MSc · Jacinda Vo, Class of 2020

IGL - Vietnam 2019

Sep 10, 2019

I can remember the first information session we had for the Ivey Global Lab, during which locations were revealed and we all began to see a glimpse of what our summers would turn out to be. Prior to even beginning the program, I had my sights set on Vietnam due to multiple motivators including, never having travelled to Asia before, as well as my own cultural heritage as a first generation Vietnamese Canadian. Before I knew it, I was assigned to VNP Group in Vietnam and was packing my bag for Southeast Asia.

Luckily, I was able to find a small group within the IGL Vietnam cohort that wanted to travel around as much as we could. We then decided to flank the entire trip with a pre- and post-trip. Before finally touching down In Vietnam, we flew from Toronto to San Francisco, where we had to deploy an elaborate “Home Alone” airport scene and dash to our gate to make it in time for our connection to Singapore.

The best way for me to describe our 48-hour whirl of a trip in Singapore was that it was the most gentle warm-up to what the rest of Southeast Asia would turn out to be. The streets were immaculate, the locals spoke English with that sweet Singlish accent, and the sights were everything that Crazy Rich Asianshad prepared us for. Aside from the scorching heat of an impending Asian summer, the culture was not as shocking and the familiarity brought forth by the medley of cultures in the country was comforting. Though not quite to the extent of Canada’s multi-culturalism, there was still a melting pot of cultures that was dominant in Singapore, all of which had established their own homes within the small island. Chinatown and Little India were boasting their traditional cuisines and the most unique experience was being able to visit famous Hawker food centres and taste first-hand, the dishes that have evolved to become medleys of all the cultural groups in Singapore.

Arriving in Vietnam, we started in Ho Chi Minh City before flying off to our final destination in Hanoi. Though only two hours apart by plane, the two cities had drastic differences. Being from the south, Ho Chi Minh City was familiar in so many ways. Despite having been born and raised in Canada, the language, the food, and the mannerisms were so familiar that it felt as though it wasn’t actually my first time in the country. To make things even more exciting, my aunt and uncle greeted our group at the airport when we landed. I had only ever met my aunt once before this trip but it was as if I grew up with her as she showed me around the city. Being connected on the single fact that we were both ecstatic to be with one another, in the home town in which my family had created so many fond memories. This became the tone that I set for the rest of the trip. From meeting my aunt at the airport to meeting other relatives for the first time, and visiting my dad’s childhood home, I knew with every part of me that this would be a truly special experience.

For anyone who’s Vietnamese, there are actually pretty distinct differences between the north and the south. Some examples at the top of my mind were the language and the food. Though the Vietnamese vocabulary is the same (for the most part) throughout the country, accents vary greatly. To make it easier to understand, I would typically describe it as the difference between the English I grew up with in Canada and the English in the Scottish Highlands. Same same but different. I would love to say that the same same trumped the different but it was usually the other way around. I was caught off guard by how challenging it was to understand the locals in Hanoi and consequently, for them to understand me. Speaking the same foundational language but still struggling to communicate was perhaps one of the most frustrating yet humbling experiences of the entire trip. I learned to navigate through vocabulary hurdles and to pick up on differences in intonation and conversational mannerisms. Although I wasn’t necessarily set into the same kind of cultural shock as my peers, this kind of shock was more intricate in a sense, and provided me with yet another opportunity to capitalize on a piece of Vietnamese culture that I can now reflect back on as truly sentimental.

As International Business students in the MSc program, we were assigned companies in our respective countries according to a ranking we provided to our directors. Through that process, I was assigned to a start-up called “VNP Group”. Here, we faced numerous challenges including but not limited to – group dynamics, cultural cues, and project shifts. Throughout the allotted 8 weeks of the project, our tasks went through two major transitions in which we went from a market development assignment to a feasibility assignment. Giving us a chance to actually go onto the streets and interact with restaurant owners and test whether or not our idea of a restaurant management platform would be well-received in the community. Contrary to the restaurant industry in North America, most developing countries approach inventory by going straight to the markets at the beginning of the day and picking out ingredients on the basis of the suppliers that knew restaurant owners the longest, or those who were willing to provide the best prices on that day’s produce. Our recommendation was a restaurant management platform that acted as a type of eBay for ingredients; creating more transparency in the market so that restaurant owners got the best deals, and suppliers would gain more accessibility to their target markets. In the end, we produced a wireframe of the online application and website, tested the market for positive responses, and handed off the final recommendation to the VNP team to implement after our departure. The entire experience came with countless hurdles and continuous improvement. Not to mention under the circumstances of the Vietnamese market which none of us had any prior knowledge of. Despite it all, I left Vietnam knowing that I had gained priceless experiences in broadening my horizons and creating a basis for holistic thinking in all of my future endeavours. That business is more than just setting up shop and using precedent from a different market as a benchmark for success. That it all takes consideration for every aspect including the team, the market, and the implications these draw.

Throughout my time in Vietnam, I made my way from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, and throughout the country with stops along Da Nang and Hoi An and even Ha Long Bay in the north. All experiences that showed that even when we get the chance to experience global business, there are so many complexities that come with even relations in one single country. With the history that runs through Vietnam, it was exciting to see the differences brought forth by locals in every place I travelled to.

My parents immigrated to Canada over three decades ago with the hopes of offering my brother and I the opportunities they could’ve only dreamed of. They escaped Vietnam and came to Canada with little to no English and almost nothing to their names. But much like I have built an expansive library of memories through my trip, they too built a life of memories that evolved from dreams to reality. All of which I am still fortunate to share with them.