Request For Vietnam Startups



Vietnam accounts for more than a fifth of the global total of rice exports, it’s the world’s second largest exporter of coffee, and it’s also the second largest producer of pepper, making it an ideal prototyping arena for new farming techniques and technologies. Thus, AgriTech that is developed in Vietnam has the potential to be exported across other markets. For starters, how can crop yields be efficiently increased without over-farming existing land?


Vietnam has a lot of potential to develop its international brand—it already has a strong reputation for IT outsourcing. Furthermore, the Vietnamese conical hat (known as nón là) has near-instant brand recognition. What’s the most effective way of enhancing Vietnam’s perception abroad?


Counterfeit goods, collusion (pricing), congestion (traffic and pollution), climate change effects in the Mekong Delta, gender imbalance, lack of transparency, etc. Pick an area; how can it be addressed?


Most of Vietnam’s major cities are made up of locals, foreigners, and Viet-Kieu but sometimes there isn’t much overlap among the English-teaching, business, diplomatic, freelancer, arts, and other communities. One idea: how to tap into these diverse groups of people and make it easier for people who want to move and contribute to Vietnam (or any country) to do so?


There are almost two million Vietnamese in the U.S. with approximately one million in California alone. Surprisingly, (to some) Vietnamese is the third most spoken language in Texas. Furthermore, there are overseas Vietnamese communities in France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Australia. Already, many Vietnamese study abroad and second-generation Vietnamese have returned to Vietnam for work, study, or to live. Linking the diaspora back to Vietnam means benefits at home and abroad. How can these links be strengthened and deepened?


There are a number of high-rises under development in Ho Chi Minh City and buildings are constantly razed to make way for new ones in Hanoi. Vietnam builders have focused on high-end accommodations but the need is for middle to lower income housing. The pace of construction will only accelerate in the future but often construction sites are hazardous with lax safety measures, waste, delays and overages. Not to mention some badly designed features to begin with, which begets the question: can the industry begin to innovate?


Vietnamese entrepreneurs, developers, and product managers might consider trying to copy more: copying best practices, successful models, and building up expertise to a point where they have mastered a skill, product, form, etc. Taking  a proven business model in the region and localizing it to Vietnamese tastes and styles isn’t necessarily a bad idea—it lowers risk. What else could or should Vietnam copy?


Getting accurate data in Vietnam can sometimes be difficult. Collecting data and making decisions with it is a competitive advantage, given the right data. Depending on a particular industry, what kind of data should be collected to make the right decisions?


There are approximately one million babies born each year in Vietnam while people from rural areas continue to move into major cities. Moreover, people are living longer. What kind of services and care will they need that don’t exist yet?


Paper is inefficient to store, whether it’s triplicate invoices or money. Finding a way of getting medical and other records into digital databases could be the beginning of a digital transformation in Vietnam. As a starting point, what can be stored digitally today?


Vietnam needs to revamp its higher education system; more banking and finance majors in Vietnamese universities is not viable in the long term. The Vietnamese youth need to develop more critical thinking skills, more creative abilities, and more confidence in asking questions and executing tasks in order compete internationally. How can these skills be developed within and outside of the school system?


Vietnam’s largest source of electricity-generating capacity is from coal and this trend will continue well into this century. When might we see the emergence and mass adoption of renewable energies such as solar and wind as well as the development of smart homes, buildings, and cities?


FinTech is on the rise but credit card adoption rates are still low in Vietnam and access to loans for SMEs can be improved—perhaps via crowdfunding combined with better investment management tools. How can Vietnamese consumers adopt e-payments more quickly?


Vietnam is a top-down country. However, within the country’s political system, it is experimenting with e-governance in places like Da Nang in an effort to improve public services, e.g., legal process standardization and optimization. Along this theme, how can citizens positively engage the government for everyone to benefit?


Digital health, animal health, BioTech. More specifically, cardiology, oncology, women’s health, opthamology, radiology, intervention, supplements, anti-counterfeit, and general awareness, prevention, and treatments that are developed in Vietnam for a (presumably) lower cost than they would be in the developed world have the potential to outcompete similar solutions in other markets. Not to mention growing diabetes, asthma, and chronic illnesses in Vietnam’s youth and elders. Pollution and divorce is on the rise as well. Getting ahead of the curve: what will be the biggest health concern in five years in Vietnam and do solutions exist for it yet?


With metro projects coming online in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, we may see an alleviation of traffic congestion in both cities. On the other hand, obtaining a car is the new Vietnamese dream and rush hour is already near-gridlock in major Vietnamese cities. How can Vietnam design and execute smart urban planning?


Last-mile distribution is still a huge challenge with distribution channels and supply chains that have not yet been streamlined, affecting almost every sector. In its current state, what is the best way to aggregate demand, capture data, and process payments within the logistics and shipping infrastructure?


Renting in Vietnam can be a mixed experience but it is sometimes not economical to buy a home. More and more inventory is coming online—is there a way to optimize under-utilized real estate units until they are sold?


See UN Sustainable Development Goals.


Small and Medium-sized Enterprises are the backbone of the economy and will continue to be as SOE reforms and equitization are accelerated in order to give space to SME growth. New digital tools are a start but how can SMEs compete better, go abroad more easily, and reduce the risk of doing so?


This is essentially doing more or the same with less, i.e., finding international products and producing them for 30% of the retail cost and 65% of the feature set so that technology sharing across Vietnam and around the (developing) world can flourish. Which product to start with?


Approximately eight million people visit Vietnam every year; this industry has been in decline for months and it’s partly related to customer service—it can be improved, especially in northern Vietnam. Training, language skills, and anticipating customers’ needs are all in short supply. How can three-star hotels deliver three star (international) experiences?


The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), EU-Vietnam, Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and approximately 10 other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)—how can Vietnam maximize these opportunities and move up the value chain?


Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Neural Networks, Quantum and Cognitive Computing, Robotics, Moonshots, etc. What is Vietnam in a position to develop via the sheer will of researchers?


See the original Request For Startups.


No one has a monopoly on good ideas—what are yours?


The future of Vietnam can sometimes be in flux between traditional parenting forces and the desire for modernity. Developing content that the youth can relate to on the topic of careers, life lessons, relationships, and etiquette advice across social media and applications could help to ease the transition to adulthood. More importantly, what are their hopes and dreams for Vietnam in this century?

The REMON Project

On July 2 and 3, the Final Conference of the Vietnamese-German Research Project Real Time Monitoring of Urban Transport—Solutions for Traffic Management and Urban Development in Hanoi (REMON) was held in Hanoi. During the conference, project representatives outlined their plans for going forward and listened to the concerns of the attendees, which ranged from data privacy to the methodology of the proposed actions.

Traffic in Vietnam can conjure up images of motorbikes, bicycles, buses, and luxury vehicles all vying to occupy the limited space on the road, especially in major cities. Already during rush hour, parts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are near impassable. Few experiences could be worse than being caught at a red light in Ho Chi Minh City during the rainy season, and surrounded by the drone and exhaust of a few hundred motorbikes in front and behind. (Your author has experienced this firsthand.)

And up in Hanoi, the afternoon rush hour can turn into a “Battle Royal” where buses are operated as if they were cars, cars as if they were motorbikes, and motorbikes as if there were regulations for operating a motorbike. The Vietnamese dream is to own a car—to show off success to others, to protect from the elements, and to travel comfortably.

Last year, the first Rolls-Royce Motor Cars showroom in Vietnam opened up in Hanoi. However, as we explained during coverage of the Yamaha Town Hanoi showroom, the car will never fully replace the motorbike in Vietnam, and Hanoi itself is a Motorcycle Dependent City (MDC). Still, Vietnam experiences 10% new vehicles on the road each year and congestion will only increase as more people become successful as a result of the economy. In fact, there are even events called “car washes” where an entire company will go out to celebrate the purchase of a car by one of its employees–arguably, one of the nicer effects of an increasing number of vehicles on the road, but not without short and long-term effects on the city, its people, and the environment.

So in the last three years, a team of Vietnamese and German researches has looked at this increasing traffic issue in Hanoi. The REMON Project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam and has been ongoing since May 2012 (and will run until October 2015).

According to a handout at the event, the REMON project has several key objectives:

  1. “reduction of air pollutants and emissions;”
  2. “reduction of energy consumption in the urban transport sector in Hanoi, Vietnam;”
  3. “establish a real-time traffic information system in Hanoi, which helps to increase the efficiency of Hanoi’s transport system;”
  4. reduce environmental impacts of traffic, in particular traffic jams, traffic-induced emissions and energy consumption.”

The REMON project wants to track and detect traffic conditions in real time via two methods; Floating Car Data (FCD) and Floating Phone Data (FPD) which is essentially GPS data from onboard units in vehicles but also the smartphones of the vehicle drivers as well.

The REMON project hopes to use the raw data for several applications ranging from “informing road users of the current traffic situation on each street to controlling and managing traffic as well as long-term transport and urban planning efforts and measure to solve traffic problems.”

Thus, the focus is on short-term traffic information as well as long-term transport management approaches and urban planning solutions. In other words, “the REMON project is a well-adapted, demand-oriented, collaborative research and development project between German and Vietnamese partners. It aims at establishing a traffic information system and using it for achieving an integrated urban and transport development of Hanoi.”

Ridesharing and Electric Vehicles in the Future

Uber arrived in Vietnam in June, 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City and in October in Hanoi. GrabTaxi also arrived last year in Vietnam. These services help optimize the flow of people across cities but they also have the potential to reduce future vehicles on the road considering the tough parking situation in Hanoi. For sure, once the metro comes online, it will provide a viable alternative for navigating around Hanoi (and Ho Chi Minh City).

On the other hand, electric vehicles such as bicycles, are usually associated with young people or students. At the high-end range, if Tesla Motors were to enter Vietnam it could change the perception of electric vehicles in this market. However, entering an Asian market where consumers want to have instant gratification and want to save “face” and requires developing infrastructure can be quite challenging as seen with Tesla Motors’ progress into China.

There are definitely opportunities to partner with residential and commercial developers in Vietnam to offer Powerwall (see a full Powerwall 2 review) and other devices in the portfolio that could benefit residents, customers, and others who are interested in living a high-tech, stylish, and green life. For example, establishing VIP charge/parking spots at malls, and premium parking in residential developments are some options for building a suitable brand image for Tesla Motors. Successful Vietnamese want others to acknowledge their success and want to be seen in exclusive situations so it may take some time for a mindset or attitude shift, especially from the nouveau riche, who will only increase in numbers in the future.

One thing is certain: the focus and results of the REMON project will affect all Hanoians as the impact of traffic is demonstrated in more relatable terms such as quantifiable lost productivity due to waiting in traffic (or even access to the real-time data via a mobile application as the project hopes to achieve). Along those lines, solutions for traffic challenges could emerge from a variety of areas–not only the private sector or from researchers, but also from the public via crowdsourcing campaigns. Indeed, there were many vocal and concerned commentators at the event in the audience who did not have a shortage of opinions on what should be done moving forward. In the meantime, the continued promotion of basic standards of courtesy on the roads with an emphasis on safety, utilizing signals, and respecting traffic laws can go a long way toward improving the commuting, driving, and riding experiences in cities such as Hanoi; after all, innovation and technology can help to fill in the gaps.

If you would like to know more information or would like to view the material presented then you can find it here.

The UNICEF Innovation Lab in Vietnam

Recently, we met with Brian Cotter, an Innovation Specialist with UNICEF; he explained the UNICEF Innovation Lab in Vietnam, how the tech scene is changing in Ho Chi Minh City, and how you can get involved with the nearest Innovation Lab.


BC: I’ll have lived in Vietnam nine years this June. I graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison where I majored in Zoology. During my studies, I worked with the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), which deploys autonomous buoys into lakes for data collection. When I was doing it, the project was just in the US but now it’s global. So I was working with technology even though I had a different major.

Then I had the opportunity to move to Vietnam so I took it. I started off teaching English, like many people and then worked in hospitality and retail. I helped open a restaurant and tried to open a series of convenience stores in Mui Ne, a coastal town. So my experience was working in small businesses before I tried to do a mobile app outsourcing company.

The entrepreneur style really attracted me and I didn’t want to be in the office all the time so I tried to participate in startups as much as I could. I liked building things and doing things. Today, I am based in Ho Chi Minh City as an Innovation Specialist with UNICEF.

How long has the UNICEF Innovation Lab been present in Vietnam? What’s the role of the UNICEF Innovation Lab here in Vietnam?

BC: We’ve been here for six months; 2015 is foundational year so we are working to determine the best approach. The Innovation Unit for UNICEF global has been around since 2007 with growth accelerating since 2009. We are an interdisciplinary team of individuals around the world tasked with identifying, prototyping, and scaling technologies and practices that strengthen UNICEF’s work. We build and scale innovations that improve children’s lives around the world.

In the UNICEF context, Innovation Labs generally have a dual imperative. Firstly they exist to support the utilization of innovative processes in the development of internal programs and the identification of opportunities for improved results through the use of emerging technologies. Secondly they exist to empower the local communities and stakeholders to develop the capacity approach complex problems and create sustainable solutions.

Our main office is in Hanoi but we have sub office in Ho Chi Minh City so I travel between both cities, depending on work. However, the Innovation Lab is initially focused in Ho Chi Minh City.

The UNICEF Innovation Lab is both a physical space and a “conceptual environment,” correct? How does that work exactly?

BC: The Lab part of the Innovation Lab means a physical space. It is our mission to participate in a community of like-minded individuals and organizations to create a better future for Vietnam through innovation. The physical space is there to embody the type of community we want to empower: equitable, sustainable, impactful. We want to improve the collaboration across different sectors of the entrepreneurship and startup community, to convene partners around social impact, and to provide opportunity to those who are traditionally left out of the conversation. In order to create this space, we must first exemplify these values by working collaboratively with different stakeholders to identify our best approach for success and continually work to improve the mission and service provided through the space.

There are about a dozen UNICEF Innovation Labs around the world, how much collaboration is there between the labs?

We have monthly calls; I can reach out to them at any time. There’s a growing regional team to support us in bringing global context to our locales. There is another Innovation Lab in Indonesia—we talk almost every day. We share documents, struggles, and bottlenecks to help support each other. The context of every country is very different but we work together to share solutions. I set up a Skype group between ASEAN innovation labs and we have bi-weekly regional calls. In terms of technology, we use the cloud for collaborative documents and we utilize collaborative project management tools such as Trello.

What are some of the challenges that the UNICEF Innovation Lab in Vietnam seeks to address?

BC: We have nine Innovation Principles so one result of a principle is that everything in the lab is open-source. In our space, technology is not the innovation—the use of that technology in a novel way is the innovation for us. We use technology as a tool to deliver results. The tech is a tool, it doesn’t have to be bleeding edge, it has to be relevant. It needs to create a competitive advantage and be scalable. We pose a simple question: “How do you use it to deliver a better result?”

Project Mwana in Zambia is an example of this, which cut down the turnaround time for testing blood for HIV by half. The traditional method involved paper and post: 30 days to send the results, 33 days to get them back. With Project Mwana, the change was in delivering test results via SMS. Thus, critical treatment can get started earlier with better results.

Looking to the horizon, UNICEF will leverage trending technologies. The Innovation Lab looks at the situation and asks, “three-to-five years down, what does the country need? What does UNICEF need?”

So Wearables is a continuing theme now as well as the “Internet of Good Things.” We are addressing emerging tech areas and applying them in the context and using current technology in novel ways. What do we need to develop today that we will need to scale in three-to-five years?

Locally, the global innovation unit has identified Vietnam as a key contributor (key regional leader) that can contribute to the emerging technology community. Vietnamese expertise in ICT can be used to impact other parts of the world, which is why Vietnam was chosen to be one of two initial innovation labs in SE Asia.

We hope to be engaged and implement here, and then export the innovations that emerge.

Is there any recent news or upcoming developments about the UNICEF Innovation Lab that you’d like to share?

We opened our Global Innovation Lab in May in New York City, which focuses on global initiatives. U-Reports is one global initiative. U-Report began as an SMS program in Uganda in 2010 as an opportunity for young people in developing countries to express their views from a basic mobile phone.  Today the program, developed on RapidPro, is in 13 countries and over 650,000 people are sending or receiving SMSs every week.  Over the past four years U-Reporters have:

  • Sent and received over 50 million messages, each one representing a voice, question or opinion.
  • Improved the impact of UNICEF health programmes for mothers and children
  • Identified or verified cholera, Ebola, and typhoid outbreaks
  • Successfully advocated to support the Children Act to outlaw corporal punishment in Ugandan schools
  • Increased the rate U-Reporters knowing their HIV/AIDS status in Zambia by one third.
  • Advocated for girl’s rights to education at Rio+20 conference
  • Fought against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation alongside multiple faiths, legally and culturally.

You’ve been in Vietnam since 2006, right? How has the tech or startup scene changed since when you first arrived here?

BC: It’s accelerating. There is more action, desire, maturity. I’ve been around developers for awhile, they used to develop for their day jobs then go home and relax. Now they are developing at home because they are passionate about their side projects. The acceptance that “it” is possible has increased so there is additional motivation to build. In terms of the official ecosystem, it’s still so early so there are opportunities to influence things at the beginning.

What do you think readers should know about the startup scene in Vietnam?

BC: It’s a bit rough around the edges. There are still significant gaps and opportunities for development. The momentum is accelerating. Before, when Saigon Hub was around, people wouldn’t pay for events. Now I see that many people are willing to pay for events. They recognize that there is better quality content available, so they pay for it. The ecosystem is maturing organically in that regard.
What should we keep an eye out for in terms of startups and innovation coming out of Vietnam?

BC: There’s a lot of really smart people in this country. If they focus energies on a startup they could make some pretty incredible things. We saw VP9 at TechFest Vietnam; that could be incredible. But he [the founder] is not unique, there are a lot of people out there who don’t know the value of their market knowledge. Vietnam is bursting with so much raw talent—and discipline to a specific expertise. But that’s all they have so there needs to be support around it.

There are tech people in hardware and academia who don’t know how to talk about or differentiate their products. If they got the support of the ecosystem—whereby if other skills to run a startup were made accessible to a broader audience, then some magic could happen. It would require other focus put on soft skills; being able to present and express ideas and then we could see some significant tech and intellectual property-based technology break out. There are a lot smart people whose inventions never see the light of day.

Also, uniquely Vietnamese styles are starting to come out. Vietnamese are being inspired by other cultures and are not just copying anymore— they are putting their own twist on things. The maturity is coming. The tech startup scene has some of that; big things are coming, not just copies.

If people want to get involved with the UNICEF Innovation Lab, how can they do that in Vietnam?

The first thing you should know is that if you walk in and say, “I want to make a difference,” then I’m not going to say no. Everyone has a part to play, from CEO on down. We have open global challenges on Wearables and and will be making UNICEF problems within Vietnam more visible to the tech entrepreneur community as well.

One feature would be a weekend workshop so we can recruit mostly marginalized people to train skills and create projects. The sustainable projects will be guided by mentors and eventually those projects will develop into organizations. We are basing this idea off a framework that has been used in Kosovo so it’s a “by youth for youth” component. It’s a model that has been crafted through iteration after two-to-four years of events so it’s not from scratch. This workshop will be coming in late 2015 in HCMC and hopefully we can see it in other cities in Vietnam in 2016.

In effect we are turning innovators toward UNICEF problems and are engaging marginalized youth to enable equitable access to innovation and entrepreneurship resources like accelerators and training. Everyone has the opportunity to participate as mentors, entrepreneurs, providing funding instruments, or just sharing the vision. If you simply want to follow our progress, check us out on Facebook.

Any advice for locals or foreigners who want to become entrepreneurs in Vietnam? 

Just do it. You don’t learn until you launch or until you do it. If your gut tells you that you want to try then do it, listen. Figure out a way to do it without losing your job. Judge for yourself how much risk you are willing to take.

Thanks to Brian Cotter, who shared his time with us.

Building Vietnam’s Innovation Economy









  1. Is it good?
  2. Is it intuitive (especially for B2C)



  1. Invest in a product



So, according to Mr. Dung, Uber:

  1. Allows governments to trace transactions
  2. Allows the tax base to get bigger












Forty Years Later





New Attitudes






One Direction




Samsung’s Vision in Vietnam



  1. Work Hard
  2. Ask “Why”
  3. Attitude is Everything


Samsung and Vietnam





Working at Samsung



  1. Introduce yourself in English or Korean;
  3. Make the case for why Samsung should hire you.



Constructive Vision




Vietnam Expo 2015





Engaging Exhibitors








Key Takeaways








Michelle Phan and Vietnam

“I am first a creator, but my ongoing objective is to leverage my personal success, to help mentor new and existing talent, and further help them achieve their goals.” —Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan is many things; an entrepreneur, a Vietnamese-American, a role model, a success story, and a phenomenon. Coming from humble beginnings, in 2007 she was rejected by Lancome for a makeup artist position because she had no prior sales experience. Instead, Phan turned to blogging and after two readers requested that she make a video tutorial, she obliged and a week later the video had 40,000 views. Today, Phan’s legacy so far is defined by $120 million in annual sales and 100 employees with brands like ipsy (offering a monthly makeup subscription) and her ICON Network (formerly “FAWN” or For All Women Network). Above all, Michelle Phan seems like she hasn’t reached her peak; just recently she was compared to and proclaimed as the next Oprah—all at the age of 27.

While Phan certainly hasn’t shied away from her roots, she also hasn’t seemed ready to take a plunge into business ventures in Vietnam. Phan’s first scheduled time in Vietnam was in November, 2010 (though she was not able to make it) and by her own account, the last (and first) time she visited Vietnam was in August, 2012. Recently, she celebrated her birthday in Japan, where she seems to prefer spending her time in Asia. However, she might be currently missing out on some very big opportunities in Vietnam.

[Update: Michelle Phan appeared at an event in Ho Chi Minh City on May 12, 2015.]

Investing in Vietnam would allow Phan to tap into one of the fastest growing markets (annual growth between 5 and 6 percent) in the world where Phan has clear and demonstrated cultural and heritage ties. Vietnam is part of the group dubbed “New Wealth Builders” which will outnumber mature markets after 2020. Already, the number of super rich (defined by having net worths over $30 million) in Vietnam has increased to over 100 in 2013 from only 34 in 2003. In short, many people are becoming successful as a result of the growing economy here and the growing middle class is continuously demanding newer and higher-quality products, fueled by their increased purchasing power.

Foray into Vietnam

Exactly how Phan should enter the market here is debatable. Vietnam is a complex market—each region (north, south, central, etc.) has its own quirks and consumer styles. However, there are over 90 million people, almost two-thirds of which are under the age of 40 and about a million babies are born here every year. The common area and interest is in two parts: foreign products are preferred in Vietnam, and young Vietnamese are already familiar with “vlogs” or video blogging—something that Phan pioneered in the US.

More importantly, Phan could be a role model for the country’s youth, especially its girls. In local advertising, White, Korean, or Japanese women are mainly present in ads—bombarding the youth with carefully crafted forms of “acceptable” beauty. But in Phan, young and impressionable Vietnamese women can see something else: themselves, i.e., someone who looks like them, who is successful, and who overcame a variety of challenges that they can directly relate to (gambling and/or absent father figure, sharing sleeping surfaces with siblings, financial troubles, rejection, etc.).

Phan’s makeup tutorials and other media can ultimately inspire and build confidence in young women. And in Vietnam that confidence can take several forms—both in the ability to do something (or try something new) but also to ask clarifying questions without the fear of looking foolish in front of colleagues (a significant problem in workplaces). And it can also provide something that money can’t buy: hope.

Cultural Trends

Even though KPOP, Korean soap operas, and other aspects of Korean culture have huge influence in today’s Vietnam, many young Vietnamese love American cultural products. American flag-themed fabrics can be seen in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City along with “Je t’aime Paris” apparel. Things are more toned down up north but in general, blonde-haired and blue-eyed people are often seen as the archetype of beauty and they are consistently showered with compliments when traversing the city streets in Vietnam.

For many Vietnamese, having white skin is one of their ultimate desires (meanwhile countless White people are trying to become a darker color via tanning—both naturally and artificially). There are entire product lines that are dedicated to skin whitening creams and bleaching lotions—a very different approach to beauty care than some westerners might be used to. In the streets, female motorbike drivers will go to great lengths by covering their entire bodies in order to prevent even a single ray of sunlight from reaching their skin (even in the blistering summer heat). There just aren’t many Vietnamese (role) models who are able to balance their local roots with international expectations (with the exception of some niche Viet Kieu singers) and transcend cultural boundaries.

Again, Phan is different; she is American and Vietnamese and she can help to bridge the cultural and understanding gap between people in both countries—imagine her appearing in a travel blog while going through Vietnam. It would help put Vietnam on the map for her legions of fans (whom she refers to as “Dreamers”). Right now the interest between the two countries is in one direction: toward the US for study (more than 16,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in the US).

Additionally, Michelle, with her model/foreigner boyfriend would be a surefire hit in Vietnam. Husband and wife/DJ duo Matt (of Poreotics) “Dumbo” and Tessa Nguyen are an example of a cross-cultural couple who has found success in Vietnam (mostly based in Ho Chi Minh City). (They spin regularly at Ace Club in Ho Chi Minh City.)

A Rising Brand

As profiled in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 recently, “She’s also got a line of makeup at L’Oréal, a music venture that promotes artists on social media and a deal with reality-TV giant Endemol for an online lifestyle channel. ‘I feel like this is just the beginning,’ she says.” Indeed, Michelle Pham is just getting started: imagine the brand and licensing opportunities when she gets married, has a baby, and her firstborn goes to school for the first time, etc.

Her “name and fame” would allow her to take smart risks in Vietnam to extend her brand. In the future, the Icon Network could be the roadmap for young Vietnamese: lifestyle, personal interest, comedy, and other advice all intersecting together in unison. Some adventurous Vietnamese YouTubers have started to push boundaries here in cyberspace like An Nguy, DamTV, and Mie Nguyen, but a unifying platform (like Icon Network) does not yet exist.

(What’s the alternative? The most famous private television channel in Vietnam is scaling back its programming and some new experiments like Can Ho So 69 have been tried but have proven to be too risqué for mass consumption.)

Thus, Phan could make an impact here and leverage the Vietnamese diaspora in France, Australia, Eastern Europe, and so on. In other words, first establish a brand in Vietnam and then expand outward again, tapping into those existing networks between Vietnamese and Viet Kieu. An alternative is to form a following then expand into other areas such as fashion— and Vietnam already a has robust textiles and manufacturing industries. Michelle Phan already disrupted the cosmetics industry–what’s next for her?

Into Vietnam

Ipsy (or something like it) in Vietnam can find the right niche (via clever experimentation since most e-commerce here is COD). If not, then Birchbox, Loot Crate, Barkbox, or any other monthly subscription service (most likely after proving it can be done in China) will be the first to break into this and other emerging markets (already Bethany Mota has visited India, a one billion plus consumer market). That’s not to say that Michelle Phan hasn’t attempted to connect more deeply with Vietnam. Em, “a reflection of Me” is Phan’s attempt to mate her culture and her personal brand. “Em” meaning “she” or “her” in Vietnamese (and other things, depending on the  context); but there’s no need to stop there—keep going until something beautiful happens.

So how exactly to build up in Vietnam?

  • Start small: aptly translate YouTube videos for Vietnamese or release special videos for the Vietnamese market (which means videos 30 seconds to one minute in length—any longer and there’s not enough patience/attention span);
  • Make more regular visits to Vietnam (and bring your boyfriend);
  • Expand the Icon Network into Asia, especially Vietnam. There are a number of successful YouTube VJs here but you can also hand-select and cultivate suitable talent;
  • Good quality and affordable makeup is hard to find in Vietnam; explore localization options for ipsy;
  • Develop service learning, social enterprise, or impact investing opportunities—the dollar goes much further in Asia and being a good citizen is good marketing; and
  • Mentor new and existing talent in Vietnam; there’s a lot of talent here. Young Vietnamese people are in the middle of changing times between tradition and modernity and feel like their generation is unlike any other. Start with the 2014 Graduate of the Year.

The World’s Biggest Ever Trade Deal









In Favor of the TPP


According to the Office of the US Trade Representative:


According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:


According to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade:


According to the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada:


Against the TPP

What about the TPP’s skeptics?


According to Public Citizen:


MSF (Doctors without Borders) is against the TPP:




The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is against the TPP:







The CATO Institute mostly agrees with her.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is also against the TPP:




Defining Failure and Success


As The Economist points out:


As The Editors of the Bloomberg View pointed out:










And what about the ISDS?





Time is Running Out








The LA Times recently summed up the state of negotiations:







Raising the Bar Across Vietnam






  • What is it?
  • Why does it matter?
  • How will I benefit from it?












A Smarter Work Environment





Education for the 21st century


Technologies That Help You










Impacting the Environment Around Us


