Singaporean IT companies seek cooperation opportunities in Vietnam

Nguyen Hoanh Tien (third from right) welcome Tan Soon Kim (second from right)

With the growing interest of Singaporean companies in Vietnamese high-tech and start-up ecosystems, Tan Soon Kim, assistant chief executive officer of IE Singapore who oversees the agency’s international operations for Southeast Asia and Oceania, North and South Asia, North America and Western Europe, came to Vietnam in the first week of April to assess the potential and growth opportunities of the Vietnamese technology and start-up market.

During the trip to Vietnam, Tan met the leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Industry and Trade to discuss the connection between Singaporean and Vietnamese companies in the technology sector.

At the same time, he also spent some time with potential start-up companies such as Tiki, Haravan, Giaohangnhanh, Circo Co-working Space. Tan suggested that IE Singapore can assist them in connecting with the Singaporean partners.

During the trip, Tan also paid a visit to VNG. After the discussion with Nguyen Hoanh Tien, vice president of operations at VNG Corporation, and listening to VNG's history of development, corporate culture and products, Tan said, “I was really inspired by your story. VNG is not just an IT or tech company, but to me it’s very much a lifestyle company, and you’ve successfully created so many services and products that has integrated the real aspects of living. Overtime, it will probably become indispensable and every Vietnamese will probably have a VNG app in their phones.”

“I think the willingness to learn, to be open and to look for partnership is critical to scale up globally. In my opinion, VNG has successful ingredients already and very soon you’ll be a global player,” Tan said at the end of the trip.

VNG has been exporting its services and application software to some foreign countries. One year ago, in March 2016, VNG introduced its social network Zalo to Myanmar. From June to October 2016, Zalo gained 2 million users in Myanmar.

“If developed well, Myanmar would become as lucrative a market as Vietnam. Zalo’s long-term goal is to have 9-10 million users,” said VNG deputy director Vuong Quang Khai.

VNG aims to become an internationally competitive IT enterprise. In 2012, VNG exported its games “Sky Garden” and “Oink” to the Chinese and Japanese markets. Notably, the online game “Sky garden” was awarded “Most innovative foreign game” after three months launching in the Chinese market.

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