AMSTERDAM – What are the opportunities for Dutch businesses in Japan and Vietnam? On what do you need to pay attention when entering these markets? Siebe van Wijk, shared Fresh Studio’s perspective on business opportunities in Vietnam during a seminar ‘Crossing Continents’. A seminar organized by Financieel Dagblad on the 5th of November in Amsterdam.
Vietnam is growing rapidly. Currently, Vietnam’s population reaches 90 million. The spending budget is low; approximately 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. However, due to almost 20 years of consecutive economic growth between 5-7% per year, more and more money is spent on higher value added products. This offers many opportunities for Dutch companies.
Since 2006 Fresh Studio has worked passionately to assist multinationals and domestic clients to improve all practices from farm to fork. Fresh Studio inspires their clients with refreshing insights into their sourcing, quality assurance and marketing opportunities.
During the seminar, Rens de Jong, journalist of Business News Radio, interviewed Siebe van Wijk.
“What is the biggest challenge of doing business in Vietnam?”
Siebe: “For a consulting and R&D firm based in Vietnam and with many international clients, the main challenge is “the hunt for talent”. As a Fresh Studio consultant it is essential to add value to multinationals which are already operating in Vietnam. Therefore, only the most talented people are recruited to join the Fresh Studio team. Despite this challenge, we developed a multi-disciplinary and international. What started in 2006 with just 3 people has now become a firm with over 100 staff.”
“What makes Vietnam so interesting for a Dutch entrepreneur”
Siebe: “With around 90 million people, Vietnam’s domestic market is booming (the 14th largest nation in the world). Vietnam is strategically located in Asia: Vietnam borders with China, it takes only 2 days to ship products to mega cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, and it is 5 days shipping from Japan. Furthermore, Vietnam is an active member of ASEAN. This is a kind of ‘EU for Southeast Asian nations’ with a joint market over 500 million consumers and tariffs for intra ASEAN trade of 0%. Finally, Vietnam is attractive for Dutch businesses, because in many sectors it is possible to have a 100% foreign-owned company. This is in contrast with many other Asian countries where foreign ownership of companies is restricted to percentages below 50%.”
Crossing continents; an exciting step to take!Also interesting to read:
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