Crossing the Street: How to make a success of investing in Vietnam

by Andy Ho

Vietnam is the last significant opportunity for investors in Southeast Asia. But, as with any frontier market, that doesn’t mean it’s simple. Investing in this fast-growing and exciting country can be rather like the infamous experience of attempting to cross its busy streets. To get to the other side in one piece takes nerves and experience.Crossing the Street by Andy Ho is the answer. This is a candid, actionable guide to investing in Vietnam, written by an investor with almost two decades of experience in navigating the challenges involved – and seeing people safely across to the rewards.Today, Vietnam ranks among the fastest growing countries in the world. Much like China two decades before it, the country is experiencing rapid development. It has an increasingly affluent population of nearly 100 million. It is quickly transforming into a key manufacturing hub in Asia. And it is one of the few countries in the world whose economy has continued to grow despite the global pandemic.Investors from around the globe have taken note of the opportunities that abound in Vietnam’s ‘market-oriented socialist’ economy. Thanks to Crossing the Street they can take advantage of them – without getting run over.

Genres: Business

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 22, 2021

Reviews

[Trang Trangg]

Ruthless, capitalism at its best. At one point they talk about mitigating the environmental impact of hospitals waste and the next chapter they change the packaging bottles from glass to plastic to increase profits... What a twist of turn, isn't it?

This book, in my opinion, might serve well the marketing purpose intended by the fund and might attract potential foreign investors looking to pour capitals into SEA region. While I'm not in the financial sector (I'm an educator whose dream job is working in finance so I'd like to educate myself in this matter), I can possibly tell that the company is mostly for short-term investment so beware of the stakes of companies they want to sell. Nothing good gets passed on I guess. The part where the bank withholding the escrow definitely raises some eyebrows lol such a petty dirty move. It's also understandable that the goal of a company is to generate profits so their ruthless tactics and approach may deem acceptable and professional; however, I hope that investment funds could pay more attention to the welfare of employees and the impact and value the companies are bringing to the public. Take the private education sector for example, lots of capitals are being poured into this sectors yet the welfare packages offered are below par and reading this book really confirms my assumption that such condition is decided by the C-suite. While the decision to maximize profit by minimizing employees' payroll might be profitable in the short run, looking far ahead, it will definitely damage some intangible assets like schools' reputation and teacher retentions (which will eat up the HR resources since resources put into hiring and training new teachers will always outweigh one put into training the current staffs).

On the bright side, the book does provide a quite candid overview of the Vietnamese market in general so definitely worth a read.

[Lan-Anh (Vivian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuốn sách dễ đọc, dễ hiểu và thực tế. Tuy không khai sáng nhiều về mặt nhận thức nhưng mình vẫn đánh high rating vì có biết thêm được 1 số ý nhỏ từ góc nhìn của người trong ngành.
- Sơ lược về TTCK VN: Ta thường gọi tên TTCK VN nhưng thật ra có 3 sàn cùng góp phần tạo nên VN Index: HOSE (cấu thành VN Index), Hanoi Stock Exchange và the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM - thuộc Hanoi Stock Exchange)
- REE và SACOM là 2 mã CK lâu đời (1st in 2008)
- Thường không nên đầu tư vào conglomerate (tập đoàn quá đa ngành)
- "Inflation skyrocketed in 2008, peaking at an all-time high of 28% in August that year. At year’s end, the 2008 inflation rate was an incredible 23.12%."
- In VN, exports have grown at an average rate of 17% from 2010–2020. However, many of those exports are being produced by FDI companies (Samsung, LG, Intel). Secondly, much of what is being exported is being produced under contract. - meaning manufacturers are competing with companies domestically in the SEA (Thai & Indo) and esp. China. "This is a race to the bottom – the company that can produce the product at the lowest cost will win."
- "The key elements of export businesses are (1) Labour, (2) Input, (3) Scale. VN only has (1), which is unstable.
- Reinforcement: never do business with friends, family or enemies.
- VN has many female CEOs leading top companies: Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh (REE), Mai Kieu Lien (Vinamilk), Dang Thi Thu Ha (DHG Pharmaceutical), Cao Thi Ngoc Dung (PNJ), Nguyen Thanh Ha works alongside president Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (Vietjet, also vice chairwoman of HDBank), Nguyen Thu Cuc (Thu Cuc Itnl Hospital HN)...
- “Trust, but verify” (Russian quote)
- Quỹ đầu tư của Prudential Vietnam now called Eastspring Investments

[Pham Chau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read book and it is appealing enough to glue your eyes on pages. I like the way he titled the book "Crossing the street" and he explained its metaphor in an interesting way.

Some thoughts/take-aways after I read this book:
- Investors will "examine" a deal/company very thoroughly. Which makes me think those people are VERY rational. But the thing is, no matter how rationale you are, there are always blind spots. Yeah well, their goal is not to be 100% correct right, so it is essential to have a thorough look.
- This is a book for a marketing purpose also (for his investment fund). And it's not wrong at all, he has many stories to tell. And they are good ones too.
- I like it when he appreciates people in the credit

4/5. A good one!

[Pterotaktyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it is good and one learns some interesting information.
The small critique points would be: 1. This book could really be an article. Several rules from the book are obvious and they seem to be more of a filler to get this text to a book length.
2. It is a bit self-promotional. Even if the author describes a mistake in investment, it seems that he never lost money. Needless to say, the stories just scratch the surface of what really happened.
Other than that, it is a quick read and it would be interesting to have a discussion with the author to dig much deeper into the details.

[Matias Singers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there had been more concrete case studies and anecdotes from Andy Ho's time in Vietnam. It's clear, and even teased a few times, that he has experienced some genuinely wild things investing in Vietnam - but besides a few case studies, it's pretty weak on specifics.

At the end of the day, it's a bit of a "sales" book for VinaCapital and their internal principles for investing.

This review reflects that I probably picked up this book with the wrong assumptions and expectations.

[Minh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare generosity

Documentation appears to be the dot of every i for VN transactions. Likewise to sharing and communicating. Fortunately, Andy fills the first i and encourage heartfully the others to follow suit.

[Harry Verity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for anyone considering setting up a business or investing in Vietnam. A bible for me as I’ve just set up a business here. Lots of case studies and important info about pitfalls to avoid - some specific to Vietnam, others that can be applied to doing business anywhere.

[Thitided Srimarayat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book to eye starting on Vietnam

Good book to start opening eye on Vietnam. Actually I am in Thailand but I still get many points from this book.

[Nguyen TuanAnh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good contents for those who are new to investing in Vietnam. Even for local, this can be handy and helpful to be self prepared before entering the PE world in VN

[Hannah Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crossing the Street, yet another one of my dad's recommendations, provides the basics and essentials of investing. There are some mentioned case studies specific to Vietnam that I think are quite interesting and help the readers apply concepts that the author discusses about. However, I would say that the book definitely does come from a certain, one-sided perspective since the author works for the company that is constantly referred to within the work. All and all, this book is quite useful and a good starting point if one is interested in learning more about investments.