Low labour costs, large workforce drive Singapore start-ups in Viet Nam

With a large workforce, lower labour costs and sizeable market, Viet Nam is one of the popular destinations for Singapore’s start-ups, according to The Straits Times newspaper.

Viet Nam - Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP1) in Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

With a large workforce, lower labour costs and sizeable market, Viet Nam is one of the most popular destinations for Singapore’s start-ups, according to The Straits Times newspaper.

"The labour force in Viet Nam is increasingly well educated and still relatively cheap compared to Singapore," James Tan, managing partner of venture capital company Quest Ventures, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Viet Nam has a tech-savvy population and a burgeoning middle class, making it a potential customer base, he added.

Singapore has been one of the strongest partners of Viet Nam both before and during the pandemic. Vietnamese sectors that venture capital firms are looking at include health technology, food processing and blockchain.

Amy Wee, an expert at the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), said Singaporean small and medium-sized enterprises should also spend more time to understand the Vietnamese market and build relationships with potential business partners.

Meanwhile, Taku Tanaka, chief executive officer of Kamereo, a business-to-business food sourcing platform that launched in 2018, said international company founders who are serious about the Vietnamese market should consider staying there or at least hiring a good team that will be based in the country.

Start-ups in Singapore should take advantage of emerging fast-growing markets overseas, he said, adding that their experience overseas can allow them to bring fresh perspectives to their companies.

Jonathan Lim, director for Global Innovation Network at EnterpriseSG, noted that since the expansion of the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) network to Viet Nam in 2019 via EnterpriseSG's partnership with Quest Ventures, more than 45 Singapore-based start-ups across sectors such as edtech, healthtech and information technology have participated in the Viet Nam GIA acceleration programme.

Three start-ups have since successfully set up a presence in Viet Nam, while more than 10 are in discussions with potential Vietnamese partners on project collaborations, he said. — VNS

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