Australian alumni strengthen business connections in Vietnam and beyond

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Australian alumni strengthen business connections in Vietnam and beyond

The first virtual Australian Alumni Business Expo 2021 successfully connected senior and middle-level executives, junior professionals, and students from 16 countries and 42 provinces in Vietnam to meet, network, do business and learn from each other.

Organised by RMIT University Vietnam, in association with the Australian Embassy, the Australian Alumni in Vietnam and the Vietnam Festival of Creativity and Design (VFCD), the two-day event saw visitors from more than 600 domestic and international companies in many different sectors including Retail Trade, Financial & Insurance Services, Manufacturing, Professional, Scientific & Technical Services, Information Media & Telecommunications, and many other industries.

With the theme Fuel up Vietnam’s creativity & innovation, the exhibition introduced the latest adaptive innovations and creative ideas applied in products, services and operations from 40 businesses founded or led by Australian alumni.

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The virtual Australian Alumni Business Expo had a wide range of activities to help visitors network, do business and learn from each other.

RMIT Vietnam Chairman Professor Peter Coloe said that RMT is honoured to be able to support the Australian alumni and witness the impact that they create in Vietnam.

“RMIT feels honoured to be able to support the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting alumni to apply the knowledge and skills gained from Australian higher education institutions to their workplace, community and Vietnam’s socio-economic development. And this Expo is a demonstration of such commitment,” Professor Peter Coloe said.

“As this is an online event, we are happy that it is accessible to the general public in Vietnam and beyond, so more people can participate and witness the impact that the Australian alumni together create in Vietnam,” he said.

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Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said that this event showcased several important features of the relationship between Australia and Vietnam.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said that this event showcased several important features of the relationship between Australia and Vietnam.

“The first, and arguably the most important element is our people-to-people links. Nowhere is this more well demonstrated than in our alumni networks,” Ms Mudie said.

“There are around 70,000 Australian educated alumni in Vietnam, representing a wealth of knowledge, expertise and influence,” she added. “Alumni can use the skills they have gained through their Australian education, such as employability and entrepreneurial skills, to give back to Vietnam’s economic and social growth.”

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The exhibition introduced the latest adaptive innovations and creative ideas applied in products, services and operations from 40 businesses founded or led by Australian alumni.

As part of the event, the virtual business networking led to new ways of social interaction for both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) models on the same common platform.

Mr. Andrew Currie, Founder of OUT-2 Design Group, one of the exhibitors, said that the networking activities have expanded the opportunities for the company to build its future collaborations.

“Through the Networking Lounge, our company connected with local business partners, investors, industry experts, new customers, across the professional network,” he added. “We discovered many new business opportunities and have a lot of new contacts to follow up after the event.”

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A series of bilingual panel discussions brought 14 high-profile business leaders from Vietnam and overseas to discuss investment outlook in 2022, promote digital transformation and growth, and drive innovations in the retail industry.

The mentoring workshops allowed experienced industry leaders to share and provide their advice to unleash individual professional growth, especially for progressing youngsters’ personal skills and career development.

Within the framework of the expo, a series of bilingual panel discussions brought together 14 high-profile business leaders from Vietnam and overseas to discuss investment outlook in 2022, promote digital transformation and growth, and drive innovations in the retail industry.

According to the experts at the Investment Outlook in 2022 panel discussion, the Vietnamese market has become attractive to not only foreign but also many Vietnamese investors based on positive investment statistics.

"According to the latest report by Google, Bain and Temasek on six digital economies in Southeast Asia, Vietnam comprises 12-13% of the regional digital economy. This figure is also consistent with Vietnam's share in most regional funds' investment allocation," Patamar Capital's Principal and panelist An Do added. "In the case of Patamar, we have dedicated 20-25% of our available capital to Vietnam, which reflects the country's potential in our long-term investment strategy."

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The following panel discussion on the retail industry showed that this area has been considered as one of the sectors being hardest hit by COVID-19 and many Vietnamese businesses are finding a way to recover growth after the pandemic.

Mr Nguyen Hoanh Tien, Chief Executive Officer of Seedcom, a retail management company owning popular Vietnamese brand names including Coffee House shared the challenges and how to cope with the new situation during the pandemic.

“Our company has quickly launched new products including canned coffee that were suitable for market demands as people were still working from home,” Mr Tien said.

“We have also focused on diversifying online sales channels to reach a wide range of customers,” he added. “This online shopping trend will continue in the future, alongside with physical retail stores.”

The virtual exhibition will be available at https://alumniexpo.com/ until 20 December, so visitors can log-in anytime to visit the exhibitors’ booths, re-listen the panel discussions and keynote addresses.

Story: Thuy Le

08 December 2021

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