Business execs pinpoint opportunities in challenging time

Senior foreign business executives at a CanCham luncheon in HCMC on Tuesday pinpointed emerging opportunities for companies operating in Viet Nam to consider and cash in on in the current time of so many challenges.

Tom Tobin, chief executive officer of HSBC Vietnam, said that 2009 also came with new opportunities in this market despite the impact of the global economic downturn in addition to challenges.

Tobin credited new opportunities to the Government’s policy to focus on supporting growth and on further reduction in the prime rate this year, giving companies a better access to loans.

Tobin was one of the six speakers at the luncheon entitled “The Year Ahead: Executive Summary and Outlook 2009” organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CanCham).

Other speakers were Frederick Burke of Baker & McKenzie, Rick Howarth of Intel Products Vietnam Co. Ltd., Don Lam of VinaCapital Group, Ralf Matthaes of TSN Vietnam, and Marc Townsend of CB Richard Ellis (Vietnam) Co. Ltd.

Burke, managing partner of the law firm Baker & McKenzie, pointed out new opportunities arising from the merger and acquisition market in Vietnam in the challenging time.

CanCham chairman Sami Kteily said in support of Burke that investors had more options to buy shares of and acquire firms in Vietnam at lower prices.

“This is a real opportunity,” Kteily told the Daily after CanCham’s first international business luncheon of the New Year, which drew a strong attendance of 200 locals and expatriates including many senior executives of domestic and foreign-invested companies.

Howarth, who is general manager of Intel Products Viet Nam Co., Ltd., was one of the speakers who looked at the brighter side of tough times. He said that 2009 also presented new opportunities for growth and that the company would continue investing in this market.

Tobin of HSBC Vietnam said Vietnam would emerge quicker than other many countries in the current time of challenges given the positive happenings in this country including falling inflation and less pressure on commodity prices.

He said the foreign direct investment commitment (of more than US$64 billion in 2008) reflected confidence of the business community in the business environment that continues improving in Vietnam.

“Fundamentals remain strong and the long-term growth story is still intact,” Tobin said. He said Vietnam would be back to the momentum of high growth in 2010 though the country’s economic growth was projected to slow this year because of synchronized recession in developed markets.

Howarth of Intel said the company continued to pool investment in Vietnam to ensure that it would take advantage of opportunities when the country’s economy was back on track.

However, Burke of Baker & McKenzie raised the concern that job losses as a result of factory closure, increasing costs and corruption could place impact on the long-term growth of Vietnam.

To deal with the challenges, Kteily of CanCham called for companies, especially domestic firms to turn their spotlight onto the underdeveloped and developing markets that are less affected by the global financial crisis.

Kteily named such markets as Africa and those in the ASEAN region. He also urged companies not to forget the local market, where there are more than 85 million people.

On the same side, Tobin said companies should try to trim costs, build efficiencies and expand markets, particularly domestic and regional markets so as to ride out tough times. (SGT)