2020 Vietnam Business Forum Outcomes and 2021 Outlook
A Business Intelligence Briefing
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“Vietnam Business Forum, which participated by the most distinguished Business Chambers including AmCham, provides an established platform to advocate well-aligned proposals to the highest level of authority to shape the policies conducive to the foreign business enterprises.
As an AmCham member, this helps us to get access and to raise win-win suggestions to VBF which are beneficial to the country and the business community.”
KJ UngFirst Solar Vietnam
“The VBF event provides me with a deep understanding of how the VBF commentaries are well listened to by the Vietnam Government for a better business environment. It motivates me to contribute to the VBF activities as the Legal Advisor of Manufacturing and ESG Committees of AmCham Vietnam.”
Stephen LeLE & TRAN Trial Lawyers
REGISTRATION GUIDELINE
| Virtual and physical attendance are available.
For physical attendees, please register in advance to reserve your seat. For virtual attendees, please register to receive the Zoom link. |
You are invited to join this event to learn from VBF Consortium representatives and Working Group Leaders the key outcomes from the 2020 VBF and the Outlook for 2021.
We know it was difficult for many to attend the December 22 VBF in Hanoi which was scheduled on short notice just before the holidays.
AmCham Vietnam is co-hosting this event with the other Consortium members to inform our collective members, many of whom are based on HCMC, about the role and results of VBF, as well as how to get involved in its Working Groups. We are honored to have so many senior business leaders join us to participate in this event.
We welcome participation of all members of VBF as well as others who are interested in learning more about the VBF’s important role in promoting a favorable business environment in Vietnam.
You can join in person in HCMC at the Caravelle Hotel from 4-7:30PM (including a networking reception) or virtually from 4:30-6PM.
Please register now!
CO-HOSTS
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AGENDA
| 4:00pm – 4:30pm | Registration |
| 4:30pm – 4:32pm | AmCham welcome |
| 4:32pm – 4:50pm | Brief recap on Key Outcomes/Outlook from IFC and Consortium reps (3 min each) |
| 4:50pm – 4:52pm | Welcome/invite Working Group leads to stage |
| 4:52pm – 5:22pm | Brief recap on Key Outcomes/Outlook |
| 5:22pm – 5:55pm | Moderated Q&A session |
| 5:55pm – 6:00pm | Closing Remarks |
| 6:00pm – 7:30pm | Networking |
COST
| Physical attendee: VND 950,000 | Virtual attendee: VND 500,000 |
| Reservations/cancellations must be received by 24 hours before the event, and must made on-line or by email. We are unable to accept reservations/cancellations by telephone. | |
SPEAKERS’ BIO
 Kyle Kelhofer
IFC Country Manager Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR Kyle Kelhofer is International Finance Corporation’s Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR, overseeing IFC’s strategy and business, as well as managing key client relationships in all three countries. Based in Hanoi, Kyle manages IFC’s teams in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh and Vientiane. Kyle joined IFC in 1998 and has worked in various capacities across different regions. Past efforts include: a pilot joint WBG SME finance program in Sub-Saharan Africa, energy-efficiency financing in Eastern Europe, IFC’s first efforts in subnational finance, post-conflict finance in the Middle East, and IFC’s first country impact evaluation studies. In 2000, he served as IFC’s interim Acting Country Manager for Vietnam. In 2007, he moved to Ghana to support the growing IFC efforts in West Africa. In 2011, Kyle moved to Dhaka as the Country Manager for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, spearheading efforts to scale up IFC’s operation there. In 2015, Kyle moved to Vietnam to assume his current position. Before joining IFC, Kyle worked at Ernst & Young’s National High Technology Practice in San Francisco. Kyle was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in international finance from the University of California, Santa Barbara. |
 Hong Sun, Vice Chair, KoCham
From 1995 to Present: PRESIDENT & CEO, HS (HERMES & SUN) GROUP From 1999 to 2002: Political and Regional Affairs Expert, Korea Embassy to Vietnam From 2002 to 2003: Director / Planning & Investment, Zuvix Technology Co., Ltd. From Mar. 2003: Founded HSDC (HS Development & Construction) From Aug. 2003 to Present: Member of BOM, Investor, Yejoobio Co., Ltd. From 2004 to Present: Coordinator, The National Fund for Vietnamese Children From Oct. 2005 to Dec. 2007: President & CEO, Korea Plastics Co., Ltd. From 2007 to Mar. 2017: Secretary General, KORCHAM ( Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam) From Jan. 2011: Founded HS F&B (HS Food & Beverage) From Jan. 2013: Founded HSIC (HS Investment & Consulting) From Mar. 2013 to 2017: Auditor of BOM, Everpia From Jan. 2016: Founded HSIT (HS Information & Technology) From Jun. 2016: Founded HS EDU (HS Education & Human Resources) From Apr. 2017 to Present: Vice Chairman, KORCHAM (Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam) From Jan. 2020 to Present: Co-Chair OF VIETNAM BUSINESS FORUM |
 Virginia Foote, VBF Co-Chair from 2014-2016 & 2019, AmCham Hanoi and AmCham Vietnam National Chair, President and CEO, Bay Global Strategies
Virginia Foote currently serves as a Board member and Chair of AmCham Hanoi, and is active on AmCham Hanoi’s trade, energy, financial, manufacturing, governance, regulatory and other key issues in Vietnam. In 2016, Ms. Foote was awarded the Vietnam President’s Friendship Order Medal for career contribution to the normalization and development of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the US. For more than 30 years, Ms. Foote has played a significant role in US-Vietnam normalization, the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, Vietnam’s accession to the WTO, TPP negotiations, and other bilateral issues affecting American business in Vietnam. She founded Bay Global Strategies LLC in 2011 to provide clients with critical knowledge and strategic planning for doing business in and with Vietnam. Ms. Foote provides clients with top notch on-the-ground strategic advisory services, stakeholder engagement, planning and implementation support, and government relations. Ms. Foote is a well-known expert on Vietnamese politics, economics and the business environment and formed a partnership with the investment firm Indochina Capital in 2012. |
 Tomaso Andreatta, Vice-Chair, EuroCham
Tomaso started his career structuring derivatives in the City of London. After getting an MBA in finance and strategy from UCLA, Tomaso worked for a private equity fund in Milano, realizing several acquisitions. He then Santander and then Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP Bank, EU’s second largest bank by market capitalization), his current employer, as a FI M&A professional, working in Europe, South and North America, Asia. Currently he represents ISP Bank in Indochina, and is Vice Chairman of Eurocham Vietnam as well as Chairman of the Green Growth Sector Committee and Board Member of the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF} and of EU ASEAN Business Council. Tomaso founded Icham, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam in 2008 and was Chairman of VBF in 2018. His recent work, both as a banker and as chamber leader, focuses on Renewable Energy, Circular Economy, Energy Efficiency.” |
 Tetsu Funayama, Japanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (JCCI)Funayama Tetsu is President and General Director of Mitsubishi Corporation (Vietnam) Co., Ltd and a Board Member of JCCI. After graduating from University of Tokyo in 1991, he joined Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and in 1992 he was assigned to Hanoi as its first Vietnamese language trainee studying Vietnamese in University of Hanoi for 2 years and late in 1990s he stayed in Vietnam as new business development manager of MC. During his career in MC Headquarter since 2000, he has been in charge of new business development in such markets as Columbia, Myanmar, Turkey and so on. After being assigned as country representative of MC in Vietnam in 2016, he actively engages in a wide range of businesses such as power generation business, automobile manufacturing / sales, real estate development, retail (including UNIQLO Vietnam) and so on. |
 Seck Yee Chung, Investment & Trade
Seck Yee Chung leads the Firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions, IT/C and Healthcare practices in Vietnam. He is highly regarded in his field – Chambers and Asia Pacific Legal 500 rank him as a leading lawyer in the field of Corporate/M&A and TMT. Chung has worked in Vietnam since 1999 and has been involved in significant cross-border transactions. He delivers sound and pragmatic advice on regulatory and transactional matters, particularly on foreign investment, market access, private and public M&A, securities, competition and anti-corruption, commercial activities, and data use, over a diverse range of sectors, from digital economy, healthcare, and consumer products, to food & beverage, manufacturing, property, and aviation. He is a member of the Law Society of Singapore and serves as Vice President of the Singapore Business Group, Ho Chi Minh City. |
Dominic Scriven, Capital Markets Dominic graduated from Exeter University in 1985 with a degree in Law and Sociology. Shortly thereafter, he went to Hong Kong, where he worked in fund management and broking with M&G, Sun Hung Kai, Citicorp and Peregrine. In 1991 he moved to Hanoi and studied Vietnamese for two years before co-founding Dragon Capital in 1994. Dominic was awarded an OBE in 2006 for his contribution to relations between the UK and Vietnam. For his work in developing the country’s capital markets, the HCMC People’s Committee gave him a Recognition Award in 2008, and the President of Vietnam bestowed a Labor Order, Third Class on him in 2014. His interests and passions range from Vietnamese art – to biodiversity and eliminating the illegal trade in wildlife. |
Ken Atkinson, Tourism Ken Atkinson is Founder and Senior Board Adviser at Grant Thornton Vietnam, one of the world’s top multinational companies that provide independent assurance, tax, and advisory services. He is also a member of the board of British Business Group Vietnam (BBGV), an accredited British Chamber of Commerce operating in Vietnam. Prior to Grant Thornton, Ken worked in banking and financial services across Finland, Hong Kong and England. |
 John Rockhold, Power & Energy
John Rockhold is CEO and Vice Chairman of Chan May LNG JSC, a Corporate Partner of AmCham. John is considered one of Vietnam’s top energy experts, is a member of the AmCham Hanoi Board of Governors, and serves as Chair of the Vietnam Business Forum Power and Energy Working Group. |
 Tony Foster, Infrastructure
Tony established Freshfields Vietnam offices in 1994 and has lived and practised in Vietnam ever since, giving him an unparalleled experience and knowledge of business there. Tony is responsible for the work of the firm’s Vietnamese and foreign lawyers whose legal and practical knowledge – combined with international quality standards – produces one of the best legal teams in the country. Tony was the first foreign lawyer to be awarded a medal by the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice, has been recognised for many years by numerous legal surveys as being at the top of the profession in Vietnam, and – in the most recent survey – is in his own separate “star” ratings category by Chambers. Tony has 33 years of experience (including 26 years of experience with Freshfields in Vietnam). During more than two decades in Vietnam, Tony has been actively involved in countless major infrastructure projects. He is the chairman of the infrastructure committee of the national Vietnam Business Forum which meets twice a year with senior Government authorities to discuss issues. Tony advises both developers and lenders on many large-scale infrastructure projects in Vietnam, including numerous major power projects. |
 Colin Blackwell, Human Resources
Colin is Chairman of the Human Resources Group of the World Bank’s Vietnam Business Forum, representing chambers of commerce to the government on policy advocacy. His social enterprise creates artificial intelligence machine learning careers for people with disabilities and is a global impact portfolio member of the World Bank’s solutions for youth employment consortium. Previously Colin has worked for PwC and for multinational corporates in global HR leadership roles at the head office level. He is judging many global business competitions including the United Nations Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge, the United Nations Hult Prize and the Vietnam HR Awards |
 Brian O’Reilly, Education & Training
Mr Brian O’Reilly is the MBA Program Coordinator at the Vietnamese-German University (VGU). He is a Director and former President of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham) and has served on the AusCham Board for over 12 years. Brian is also the Chair of the Education and Training Working Group of the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF), the Vice-Chair, Advocacy for the Education and Training Committee, and the Southeastern Vietnam Delegate for Community Building for the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham). Brian has been working in Vietnam for over 19 years in higher education, management consulting, and corporate training. He has extensive experience in higher education and launched Vietnam’s first 100% foreign MBA program in Vietnam in 2003. |
 Mark Gillin, Tax and Customs
Mark Gillin has been identifying, developing and investing in business opportunities in Indochina since 1993. He is a founder, Chairman, and Managing Director of America Indochina Management Ltd. (AIM) a diversified Holding Company with operations throughout Vietnam and Cambodia. Since its founding in 1996, AIM has established market leadership in a variety of product categories covering a diverse range of industries including Construction Materials, Specialty Furniture, Consumer Products and Industrial Consumables. He is also a founder and Chairman of AIM Capital Management Ltd, an investment management company that provides expansion capital and strategic and operational support to small and medium sized companies throughout Indochina. AIM Capital Management has invested in Healthcare, Media, Technology, Furniture, Hospitality, and Consumer Products. Mark has successfully managed businesses in a number of different markets at various stages of development (Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, Vietnam, Cambodia). Prior to coming to Vietnam in 1993, he spent five years with Getz Bros., the oldest and largest US non-commodities trading company, where he worked closely on marketing and distribution issues with leading MNCs including Nestlé, Mobile Chemical, Kimberly-Clark, Abbott Labs, Colgate-Palmolive, Heineken and others. He has served as non-executive board member of Navigos, AA Corporation, Japan Vietnam Medical Corporation and Indochina Assets Limited. During his previous six years service as a member of Board of Governors, 2010-2015, he was Chairman in 2013 and Vice Chairman in 2012 and 2014. |
 Bill Howell, Mining
Bill Howell is an economic geologist with more than 50 years’ experience in all aspects of exploration management and mine feasibility studies with major international and junior corporations around the world. As former Head of Overseas Exploration for BHP (now BHP-Billiton) and Managing Director of Normandy and Newmont Mining exploration activities in South East Asia, he has led teams through the stages of discovery to feasibility of several major copper-gold deposits in developing countries. Bill has been involved in evaluating Vietnam’s mineral potential since 1992. He is Head of the Mining Working Group of the Vietnam Business Forum, and has represented Vietnam at annual meetings of the APEC Mining Task Force. He has been co-founder and/or Chairman of Australian ASX-listed, Toronto TSX-listed and London AIM-listed junior companies, including as director and then non-executive Chairman of TSX-listed Asian Mineral Resources Ltd until 2012, which developed the Ban Phuc nickel sulphide mine in Son La Province, Vietnam. Bill is currently the sole director and owner of Triple Plate Junction Limited which is exploring a potentially major copper-gold project in Lai Chau Province, Vietnam. He is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM) and a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists (FSEG). |
 Fred Burke, AmCham 2020 VBF Rep
Fred has been active in AmCham in Vietnam since it was first established in 1994. He served as a member of the Board of Governors from 1995 – 2003 and was Chairman in 1997. After a hiatus of four years, he was re-elected to the Board in December 2007. Before coming to Vietnam in 1991, he served as the Secretary and Member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, China.Fred Burke is a Senior Partner of Baker McKenzie, based in Vietnam. He has more than 30 years’ experience practicing in the areas of International Trade, Taxation & Customs, Real Estate, Hotels & Resorts, Renewable Energy, Project Finance and Dispute Resolution. Fred currently serves as a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Administrative Reform in Vietnam. He served as the Investment & Trade Working Group Chair for the Vietnam Business Forum for over a decade and joined the VBF Member’s Council in 2020. He has extensive experience working with Vietnam legislators and law drafting committees on the full range of new laws and decrees integrating Vietnam into the global economy. |
Mary Tarnowka Executive Director AmCham Vietnam Mary Tarnowka serves as the Executive Director of AmCham Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Prior to her time with AmCham Vietnam, Mary worked extensively to help U.S. businesses thrive in Asia. As U.S. Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City from August 2016 to July 2019, she oversaw a period of tremendous growth in the U.S. comprehensive partnership, including two unprecedented visits by a U.S. president to Vietnam in 18 months. Mary actively promoted mutual peace, prosperity, and people-to-people ties in central and southern Vietnam. She particularly focused on strengthening the bilateral trade and investment partnership in the dynamic southern region. Mary was a member of the senior Foreign Service, with decades of experience in Asia, including postings in Seoul, Delhi, Shanghai, and Taipei, as well as at the State Department’s China Desk and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Prior to joining the State Department, Mary worked as a Certified Public Accountant and Manager at KPMG’s International and High Tech Tax Division in San Francisco. |