In the past few years, something of a sea change has been taking place in Vietnam. It’s not just the booming economy, rapid development, and expanded tourism industry - it’s their unexpected side-effect. In increasing numbers, young adults of Vietnamese descent who grew up overseas are returning - some to a place their parents risked their lives to escape - and they’re taking the reins of the country’s economic and social development. Suddenly Vietnam, like Ireland ten years ago, is a place not to get away from, but to return to.
Motivations differ, but for many, the primary reason for return is economic. Vietnam’s growing GDP and the potential for investment are two major factors, with many of the so-called “overseas Vietnamese” opening up their own businesses. “With the emerging market,” says Hao Anh Do, “it’s unbelievable the kinds of things you can do in Vietnam.” Hao is the founder/director of Met Vuong, Vietnam’s largest real estate web portal, which is used by foreigners and Vietnamese to rent, lease, buy and sell property. Met Vuong opened its Ho Chi Minh City office in June of 2007, and currently employs 22 people. Its rapid success spawned a monthly real estate publication, with the highest circulation among magazines of its kind in Vietnam.
Hao’s story has all the hallmarks of the classic success story - a young Vietnamese-American who returned to the country his parents left decades ago, started from scratch, and finally built a successful company. Combining the skills he learned in the United States with the advantages offered by Vietnam (little competition is just one of these) Hao managed to establish himself and his business as Vietnam fixtures in a remarkably short time. “I’d highly encourage overseas Vietnamese to come back,” he says, “those who are entrepreneurs in particular. The risks of opening a business here are smaller than in the U.S. 20 employees here cost the same as one of my employees back home.”
Hao, always thirsty for new projects, recently embarked on a second venture - upgrading Ho Chi Minh City’s tired nightspots. Starting with Privé, an exclusive lounge in District 1, the city’s business and nightlife district, Hao and his partners are buying up existing nightclubs, renovating them, making them popular, then selling them on. With a newly moneyed class of young Vietnamese emerging, and a growing expatriate population, there’s never been more demand for trendy, upscale nightclubs, and Hao is meeting that need head on.
“It’s easy to move here, even without connections” says Hao, who never visited Vietnam when growing up. “I don’t even have any family here anymore, I didn’t know anyone.” His parents left Saigon in 1971, when Hao was a toddler, and moved to Orange Country, California, where he grew up. After grad school, Hao started his own company making medical technology software, eventually sold it, and decided to move to Vietnam, where Met Vuong was born.
While there are still many difficulties inherent in buying property and establishing a company (many do this in the name of a local family member or spouse), it is easier for OV to conduct business than for foreigners of non-Vietnamese origin. The government has also made some gestures towards welcoming them back: each year regulations on visas and property ownership in regards to overseas Vietnamese have been eased.
“In some ways, it’s easier to open a business here than it would be in the U.S.,” says Crispin Bui, the 30-year old Director of Technology and Head of Sales and Account Management at CSC, a global IT solutions company. “There’s more paperwork and more bureaucracy, but it’s a lot cheaper. Salaries here are low, and though the cost of renting or buying premises is increasing, it’s still far less expensive than in most Western cities.”
For those not driven to open their own business, Vietnam can also offer employment opportunities that would, in the U.S., be out of reach.
“A lot of big businesses want more of us,” says Crispin, who is Vietnamese-Australian. “They’re looking for Australians, Americans and British-Vietnamese to come back. We have a couple of advantages over everyone else, as we’re experienced in the Western style of doing business and usually speak both English and Vietnamese. We can work more easily with foreign clients - I work with a lot of U.S. clients - than the locals, and we can rent houses, manage household help, etc. in a way that Westerners can’t, which cuts costs for the employer.”
For those concerned about resentment from locals towards those who ‘return’ to Vietnam, Hao is reassuring. “It was more common ten years ago,” he says. “There is a bit of resentment against Vietnamese who ‘left’ from the older people, but, in general the atmosphere is pretty welcoming.” And, for those overseas Vietnamese bringing knowledge and skills (business, language, technology, finance - the list goes on) to the country’s young, eager-to-learn population, the welcome is very warm indeed.
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