Vo Hong Nam
Director Hong Nam Computer Communication
Vietnam

Mr. Nam came back to Vietnam from Hungary in 1993, where he had a scholarship. Upon returning to the country, he began working in communication and technology services. At first, he conducted business with Hewlett Packard. Then, he established Hong Nam Computer Communications in 1999 in Hanoi. The company aims to provide network solutions, enterprise applications for government agencies and large corporation in Vietnam. It also launches several online services for public government services and consumer markets. Other services include ICT consultation specifically business matching with right local IT partners in Vietnam, as well as ICT planning for enterprises needing technical designs. Hong Nam also does Internet value added services (e.g. providing software applications for mobile and Internet domain) and multimedia services such as interactive CD-ROM and multimedia websites.

Today, Hong Nam Communications is jumping into the broadband and mobile fields and cooperates with a Swiss company. Mr. Nam stresses that now is the time to do business in Vietnam because the markets are much more open than before. Despite the fact that difficulties remain, like management skills, finance, and technology, businesses can cooperate with other small and medium enterprises to cultivate better communication and services. Mr. Nam highlights that APEC brings great opportunities to Vietnam. APEC provides a way for other countries and businesses to come to Vietnam to build relationships. He also sees establishing relationships and understanding business partners as one of the most important aspects of doing business in Vietnam. In Vietnamese culture, people must understand each other very well before doing business. As many companies are not transparent, poor relationships can make business more difficult. He also thinks that Vietnamese companies can learn from the experiences of foreign companies. Nevertheless, Mr. Nam does not think that cultural differences present barriers despite more open markets. He stresses that Vietnamese people are very well prepared to interact with people of other cultures, especially Asian countries because of their flexibility in thinking. Furthermore, as Vietnamese people speak good English and understand French, much of the world is accessible for Vietnamese businesses.

Thus, we can see that Mr. Nam’s perspective differs from most CEO’s. In the academic circle, we consider cultural differences as barriers to trade. However, it is impressive that Mr. Nam does not see that as a tremendous obstacle but actually a chance to exert more effort in getting to know other people and their lifestyle. Interviewed By: Tran Thu Trang, Daniella Fergusson

Picture Taken By: Tran Thu Trang

Written By: Diane Tan, Ha Hoang Yen, Tran Thu Trang, Daniella Fergusson, Hector Montfort, Chengshan Zhang