VNRE – Vingroup officially joined the World Economic Forum (WEF) and became a member of the Global Growth Companies (GGC). This giant step is an assertion of the passionately pioneering position and competency of a leading real estate company in Vietnam. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Le Khac Hiep, Vice President of Vietnam Investment Group JSC (Vingroup), on the group’s operations and development orientations. Thanh Binh reports.
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| Mr Le Khac Hiep – General Director of VinGroup |
Could you briefly introduce Vingroup, after 19 years of development?
Vingroup, which was initially called Technocom, was set up on August 8, 1993 in Kharkov City, Ukraine. The founders were very young, active and enthusiastic Vietnamese students. With in-depth market surveys, research and knowledge, the company installed the two first production lines and employed 35 workers in 1995 to produce Mivina-branded noodles. After three years, from 1995 to 1998, the company’s production output reached 1 million packages. The company was branded a trailblazer of the Ukrainian fast food market.
Despite fierce competition from Ukrainian and international corporations, Mivina brand noodles held 98 percent of the instant noodle market, over 95 percent of the instant potato market and over 50 percent of the spice market in Ukraine in 2009. The company also exported its products to 30 countries in the world, raking in nearly US$150 million a year on average revenue. The Group’s assets in Ukraine are estimated at hundreds of millions of US dollars, its name is known to more than 95 percent of population, and its products are consumed by more than 75 percent of population.
With its tremendous success and huge contributions to the Vietnamese community in Kharkov in particular and in Ukraine in general, Vingroup has been honoured with more than 200 national, international medals and awards, including Nikolai Medal, Choice of the Year Award, Excellent Quality Award, European Quality Award, etc.
After making great success in Ukraine, with living hearts that beat in rhythm with the homeland, Vingroup leadership decided to invest in big projects in Vietnam since 2000, with two first brand names – property company, Vincom, and tourism company, Vinpearl. Vincom-trademarked construction projects like Vincom Center Hanoi and Vincom Center Ho Chi Minh City or big projects undertaken by Vincom like Royal City, Times City and specially Vincom Village always catch the interest of domestic and foreign investors and have strong impacts on the Vietnamese real estate market. Together with that, Vinpearl Joint Stock Company has become a leading name in the hotel and tourism industry with the Vinpearl Nha Trang amusement complex, Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang, Vinpearl Land, Vinpearl Luxury Nha Trang hotels and island Vinpearl Golf Club course. The Vinpearl hotel system has been expanded to other places of interest like Vinpearl Luxury Da Nang, Vinpearl Resort Hoi An, and Vinpearl Luxury Saigon.
With strong and sustainable development, listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Vincom Joint Stock Company (VIC) and Vinpearl Joint Stock Company (VPL) are always among the Top 10 stocks in market capitalisation. At present, Vincom has a charter capital of over VND3,900 billion and a market capitalisation value of VND35,000 billion, and Vinpearl has a charter capital of VND2,000 billion and a market capitalisation value of VND16,000 billion. After the two merge, Vingroup will one of the largest listed real estate companies in Vietnam.
What makes Vingroup a successful brand?
The success of Vingroup is accrued from many factors. The first and most important is to know how to seize opportunity and realise it. In Ukraine, when Vingroup was established, this country was experiencing a very tough time as a result of a transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Inflation galloped, factories closed, and unemployment escalated. This transitional period offers a plenty of opportunities for future growth and the group’s founders successfully grasped them. When the Group began its investment in Vietnam in 2000, the Vietnamese economy had been shaken by the Asian financial crisis and started recovery. At that time, the real estate market was still an “open door” and the opportunity once again knocked for Vingroup.
But, I must note that, to make investment and business plans successful and have our current development, we must have the categorical dedication of the entire group.
The final factor to our success that we cannot forget is the support and cooperation of central and local authorities in Ukraine and Vietnam. To obtain this support, since its incorporation, Vingroup has defined that it will become a healthily developing enterprise and contribute to social development activities, as well as promote corporate social responsibility.
Recently, Vingroup was officially admitted to WEF and GGC. How does this mean to Vingroup in particular and Vietnamese brands in general?
On July 1, 2011, Vingroup officially joined the World Economic Forum (WEF) and became a member of Global Growth Companies (GGC).
For Vingroup, becoming one of 300 leading international corporations in the prestigious WEF community is a giant step that asserts its passionately pioneering position and competency as a leading real estate company in Vietnam. This may be called a certification for Vingroup’s position on the international arena and a passport for Vingroup to reach the open sea.
Without doubt, WEF is the most prestigious global economic forum that brings together leaders of developed economies, corporations and top-notch scholars all over the world. Becoming a part of WEF, Vingroup is entitled to join and address regional and global issues. More specifically, we have the opportunity to access sources of information on volatility forecasts or economic, social and political development in each country and the region to define development demand opportunities and cooperate with big international partners in pursuit of mutual cooperation and development.
Playing on the ‘global arena’ means facing more challenges. Does Vingroup have the appropriate tactics to assert its position on the international arena? Would you be kind enough to share the central objectives of Vingroup’s development strategy for the coming time?
That’s right. Playing on the global arena requires us to have innovative policies and strategies. Thus, Vingroup is merging Vinpearl Joint Stock Company in to Vincom Joint Stock Company. The amalgamation of two leading brands, Vincom with the real estate business and Vinpearl with tourism, resort and entertainment services, will surely create a new resilience for the market and continue substantiating and enhancing the global profile of Vingroup.
Vingroup will become a property and tourism group with a charter capital of nearly VND5,500 billion and the largest market capitalisation in the Vietnamese stock market.
Presently, Vingroup is developing four strategic brand groups: Vincom (real estate), Vinpearl (tourism and entertainment), Vincharm (beauty and health care) and Vinmec (high-grade medical services). In addition, internationalising service quality is also an important objective Vingroup is pursuing in order to provide perfect products and services to compete with international groups.
Source: VCCI News
VNRE – Since its beginnings in 1985 as a textile firm in the province of Thai Binh, Bitexco has become a successful multi-industry corporation. It covers real estate investment and development, hydro-power plants, infrastructure, mining and mineral water production. The Bitexco Group has over 1.100 employees with offices in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Thai Binh.
Bitexco has always strived for growth and prosperity. Its reputation in Vietnam is based on its sustainable development and global perspective. The key to its success is the vision of its leaders, combined with the reliability of its business partners and the loyalty of its patrons. Bitexco’s goal is to become the top corporation in Vietnam, an internationally competitive enterprise that exceeds the expectations of its customers with its care for quality and state-of-the-art products and services.
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