Vietnam Innovators

Sakshi Jawa was the General Manager of Human Resources at Tiki Corporation- “The best working environment in Asia” nominated by HR Asia and currently has been a CEO and Founder at startup company - Oi. She is the one behind Tiki’s recent phenomenal expansion in employment. With years of experience working for major global companies such as Amazon, Citibank, and Prudential, Sakshi Jawa shares with...

With considerable expertise in Human Resource Management, Employer Branding, and Company Culture, Pearl Hoang has held key positions in big companies such as INB, VsMart Group, ONG&ONG PTE, and Sentifi.  When working as the Head of People Operation in Creatory, she won 2 prizes in “Best Company to work for in Asia” award. In this Vietnam Innovators episode, host Daan van Rossum - CEO of Dreamp...

Mr. Emin Turan is currently the Foundation General Manager and Country Lead of Sanofi Vietnam & Cambodia, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Over 27-year experiences in the pharmaceutical field with diverse roles from legal, medical services to marketing and administration has strongly motivated him on his journey to protect and take care of people’s health. Before becoming a leader at Sa...

Mr. Warrick Cleine is a Chairman and CEO of KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia. He served as KPMG Asia Pacific Head of Tax from 2010 to 2016 and is also a member of KPMG’s Asia Pacific Board and Global Council.  Many years ago, Warrick predicted the potential development of finance consultant service in Vietnam. He decided to come to Vietnam with a team of only 30 people and now the company has expanded...

Vietcetera CEO and Vietnam Innovators (EN) host, Hao Tran, looks back at the journey and growth of the organization’s first ever multimedia podcast, and answers why Vietnam Innovators was conceptualized - from setting up the studio (or studios since VNI have changed studios a couple times) to choosing topics to discuss and inviting expert guests. So, why a business-centered podcast? Listen to Hao...

Over the past years, Chief Technology Officer Bill Nguyen’s focus on putting technology in service of customers has helped propel AIA Vietnam to the heights of being the organization’s top performing unit in terms of digital transformation. Was modernizing an “outdated and traditional” industry and challenging the status quo an easy task? We discovered too that Bill actually asked AIA Vietnam’s HR...

The science of data has become a common interdisciplinary field in recent years, with big and small businesses, governments and different organizations using the power of algorithms and numbers to drive growth. Huynh Ngoc Tan, whose expertise revolves around Data Science, is currently the Data Director of Masterise Homes, one of the most renowned residential real estate brands in Vietnam. With his...

Soames Hines took over as Chief Executive of the Ogilvy Group in Vietnam in January 2020 and has 40 years’ experience in the marketing and communications industry. He has held client and agency roles in over 10 countries in both Europe and the Asia Pacific region, primarily with WPP companies (Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson). In recent years, Soames has  focused on mentoring talent, bu...

Bryan Lee has been with Glints, a Singapore-based talent connector platform, for just over 3 years, first in Singapore, and then as Vietnam’s country manager based in HCMC.   Founded in 2013, Glints is used by more than 1.5 million professionals and 30,000 organizations, including Gojek, Tokopedia, Starbucks and Mediacorp. Glints offers a “full-stack” of services for people who want to advance the...

An IT professional with 18 years of experience working in enterprise architecture and application development in the west, Mark Morawski joined VNG Corporation, Vietnam’s first unicorn, as CTO in January 2021.  VNG, best known for its gaming business, has been diversifying into other digital services such as social media and e-commerce with products such as ZaloPay, a mobile payment app. Mark spen...

L’Oréal is one of the most well-loved beauty and personal care brands in Vietnam. With the likes of Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Shu Uemura in its luxe division and household names Maybelline New York and Vichy preferred by many Vietnamese, the brand set up a subsidiary in Vietnam four years ago, under the leadership of Valéry Gaucherand, who has been with the company for over 22 years.  In today’...

Banking is going through a fundamental shift. To make sense of the changes in the financial services industry, we invited Gunneet Singh Bally, Head of Products & Customer Engagement at Übank — a digital bank powered by FECredit and VPBank, Vietnam’s leading commercial bank. His previous experiences include working for banking heavyweights and multinationals such as American Express, ICICI Bank...

Anan Saigon offers an unorthodox take on the Vietnamese cuisine. It is for the gastronomical adventurers, the innovators — the ones whose palates are willing to welcome experimental flavors and whose eyes take delight in the harmony of colors in a plate, says Chef Peter Cuong Franklin.   In today's episode of Vietnam Innovators, Hao Tran and Peter look back at the Anan Saigon's journey,...

Shuyin Tang co-founder and CEO of the Beacon Fund, a boundary-breaking fund for female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia's emerging markets. Shuyin’s past experiences include the US Congress, the Australian public service, The Lowy Institute for International Policy and the UNICEF. She was named one of Australia's "100 Women of Influence" by the Australian Financial Review in 201...

In the US, Salesforce is huge: the B2B software company is a crucial part in American business. Big Vietnamese corporations who understand the value of SaaS are already using Salesforce solutions. But the challenge lies in signing SMEs as clients. How can SMEs be encouraged to deeply understand data and make use of data visualization tools to increase their revenue? In today’s episode of Vietnam I...

To date, only two Vietnamese startups have had the honor of being accepted into Y Combinator (YC) — the famous accelerator program that launched Airbnb and Stripe, among others. Nano Technologies, a fintech start-up co-founded by Dzung Dang, is one of them. In today’s episode of Vietnam Innovators, Hao Tran asks Dzung Dang how he plans to solve runaway turnover among low-income workers and help th...

No fitness club membership? No problem, says Dane Fort, the CEO of Fitness & Lifestyle Group Vietnam. For the country’s largest fitness group by market share, democratizing wellness means spreading the gospel of fitness among members and non-members alike.  In today’s episode of Vietnam Innovators, Hao Tran and Dane talk about the “wellness revolution” in Vietnam, and how the coronavirus pande...

It was Vietnam’s friendly trade policy that convinced Dubliner Jack O’Sullivan to swift his e-bike production in the country.  Admittedly, Vietnam wasn't even in the original sales roadmap, not only because of the underdeveloped cycling infrastructure but also because of the price point — Modmo’s ‘Saigon’ model retails for USD 3,000. It turned out there is in fact a market for premium e-bikes...

Among the factors behind Vietnam’s rise in the start-up ecosystem are its global integration, strong educational programs, such as K-12 math teaching and engineering degrees, as well as the government’s push for 5G development. Other oft-cited factors like high e-commerce and digital payment penetration also play a part, says Olivier Raussin, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at FEBE Ventures. In th...

The appeal of Canada in general and Canadian education in particular is easy to explain, says the new Canadian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Bez Babakhani, who himself arrived in Canada from Iran as a student, then became a citizen and entered public service. A country considered very warm and welcoming to immigrants, Canada is home to more than 300,000 Vietnamese who thrive in the fields of...

Vietnam’s real estate market continues a positive run amidst the economic hardships brought by the pandemic. The demands for residential, office, industrial, and hospitality spaces have grown tremendously, with new developments selling out fast. According to Cushman & Wakefield, while foreign investors are one of the factors pushing the market, the majority of the growth comes from Vietnamese...

As people in Vietnam live longer, the questions of wealth accumulation, wealth preservation and legacy planning become more pertinent. This is where life insurance comes into play. Not only does it offer long-term protection, but it also contributes to people’s financial wellness. In today’s episode of Vietnam Innovators, Hao Tran and Mark Chapman, Chief Partnership Distribution Officer at Prudent...

Vietnam’s food and beverage scene is dynamic and full of promise, according to Taku Tanaka, the Co-Founder and CEO of KAMEREO. An all-in-one supplier that uses the power of technology to optimize purchasing and sourcing, KAMEREO has helped lift the local F&B industry by connecting suppliers and store owners, and thus improving the overall experience from purchasing ingredients to cooking and d...

Vietcetera is celebrating five years of bringing Vietnam to the world and the world to Vietnam. Beyond the media we create and publish daily, the company itself has meaningful stories to tell -- from how Founder Guy Truong and Co-Founder, CEO Hao Tran first met to who our first client was, where we had our first ever team meeting and who our first employee was!  Join us in this special episode of...

Vietnam and UK’s bilateral cooperation continues to evolve and create investment opportunities for both countries, as British investors expand their businesses in Vietnam and Vietnamese brands cement their presence in the UK. Banking on mutual trust and respect, Vietnam and UK have made incredible progress in this economic and social partnership through the years. In today’s episode of Vietnam Inn...