(Picture: View of Saigon from Reunification Palace)
Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
The group began their first day with sightseeing via
cyclo (a bicycle taxi) - visited the Museum, Reunification Palace
(formerly the residence of the President
of South Vietnam) and Notre Dame Cathedral before going to lunch.
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 (Picture: Lunch
in Ho Chi Minh City - Pho and fresh coconut juice.)
Then, that night had dinner at the Blue Ginger – authentic
Vietnamese food in a pleasant and charming setting.
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The next day, the group had a full-day
of business visits, starting with a Macro-briefing on “Background
information on Vietnam: brief history, people, culture, reforms, and
other economic policies” by Mr. Bui Van of Financial Business
News Channel (FBNC-Vietnam). Then, this was followed with
meetings with Pho Pham, IDG Ventures to discuss Vietnam’s Economic
Outlook and the role of Venture Capital in building Vietnam and
Vietnam’s business community. Just before lunch, the group
listened in on the topic, "Understanding Vietnam’s business culture" by
speaker Chien Ly Truong and Ralf Matthies of TNS Vietnam – a marketing
research organization in Ho Chi Minh City.
After lunch, the topic was "Franchising - The Next Big Thing in
Vietnam?" (Franchising is just taking off in Vietnam and new ventures
like Pho 24 and others are writing the new rule book for Vietnam on
this). This presentation was by Ms. Phi Van Nguyen,
Managing Director of Gloria Jean Coffee, Vietnam. Ms. Nguyen is
also a co-owner of the company. |
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(Picture: Lunch at Pho 24)
The
group then visited Harvey Nash office - Vietnam’s IT Sector and
Prospects for Outsourcing.
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(Picture:
Manufacturer of acrylic awards)
On the last day, the group traveled to Binh Duong Province, a province
about an hour and a half from HCMC, for a briefing at Becamex, IDC by
Senior Advisor and Head of Marketing, Becamex, IDC, Mr. Vo Son
Dien.
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(Picture: Beer factory
outside Ho Chi Minh City in My Phuoc Industrial Park)
Then, the
students visited My Phuoc Industrial Park and toured two of the
factories in the park.
The final dinner was at La Taverne – French Food in a Vietnamese style.
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One of the Lunches
in HCMC
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Fresh coconut juice and cold water for
sale in Ho Chi Minh City
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Rush hour
in Ho Chi Minh City. |
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