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.