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.

Andy Ho is chief investment officer of VinaCapital, one of Vietnam’s leading investment management companies with over US$3 billion in assets under management, and head of the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund, a London-listed investment trust with a unique multi-asset strategy that invests in both listed and private equities. Andy has invested over US$1.5 billion in Vietnamese businesses – and, more often than not, he has successfully ‘crossed the street’. Prior to joining VinaCapital, Andy was director of investment at Prudential Vietnam. He also held management positions at Dell Ventures and Ernst & Young. Andy earned a BS from the University of Colorado Boulder and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Certified Public Accountant in the US.