Posted Feb 09, 2019
From November 18th to 29th GIFT will conduct our flagship Global Leaders Programme in Hong Kong and Hanoi, Vietnam.
GIFT's best-in-class learning methodology leverages a real-world experiential project to test and train participants' leadership, teamwork and conceptual thinking skills. During the experiential component, participants will work with our project partner: REACH, a prominent and fast growing firm that provides upskilling and employment opportunities for Vietnam’s young under-skilled workforce.
GIFT last visited Vietnam in 2017, when we partnered with iCare Benefits: a social enterprise offering durable consumer goods, such as washing machines, televisions and smartphones, to factory workers. An innovative employee benefits programme, GIFT proposed an expansion to their product line focused on affordable healthcare products, including an insurance package serving the female migrant worker population. See the executive summary below for information on the proposal produced by our cohort.
GIFT worked with iCare to propose an expansion to their product line: affordable healthcare products, including an insurance package, specifically targeted at the country’s female migrant worker population. See the executive summary for information on what our participants produced.
Even in 2017, Vietnam was already being considered as a target for foreign investment. Tightening labour markets in China and increased wages were pushing global manufacturers to look for cheaper alternatives. Vietnam was highlighted as an appealing possibility: the country has a large population, stable government, and an existing base to manufacture higher-end products, like electronics and consumer goods.
This shift has been accelerated by the trade tensions between the United States and China. With little chance in the short-term that tariffs on Chinese-manufactured products will be removed, manufacturers are looking to Vietnam as an alternative. FDI in Vietnam increased by 9.1% in 2018, specifically in garment production from China. China has jumped from the 7th to the 3rd largest source of FDI in Vietnam over the past two years. Large consumer manufacturers like Apple, Foxconn, Samsung and Nintendo have shifted production to Vietnam to avoid tariffs.
For the moment, Vietnam has successfully positioned itself between China and the United States in order to benefit from both countries. Vietnam has deepened both its economic and security ties with the United States (its former enemy), even allowing American naval ships to make port in Vietnam. However, Vietnam has also taken a softer line against China’s claims in the South China Sea than some of its Southeast Asian counterparts (though the dispute has re-emerged in recent months).
Vietnam is thus a country that presents exciting opportunities. Vietnam’s economic model continues to be successful, even as the world moves to a more resource-constrained era. According to a study from the University of Leeds, Vietnam remains the only country that comes close to achieving its environmental and economic goals at the same time.
Despite this opportunity raised by the trade war, Vietnam is still much smaller and less developed than its northern neighbour, and thus will not be able to catch up overnight. For example, land is relatively more expensive in Vietnam than in China, so it can be difficult to build new factories to accommodate increased demand. Murky land ownership can also increase the cost of expansion.
In addition, Vietnam does not have the integrated manufacturing value chain that China does. While China can produce many components for electronic and high-end goods internally, Vietnam cannot. Even when Vietnam produces high-end components, they may still need to be shipped to China for final assembly.
However, one more immediate limitation is a lack of skilled labour. Higher-end manufacturing requires people with technical skills and experience working with more complex machinery. Even though Vietnam has a young population (with over 70% of Vietnamese under 50 years of age), 40% of FDI companies in Vietnam have reported difficulties in finding enough skilled labour.
The Vietnamese government is investing heavily in education and is taking steps to expand its vocational education and training programmes. Our programme will see participants help REACH capture the opportunities in Vietnam's skills gap and build much-needed capacity among its young workforce.
Vietnam presents promising opportunities for all companies seeking to grow in the region. Thus, up-and-coming business talents will benefit from experience in this fast-growing and well-placed economy. By working on this original experiential field project, participants will also get the chance to train their leadership skills, improve their effectiveness within teams, and test their conceptual thinking skills. We will be sharing more about the programme and project in the weeks to come, so stay tuned for more!
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Valerie is Programme Associate at GIFT. Prior to joining GIFT, she spent several years in the Legal Industry, with a particular focus on corporate law, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Global Leadership and Development at the University of Hong Kong. She received her law degree from University College London and is a member of the New York Bar. She is fluent in Mandarin, English and Cantonese.
Vinobha Anthony Doss is a Programme Associate at GIFT ASEAN. Prior to joining GIFT he was in the practice of civil litigation and dispute resolution. He has been involved in various public policy shaping cases lodged in the Malaysian courts. His creative approach coupled with the depth in legal knowledge has resulted in effective legal reasoning and client management. Vino graduated from the University of London and was called to the Malaysian Bar in 2017. He speaks fluent English, Malay, basic Cantonese and basic French.
Viji is the Operations Manager at GIFT Asean. She oversees the operational management of the KL office.
Prior to joining GIFT, Viji worked in various organisations and has spent the last 15 years on NGO work mainly focusing on performance arts and cancer respectively. Viji holds a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the Dublin Business School. She speaks English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Malayalam.
Brenda oversees the programme design and implementation, as well as content development at GIFT. Prior to GIFT, Brenda was a Senior Economist at the Central Bank of Malaysia for almost 8 years, leading macroeconomic assessments and growth projections for monetary policy deliberation. Passionate about public policy, she also sought to diversify her research interests and expertise over the years – ranging from trade competitiveness and investment incentives to social protection. When COVID-19 hit, Brenda had a hand in crafting various stimulus measures to support the vulnerable groups in Malaysia.
She holds a degree in BSc. in Economics with honours from the University of Warwick, UK. She has also attended various professional courses by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of Korea at Washington D.C., Singapore and South Korea. She is fluent in Malay, speaks several Chinese dialects and knows basic Korean.
Venus is Programme Associate at GIFT. Prior to joining GIFT, she worked at the United Nations, USL Technology and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has experience in climate change and sustainability planning, stakeholder engagement and community outreach. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Studies, with an additional concentration in Inequality Studies. She is fluent in English and Hindi, proficient in Spanish, and conversant in Cantonese.
Karim joined GIFT in 2010 as Business Development Manager. Over the next decade he served as Head of Programmes in Hong Kong, and as Managing Director of GIFT ASEAN in Malaysia where he led the transformation of a small rep office into a fully-fledged regional business.
During this period Karim designed and facilitated dozens of public and custom development programmes for thousands of professionals from Fortune 500s, regional MNCs, Government Agencies and NGOs. Karim’s articles on insights gathered through his work in the classroom and in the field have appeared in a range of publications.
In 2021 Karim left his executive role at GIFT to pursue graduate studies in mindfulness – a practise he is deeply passionate about. He continues to contribute to programme design and facilitation, and is an advisor to GIFT’s new EdTech company GIFT.ed
Karim has lived in Asia for over 20 years. Prior to GIFT, he was a partner in a successful Shanghai-based food and beverage company which today operates almost 50 restaurants across a dozen major Chinese cities. Karim has an MBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China, and is pursuing a Masters in Teaching Mindfulness Based Courses at Bangor University in the UK.
In addition to leading GIFT’s dynamic team and business, since 2008, Eric has facilitated more than 50 experiential leadership programmes in fifteen countries. He is well versed in introducing new ideas on governance, business and sustainability and coaching participants to think critically about their role as leaders. Before joining GIFT, Eric spent several years managing multi-stakeholder partnerships between global brands and civil society groups in the United States and China. He writes and speaks regularly on topics related to leadership development and the changing role of business in society. Eric is an alumnus of Standford University and holds a Masters from Hong Kong University.
For more than three decades, Chandran has advised governments and MNCs on strategic management, leadership issues and sustainability, and is often invited to facilitate for top corporate education providers including Duke CE, INSEAD and NUS. He was previously Chairman of ERM in Asia Pacific, helping establish it as the world’s leading environmental consultancy. Chandran is on the Executive Committee of the Club of Rome and is a member of WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Governance for Sustainability and Experts Forum, where his thought leadership is sought for its fresh insights and intellectual honesty. He is the author of the best-seller – Consumptionomics: Asia’s Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet, and The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy and Society.