After months of fighting COVID-19 HCM City and southern provinces plan to gradually resume economic activities from October 1 since they have basically controlled the pandemic.

Businesses in industrial zones, processing and exporting zones and high-tech zones will be allowed to reopen soon. Viet Nam News reporter Thu Ngan speaks with business executives to ask how they plan to overcome the difficulties posed by the disease and how they prepare for the new period.

Chung Wai Fu, General Director of Lee & Man Vietnam:

Chung Wai Fu, General Director of Lee & Man Vietnam

More than 93 per cent of Lee & Man’s employees have got their first or second COVID-19 shots, and the pace of production and business is also maintained at a relatively stable level as are ensuring relationships with domestic and foreign partners and jobs for more than 1,100 officials and employees.

It is all thanks to the collective spirit and efforts of the corporation’s employees.

Seeing the complicated and unpredictable fourth wave of the disease, our company was aware of the danger of infection in industrial zones, always adopted the greatest caution and was well prepared to respond to [it]. We make thorough and comprehensive preparations focused on implementing pandemic prevention activities and protecting the company's workforce. The housing area for Lee & Man’s employees built in 2018 is well able to cope with the on-site model mandated by the Hau Giang Province Government.

In the coming time our company will continue to adopt more significant pandemic prevention measures and make greater efforts to ensure business efficiency and prevention of disease spread among factory workers. We are committed to our responsibility to the community, and hence have practical values ​​​​and positively impact the lives of local people.

In addition, the company continues to pursue and support the policy of ‘Vietnamese Personnel Localisation’, prioritising recruitment and training of local human resources, reducing dependence on foreign personnel, especially in the context that now moving between countries is very difficult, generating career opportunities for locals, and fostering local and regional economic development.

Since the very first days of Lee & Man’s factory in Viet Nam we have identified and believed that human and social security are the key factors in the sustainable development of a business. We can only succeed if people are safe and healthy to operate.

On behalf of Lee & Man, we wish you good health and prosperous growth, and hope you are always a close bridge between readers and businesses.

Bui Hai An, Chief Product Officer at Timo

Bui Hai An, Chief Product Officer at Timo

As a digital bank and also a fintech start-up, Timo has been able to keep 90 per cent of our digital services during the lockdown while helping our team work remotely.

But the pandemic has impacted our services at four hangouts national-wide as well as the activation campaigns we had planned with our partners to offer these services to customers.

So, with the situation under control thanks to the Government and frontline personnel’s efforts, we can slowly and safely open our hangouts again.

Timo is trying its best to ensure a better experience for customers, especially in the case of services that require direct interaction.

We try to help people stay on top of their finances and live the best possible life they can. We do this through rethinking a wide range of banking products and services and focusing on providing the best possible customer experience.

We know that banking does not exist in isolation and believe in the idea of social banking. For us this begins with small shifts in the mindset, thinking about connecting people instead of just bank accounts. And this extends all the way to big questions like how banking in general and Timo specifically can be a contributor to a prosperous and harmonious society.

To operate in the new normal, we have already shifted most of our activities online. Nevertheless, we are also building features that can help customers transact seamlessly and safely.

For example, we have just handed out TimoPay by Link, a feature that allows sending a payment link to sellers, shippers or friends to get money directly into their bank accounts instead of using cash.

For a broader view of the pandemic and lockdown, the general situation can be linked to the story and usage of Move Money, Timo’s most used product. Since its E-C-V – easy, convenient, and bringing value -- it’s now customers’ favourite feature in our application. The most visible features Timo has brought are no-fee, fast, efficient, and successful movement of money.

We also figured out that though people are staying at home their shopping needs have never decreased. For instance, on Zalo Connect, there is a selling support section. Many stores are selling via social media and provide local shipping. We even buy goods in the apartment we live in, and there are many such cases. Therefore, people increase the number of transactions as they pay online bills, buy groceries, etc. And it leads back to the story that when society is distanced and people cannot contact each other, Timo becomes an important element in helping people process these transactions easily and quickly. Hence, it can be said that Timo is making efforts to provide people with the most convenient, quick, social, and friendly ways and products to transact and deal with their daily issues in the best way possible.

Revolving around the ‘New Normal’ story all behaviours related to consumption and daily life have changed completely. Besides, people are carrying out more and more transactions. Timo sees this, and we are trying to bring the value to customers and a more comfortable and convenient life, and to resolve the problems they face as best as we can.— VNS