalUniversity-Ho Chi Minh City to get more assistance from their experts.
Gcalls develops infrastructure and softwarefor a web-based call centre. The startup’s software breaks down communicationbarriers between buyers and sellers. It allows anyone to buy on any e-commercesite regardless of connection speed. In December 2017, the company received apromised investment of 1 million USD from Vina Capital through Shark TankVietnam, a reality television show designed to help startups locate funds.
Loic Gautier, who works with Pierre-AntoineBrun from France to set up Leflair in 2015, a shopping destination for premiumbrands in Vietnam, said: “Over the past few years, Vietnam’s Government hasbeen putting a lot of efforts into supporting startups.”
“I have seen a lot of communities gatheringentrepreneurs and sharing practices on how to build a company, which reflectsthe strong entrepreneurship of the Vietnamese,” Gautier said.
Moreover, the country has had financingprogrammes to support the growth of new companies. Vietnam’s Government is alsocommitted to building a fair and competitive business environment.
Gautier, Leflair’s CEO, said that Vietnam’sGovernment has also made efforts to promote online shopping.
“We chose Vietnam because e-commerce herewas under the radar and only nascent. The demographics and internet penetrationnumbers were a perfect fit for fast adoption of a service like ours, andcoupled with a large amount of consumers frustrated with the lack of shoppingoptions and product offerings when it comes to brands, it looked like theperfect base on which to build Leflair,” Gautier added.
Following the flash-sales model that hasproven to be successful in Europe and China, such as Vente-privee.com andVip.com, Leflair provides its customers with limited-time only deals of premiumbrands discounted up to 70 percent off the retail price.
After two years in operation, the websitenow has over one million in monthly traffic, 700,000 members and partners with1,100 local and international premium brands. To date, Leflair has successfullyclosed three rounds of funding and attracted top foreign investors, includingGoogle’s vice president for India and Southeast Asia Rajan Anandan.
Most of them are first-time investors into Vietnam,he said, adding that more and more investors are eager to invest in Vietnamesestartups.
However, the legal and administrativeenvironment, for example, lags behind the specific needs of fast growingcompanies who often find themselves trying to move fast in a rigid system stilldominated by slow procedures, Gautier said.
A simplification and digitalisation offinancial, tax, legal and administrative procedures, as in a country likeSingapore, would be greatly beneficial to startup companies and entrepreneurs,he added.
Moreover, “Our difficulties mostly revolvearound attracting enough talent in a very scarce market. To build a largebusiness, especially in a new field such as e-commerce, we need a large numberof people with a level of technical knowledge and skills that are stillrelatively new in Vietnam,” he added.
Nguyen Xuan Phu, chairman of SunhouseGroup’s management board, which is an investor in the Shark Tank Vietnamprogramme, said that as Vietnam develops, it should be easy for startups toearn profits. However, they should be careful.
Due to economic cycles which are thenatural fluctuations of the economy between periods of expansion (growth) andcontraction (recession), they may not have a lot of experience and it bedifficult to manage during a downturn.
Pham Thanh Hung, vice chairman at CENGroup, which is also one of the investors in the programme of Shark TankVietnam, said that the foreign startups and those who study abroad and start upbusinesses overseas have many strengths, including more practical ideas forbusiness and the way to develop this idea into reality professionally. - VNA
VNA
