Unveiling Vietnam's Supply Chain Secrets: Insights for Global Business Leaders with Rick Yvanovich

Exploring Vietnam's Supply Chain Frontier.

Join us as we embark on a captivating journey through Vietnam's dynamic business landscape, tailored for purchasing, procurement, supply chain, and business professionals.

In this episode, we delve into the untapped potential and strategic advantages that Vietnam offers for global businesses with our guest expert, Rick Yvanovich, who unravels the secrets behind Vietnam's procurement success, shares strategies for navigating the market, and unveils the latest innovations driving supply chain optimization.

Gain invaluable insights, uncover transformative opportunities, and discover the keys to unlocking Vietnam's business tapestry. Don't miss out on this groundbreaking podcast.

ABOUT THE GUEST

My guest today is Rick Yvanovich. Rick relocated to BP Vietnam in 1990. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), as well as a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and has an MSc in Strategic Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, in the UK.

For more information and to connect with Rick:

Website:       https://www.rickyvanovich.com/
Facebook:     https://www.facebook.com/yvanovich
Twitter:         https://twitter.com/RickYvanovich
YouTube:      https://www.youtube.com/c/RickYvanovich
LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickyvanovich/

ABOUT THE HOST

My name is Dave Barr and am the Founder and Owner of RLB Purchasing Consultancy Limited.

I have been working in Procurement for over 25 years and have had the joy of working in a number of global manufacturing and service industries throughout this time.

I am passionate about self development, business improvement, saving money, buying quality goods and services, developing positive and effective working relationships with suppliers and colleagues, and driving improvement through out the supply chain.

Now I wish to share this knowledge and that of highly skilled and competent people with you, the listener, in order that you may hopefully benefit from this information.

CONTACT DETAILS

@The Real Life Buyer
Email: david@thereallifebuyer.co.uk
Website: https://linktr.ee/thereallifebuyer

For Purchasing Consultancy services:
https://rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk/
Email: contact@rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk

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Click here for some Guest Courses - https://www.thereallifebuyer.co.uk/guest-courses/

Click here for some Guest Publications - https://www.thereallifebuyer.co.uk/guest-publications

Transcript

Rick Yvanovich  00:03

Welcome to The Real Life Buyer podcast. In this podcast, you will hear interviews with business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors and technical specialists in their field. These professionals will hasten your development accelerate your career and broaden your business know how now introducing your host Dave Barr, interviewing with a purchasing twist.

Dave Barr  00:25

Hello, and welcome to The Real Life Buyer. People are relatively used to the global trade between the West and countries such as India and China. One place they may be less commercially aware of though, is Vietnam. Today, I want to discover more of the opportunities perhaps sophistication and cultural variances that Vietnam has to offer with respect to commercial trade, purchasing and supply chain. My guest today is Rick Yvanovich. Rick relocated to BP Vietnam in 1990. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, as well as a chartered global management accountant and has an MSc in Strategic Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. That's in the UK. Rick is also the former treasurer and a board member of Brit Cham Vietnam. So there is no doubt that Rick is extremely experienced and highly qualified in this area. So without further ado, I welcome Rick, on to the podcast. Hi, Rick.

Rick Yvanovich  01:30

Hi Dave. Thanks very much. Before we really dive into things, I like to share a core belief that I hold pretty dear, I believe we all have the potential to be architects of change. And in the era that we're currently living in, which is really defined by constant and never ending transformation. Our task is not just to keep up but to actively shape the path forward. Now if I look at myself, you know, I started stacking shelves and learning the ropes of people management as a management trainee in supermarkets. I used to work for Sainsbury's in the UK. And then I moved on to immersing myself in the precise world of accounting, and later navigating the constantly evolving landscape of technology and humans, people, my story really demonstrates the power of transformation and the continuous learning and the impact each one of us can make. So every day, our actions or the actions that we take, whether they're big ones, or little ones shape our future. So as we discuss stuff today, I want everyone listening to remember this, you are your own brand. And every single decision you make is part of the unique story that you are crafting for yourself, how you react, how you adapt, how you innovate, in the face of all this change that's happening, will define your story and your legacy. So this belief, inspiring, each of us to aim for consistently higher achievement is the cornerstone of my work, and what I believe is my life purpose. So as we dive into our conversation today, let's not just think about adapting to change, but about how we can define it. After all, when we each embrace our unique qualities, and we all have them. And we strive for that personal growth. We're not just participants, but we should be catalysts in our ever changing business as unusual, or that world. So let's get started. Dave.

Dave Barr  03:49

Oh, thank you. That's an interesting opening there. Certainly a thought provoking one. So thanks for that. I shall have to reflect on that after this. But no, that's very unique introduction. Thank you for that. Let's try and get people aware of your some of your background and key events. You're a CEO, a an experienced CFO, a business coach, and author and a speaker, just to name a few of the things that you've managed to achieve in your lifetime to date. Can you tell us a little bit more about perhaps the career even the personal journey from starting out and studying accountancy to becoming the CEO and founder of TRG International and living in Ho Chi Minh City as well?

Rick Yvanovich  04:33

Okay, that's a good question. As a more mature person, it can be a bit of a long story. But going back to my roots, I come from the UK. I come from Surrey, where I grew up and I went to school. You could say I was smart, ask kids, you know, good grades, a student, life's good type of thing. But when it came to them a levels. Hmm, the one thing I didn't get wasn't a, that's for sure. And in fact, it only scraped the B and we won't talk about the other ones. The you know, there were actually less than a C, and the the acronym of three grades, you know, spells bed. So, you know, maybe I wasn't so, oh, that was a bit of a fall from grace. And so instead of going to any of the universities that I had applied for, I became a management trainee in Sainsbury's in Chertsey, actually, sorry, and that was a bit of an eye opener, you know, they did teach you management. But as an 18 year old, basically, kid, trying to manage people, probably older than your parents, was a bit daunting. And I didn't realize because I was the smart kid, and I'm the maths guy, that that part of me that left left left brain part of me which that that mathematical systems or that kind of stuff, of what that I hadn't been using it as the days went by during this management trainee program. Yes, it was very, very interesting, learning the ins and outs of every single department in a supermarket. But that other stuff, it wasn't there, that new miracle stuff wasn't there. So for whatever reason, I don't know why I suddenly say I want to become an accountant. So strange enough as it might be to join a supermarket in the first place. Even strangers does decide to become an accountant. But nevermind. So I quit that went back to basically went to accounting school, and then went into the accounting profession. And the very first job I had was wonderful. It was overlooking Covent Garden. It was amazing. And I spent most of the day looking out the window. It was a horrible job. And I decided, oh my gosh, you know, am I gonna have to do this for the rest of my life? I kid you not, I reckon the head quill pens were leather bound. That was for sure. I'm giving away my age, mate. Maybe it was last century. And I am a baby boomer. Oops. And so I thought I gotta get out of this audit stuff. And all the stuff that we're doing dealing with wealthy people, I didn't actually like it. And I took another job, which was far more interesting for someone at the age of 18. I was 19 at the time, and that was working for a brewery. That sounds a lot better, right. So yeah, brewery. And so it was part of coverage breweries at the timing in Overland Park Royal. And that was great. It's the only job I've ever had, where they encouraged you to drink there at lunchtime. And they introduced me to this fantastic thing called, you know, giving blood which was always held in the Guinness brewery next door. And every time you do that, since you're given a pint of blood, guess what you got in return? Deal. What a wonderful job I like, I like this accounting thing. Anyway, one thing led to another, and you know, seriously, yes, it was an accounting job. It was okay. Probably better than working at Sainsbury's for sure. But it still wasn't what I wanted. And, and since I wanted to be a cost management accountant, you know, a SEMA. So I know I need to go into into manufacturing. So I just moved into a manufacturing company, which just happened to be a defense manufacturing company, you know, they manufacture things that go bang. And that's when we have a little frack car with that, that country in the other parts of the world. And the company was doing very, very well, because every time something went bang, we had to sell some more, manufacture some more. So that went pretty well. And they and they introduced me to a thing called the computer. Because when I left school, there weren't any, the computer hadn't come out when I left school, or it came out in the same year that I left school, which was actually in 1980. For those people who can't remember, because you weren't even born then. But it was a while ago. And, and so I was introduced to mainframe computers, and I quite liked them. And I think things like Lotus Symphony had just come out. And I was a bit of a whiz expert on that, for some strange reason. And I just started getting into more systems side of accounting, you know, fooling around with the with with the computers. And one thing led to another I moved to another company, which was they called it a Facilities Management Company, which is meaningless, right? In today's terminology, you'd call them a cloud company, which means something. So I work for them. And I eventually ended up working for BP, the oil company, and they moved me to Vietnam. Well, actually, they didn't. They moved me to China. I arrived in China just after gentlemen. And that's the city of what 20 million people or what it is today. And there was nobody on the streets, understandably, and I love the place. But one thing led to another and before the ink was dry my contract I was being hauled down to Vietnam, I really, really didn't want to go there. So I signed a one year contract anyway. And here I am, 33 years later, I guess something is as as a left me here. So, you know, I, up until then I've worked on all sorts of weird industries, you could say, doing all sorts of weird jobs. But as like, you know, Steve Job said, you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking backward. All right. So looking backwards, you know, what's that got to do with it. But around 1994, when the old price was about $15, when I've had about five different bosses and BP, who I'd never met, because they're all in London, I was told I was going to be sent back home, because I've been out here for a while. And I thought, well, that's not going to be very good, because I don't even know who the boss is. And the old price is going to kind of $15 and it was going even less than that. I mean, that's ridiculous in today's dollar in today's oil world, and then I found out that they had a voluntary redundancy program. So put my hand up. And I took that, and I effectively retired back in 1994. And it lasted about a nanosecond, because I'm a complete workaholic. And a vendor asked me do you want to carry on doing what you're doing? Because they found out when I was hanging around, and I said, Well, what's that? This is? Well, you've been selling accounting systems for the last year or so. I said, I have sheets. Yeah, you know, that thing that you use at work? Oh, yeah, that thing? The one you mean that all my friends bought? And I installed for them? You mean that thing? That's actually in use by most of the all companies in the country, or the international ones. And so that started my, my, I started a company, and I just carried on doing it. And it'll be 30 years next year of doing that, right. Okay, well, I have to admit a client, and I'll be honest, there are only so many accounting systems. And they're all same, same, but different, you know, debit, still a debit, credit store, credit, and nothing has changed since accounting, you know, was was, was invented, yes, we can be more efficient about it, and they're slicker. And they're prettier and easier to use. And, you know, with modern technology, there's less that we have to do. I mean, going back to my early accounting days, we have, you know, ruled paper. And, you know, we have calculators, we didn't even have electronic calculators, we have controverted, if you can remember what they are. And you know, now the stuff we can do is absolutely incredible. So obviously, we do all that as well. But again, connecting the batch looking forward all of those things like, hey, supermarkets, well, guess what, we had a few supermarket customers, or the management training, but I learned back when I was a teenager, literally, well, you need them to run a company. Working I work for a real estate company, well, that's handy because we sell to real estate, you know, we, I work for a manufacturing company. Well, that's handy because we sell to manufacturing, I work for an oil company, when I was handy, we sell to a lot of those, every single industry that I've ever, ever, ever worked in, I've been able to sell to them because they actually understand the industry. So again, they might have been jobs, which I thought were a bit silly at the time. But again, looking backwards, it all connects that it's all there for a reason. And I was having a conversation the other day, because I I have a consultant who's been been looking at my branding, and they said, Rick, you have all these letters after your name, after your name, throw them away. So I'm not going to do that. Because I'm not going to do that. You do realize I never went to university. So I've got this massive chip on the shoulder. Like I probably don't have a shoulder. Okay, so I make up for it by you know, I'm a lifelong learner. And I just get certificate after certificate. Yes, I do have a master's degree. But I didn't actually physically own sit in the university for three years I, I did that as a part time thing in my own time, as a distance thing, so like, make it even harder for myself. But you know, that's why they're there are not going to let it go. And, you know, when I was speaking to one of my coaches, she was reminding me that You do realize that all these super famous people in the world who are doing very, very well, a lot of them never ever went to university. Absolutely. Don't worry about it, but I'm still not going to let go of all them letters. So anyway, that's a very, very round round around about things. So yes, I've been out here and via been on for a while? And yes, we've ended up traveling to maybe 30 or 40 countries implementing accounting systems. So I know you open with Yeah, I know about Vietnam. But funnily enough, we do know about other countries as well. Absolutely right over to you I'll drone out.

Dave Barr  15:16

Great. Thanks. It's great to hear that you obviously, some of the things that you do, say in your spare time people aspire to, as a as part of their development, just on its own. So you clearly, as you say, You're a lifelong learner. And that is often a sign a signature of people who do extremely well in life never stopped learning. So I think your testimony to that, if we look back at Vietnam, obviously, you must have loved the destination, because you stayed there for so long, with only a one year tentative, Sri say, foray into the country. And you've mentioned lots of different companies, industries, shall we say? That clearly must be in Vietnam, as well. So they become a kind of a hub, a global manufacturing hub, shall we say? So what do you think are the key factors that you feel have contributed to their success? And how is the country managed to position itself as an attractive destination for business?

Rick Yvanovich  16:16

So um, it's a good question. I'm gonna mmm again, if I if I reflect on me, it, it's taken me a while to get here to where I am. And there have been things you know, not everything was always rosy, I mean, bombing out on A levels. And you know, I'm sure lots of people have done that. On their exams, not going to university. I mean, that that was not exactly a win was it. But it's, it's the way that you recover from these things. You know, we all get, we all get knocked down, we will all make mistakes. That's why we're human, right? We make mistakes, they might have been a great idea at the time, and maybe they won't, but they weren't in the end. So we make mistakes, we trip up, we follow we smash our face on the ground, but it's the fact that we get up and it's what did we learn from it. So me not going to university turned me into a lifelong learner and spending my life trying to overcome that regret, I don't even know if it's a regret anymore. It's just made me who I am. I can't stop learning, I can't stop doing another program. I've just, you know, because I'm addicted to it. And so, you know, being knocked down, it builds you up that resilience, you just keep standing up again. So when I look at Vietnam, it's sort of similar. Okay, they've been a colony of more than one country before they've been knocked down ruled by and they booted the, those people out again, and again, and again. So they, to me, they're getting knocked down, and they're getting up and they're getting knocked down, and they're getting up and they're that builds a resilience, it really, really, really does. Now, one of the things I did like about Vietnam, going back again, that literally 30 years now, you know, back to the early 90s Was it was really, it really was that picture postcard, tranquil place, I could go to the High Street and lie down on the high street and nothing would ever happen to me, because there wasn't any traffic. Okay, and this is a major city. This is a no Chi Minh City. And because back at the time, there weren't very many, four wheeled vehicles, okay. And the two wheeled ones weren't motorbikes, they were bicycles. So nothing would ever happen to you try and do that today. And that will be suicidal. Alright, because it's like any other big bustling metropolitan city. So it's changed. And, and it was really fascinating for for an accountant, actually, to be there at that time, because when we arrived in Vietnam, there weren't any foreign investment laws. There weren't any laws for foreign investors to come to the country. I came with the oil companies, which, which were allowed in in 1988. There wasn't a tax structure, can you believe that? No tax structure. And it goes on and on and on. But then you flipped around for another perspective. Okay. Well, where did the laws come from? Where did the taxes come from? I remember being in meetings with the authority and other oil companies or the CFOs. And, you know, people from other industries like banking, and to talk about tax what taxes should be. And I'll come on. Wow, isn't that amazing to have that just to be part of that just to be honored to be in the same room, even if you never put your hand up and say anything, but to be like, feel that you're part of the birth of something new, you're helping to shape something? It is wonderful, and that's why I got involved with various business chambers. I helped formed the British chamber. And you know, if we look at Vietnam today, because 30 years is a long time I'm but even over, say the last 10 years, just the last decade, it's still one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. I mean, we're looking at a GDP growth right around six to 7%. For the last decade, you know, where else the rest of the world is saying GDP of like three or 4%? Yeah, that's a top end war. Yeah, that'd be, that'd be cool. And Vietnam saying, Well, that would be the bottom end of our scale. If we're not doing that something's going really wrong. So they're doing more than that. It's a really young population. You know, we know we have in the West, for sure. In Europe, in the UK, Japan, you know, the Western world, we have an aging population. And there are all sorts of concerns around that. But in Vietnam, when we set a young population, we're talking about 70% of the people 70% are under the age of 35.

Dave Barr  21:01

Wow, that's a lot younger than I expected. 

Rick Yvanovich  21:04

Okay, they're under the age of 35 ! The, the average age in Vietnam is just over 30, which is ridiculous, which actually means is when I recruit graduate entries and interns, and they say, How long have you been in Vietnam? I say longer than you. Because they're all 20 something, aren't they? Yeah, of course. Now, the other thing is, you know, where's it coming from? That they're an agrarian country. So the agricultural country and they're shifting, they're shifting to manufacturing and services, okay, manufacturing is, is about 7017, one 7% of GDP at the moment, which isn't very much. Now going back to the workforce, we're talking about population of 100 million people is just over 30 70% of the of the people are under under 35. It's a very young and eager workforce. And you know, that many people, it's a very, very big working population, there are about a million people coming into the workforce each year. That's right, a massive, so the manpower there is huge. So you know, what they've been doing, obviously, when they open up the country, because they really, really needed to, and, and they started attracting foreign investment. The first foreign investors that were really after are the ones that would provide employment. So very, very heavily, you know, people orientated, low tech, shall we say, low tech. And that went on for at least a decade. And that was needed, because they got gazillions of people who need a job, you know, let's get them off the fields and get them in these higher paid paid jobs. But after a while, it was realized that this is not a great strategy. And they did not want to make the mistake of other developing nations who are doing that, because you're just using the labor, where's the knowledge transfer? So the shift suddenly went from, hey, we don't actually want so much of those industries will have some of them because they still provide employment, let's move on to something that's more semi skilled or skilled, and over the decades, they've been sort of ratcheting it up. Okay. So where's the sort of pinnacle of that? Well, you know, if people have been watching the news, one of the, you know, Joe Biden is just visited, Vietnam is just visited Vietnam. All right. And the, you know, America and Vietnam have signed the absolute highest level of cooperation, that Vietnam would sign with any other country in the world. Okay. And there are only a handful of other countries that it's signed this with. And the statement made by the party secretary, was very, very powerful, is basically translate. It was only a few lines, couple of couplets. And it really basically translated as let's look to the future. Let's forget about the past. Just let it go. Okay, and then the other big thing that came is America said, Yeah, we're going to invest in more semiconductors in this country. Very, very, very, very, very strong. We're talking semiconductors, we're not talking about labor intensive. We're talking at very, very, very high cutting edge tech. Okay, give you an example. You know, Intel. I think we've heard of them. And they got a one and a half billion dollar facility in this country when they first started out, or they were going to do was test. Okay, that change, they now manufacture chips, and on some of the chips that are some of the CPUs they manufacture. There's more than 50% of the global world supply coming out of this country coming out of that factory, that's a big, big change. And so these are super skilled, super skilled people. So where the country is moving into now is more high tech or high skilled stuff. And this gets transferred to the local population. So you remember before I started with BP, okay, so when I started with BP, we had a lot of expats, and at its peak there, probably more than 100 of them. Okay. Today, when I look at BP, I'm pleased to see that, oh, the CFO was somebody that I recruited decades ago, wonderful, good guy, I love him. And it's several of the other people actually running VP with people that I might have recruited decades ago as well. And there's not an expat inside. Okay, it's completely localized. It's taken a few decades, but there's just an example of, hey, we can have foreign investors come in, and they enable the workforce, then they enable the people. And then those people are capable of running the company Siran. And I know in just in BP, and many, many other companies, those same people have worked all around the world in similar senior positions. And so this is the power of, of, of the country and where it's going. And let's not forget that huge workforce that is incredibly young. Okay. And if manufacturing is only 17% of GDP, we haven't seen anything yet is going to continue growing. 

Dave Barr  26:32

Yeah, yeah. So you've got a growing economy, you've got increased integration with other markets, obviously, you've got good trading relations, now you've got new agreements being signed, you've got a thriving young, intelligent and ambitious workforce. So quite a lot of unique opportunities for any business looking to certainly move into Vietnam and capitalize perhaps on some of that huge resource there is there for those businesses that want to trade with Vietnam, when they're trying to find new sources of supply and people to deal with. What are the perhaps the strategies or best practices that they can adopt to develop a good relationship with a supplier in Vietnam? What's different with Vietnam than perhaps other countries that they may do trade with?

Rick Yvanovich  27:24

Different? That's a good question. The difference could be in the price point. You know, I mean, I guess you're not going to come here unless you want a cheap product. And yeah, cost of living and everything here is lower. So therefore, maybe the product could also be cheaper. It really depends what your strategy is, are you trying to come over here invest set up a facility and manufacture here, which is taking advantage of the attractiveness of doing that here, which from a country government perspective, is tax breaks? Okay, so think, tax breaks, think Lower, lower cost of the labor force, think potentially more stable power than we're experiencing in parts of the world, especially in Europe, maybe potentially cheaper power? And depending on, you know, where you're getting your supply from? It might be closer to other components of your supply chain. Yes. Okay. And, and if you have a, you know, if your market if your sales market is also around ASEAN, which, for those who don't know, is a big market there 600 million people in it, which makes it rather large, is, you know, you're, you're in the proximity of that, of course, if you're just looking for Vietnam as just a supplier, you're not going to come here, you just want to trade with it, and you want to export stuff from from Vietnam and import it to another part of the world, let's say, say the UK, that works as well. And, and the way to do that is we can leverage off the British government, okay. Literally, you know, you can go to your local government, Link Chamber of Commerce in the UK, you know, through the Department of Trade or whatever. And, you know, their, their team there can connect you with folks here in Vietnam. And there are schemes in place, which is government funded, you get you get some limited support, some free calls, a couple of free consulting calls, and then that will open the door on who to connect to, and even the British business group. One of the things that we can do is that let's say you're looking for a source of supply or whatever it is widgets, I don't know what it is. You couldn't get a you could engage with a with a business group as a service. This, and they'll go and set you up and find all the suppliers for you. Okay? So and that can be a teleconference, or if you want to come on out on a trip here, they can arrange all the meetings for you, you know, Bumble and Bumble make it really, really efficient. And lots of companies have done that. Lots of companies that have done that. And then on top of that, given that there are lots of people coming here, and who are interested in being here, there aren't many organizations offering that type of service, in addition to that, okay, if you don't want to do that, and you're just an investor, yes, you can come in here and invest, set up your own company and do that kind of thing. Or there are lots of private equity companies, venture capital companies, and we do know that for some investors, what Vietnam does offer is diversification. Because if you are that big investment, you've already invested here, there and everywhere, which is already obvious, you know, around the world, and, and suddenly, Oh, what's this Vietnam place? They're up in the global rankings, you know, their number, you know, they know what they're in the Top 12 Top 13 most populous countries in the, in the country, Papas populations and in the world, and going further and further up in, in actual in the trade that they're doing, the global trade is getting bigger and bigger and bigger, especially if certain commodities, you know, they're massive. And, yeah, it's a good good place to to diversify your investment can get a share that as well. So all of that is available, it's all about it.

Dave Barr  31:34

It sounds very interesting to say for both trying to set up a company in the country are greeted with open arms, you say there's tax breaks, there's a thriving economy, there's great resource of people that are highly intelligent and motivated, sounds brilliant. And equally, you've got some very good companies good supply chains out there that will quite happily supply you and help you in exporting products from the country as well at you know, why not? basically is, is that is the message coming across?

Rick Yvanovich  32:03

Why not? Why not? So are the streets paved with gold? Well, no, of course, I mean, there's a risk, we're at whatever country you go to on the planet. So one must always do your own proper due diligence. But one of the things that I found here in Vietnam is they're hungry for business, they are hungry for business, you go somewhere else, some other countries, and it might be you knock on the door, and, you know, if you're only a smaller player, like, go interested. Whereas here, they might roll out the red carpet. All businesses like is nearly good business. And so there are a lot of people looking but that's that's really good to hear the international trade is really is really, really growing. And there it really is strong government support for trade. Okay, Britain this year is only been doing it this week, actually has been celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relationships with Vietnam, which is a tremendous thing. Okay, various other countries are doing the same thing. And with the UK. I mean, there's there's an awful lot of, you know, the showcase that's happening literally this week in Vietnam is showcasing the greatness or the great stuff of Britain, the education that we have, you know, educate, you know, education, and there's really no world class, we know it's world class, we have some of the best universities on the planet, not that over lend to them, but we have some right. And that that education is being exported. I mean, up in Hanoi, we have the British university, Vietnam, it's a it's a British university is owned by Brits, okay. And, you know, very, very proud to be another great British asset, and lots of other British schools like Nord Anglia, okay, is another you know, that lots of British brands on the education side are doing lots of deals in in Vietnam, because British education English, you know, is very, very important. Similar in other sectors, you know, in the energy sector, there's a lot of a new energy, a solar, wind, and it just goes on there's, there's a lot of big British companies already here. So it's not as if they're no Brits, and there's no British industry here. They're ready here.

Dave Barr  34:35

Thriving, yeah. Is it quite good to hear that because, as I mentioned, you before we started recording, I do speak to a number of SME businesses in the UK, they tend to if they try and do business, sometimes with places like China volume talks, and if they haven't got the volumes, as you say, they're not necessarily welcomed. But Vietnam have a very different approach, very welcoming, even for perhaps the smaller volumes and that could open up nice opportunities there. Which is really good.

Rick Yvanovich  35:03

So you can go through, you know, you can get you can go through the local government. I mean, as I said, you know, the British government is very, very supportive of trade in Vietnam, especially, you know, very, very strong. And, you know, the, a lot of the trade British trade groups around the region, funnily enough that people heading that have all been ambassadors, or consul generals in Vietnam, you know, there's a really, really strong linkage, and the current Vietnamese ambassador in London. He is, so he's super pro Britain. He really is. And, you know, the, the wonderful that I'm sure if you, you visit, the Vietnam, if you visit the Vietnamese embassy in London, say, Hey, you're thinking of making a trip to Vietnam, and you'd like to put be put in contact with some with some Vietnamese suppliers. I mean, they're gonna be all over you. It's great to hear. And we're beginning to see even Vietnamese investment in the UK. Yeah. It's beginning, it's beginning.

Dave Barr  36:08

One of the things when I think of Vietnam, from what I understand, it's a very beautiful country. And on the tip of everybody's tongue is sustainability as environmental factors, people being socially responsible now for businesses looking to either set up a factory or purchase from Vietnam, those factors are quite important. So how has Vietnam embraced those systems? The sustainability aspect, in their manufacturing sectors? Have they put in great regulations? Are they really environmentally friendly? Are they socially responsible? How would you describe Vietnam in these terms.

Rick Yvanovich  36:47

It's say, like a lot of things, they are making great strides forward, the, it's really, really helped by the investment funds already here. In Vietnam, you know, one of the biggest, and they haven't to be British, great shout out to them as Dragon capital. That's the chairman there as Dominic Striven, you know, I was only at a luncheon with him yesterday, and we, you know, we were touching on our companies like his, and the other big investment funds, and these some of these investment funds have big, I mean, they're, they've got off more than a billion dollars of assets, under their management. And they, you know, in order for them to attract their investors, they need to make sure that everything done here is is done well, okay. And this is where the recommendations are made to the authorities here, whether it's a stock exchange, the government or whoever, is that, hey, this is better governance. Okay, we need this, we need that. And so ESG es, it is a very, very topical thing as it is throughout the world. And it's been taken very seriously here. And there is a constant stream of people coming over and advising, you know, it's it's really from, you know, foreign investors, because it's their vested interest that things are banned. Wow. Okay. So we want, you know, listed companies here in Vietnam, to have the same rigor, the same type of governance, as you would have someone, you know, the stock exchange in London, well, why wouldn't you? Okay, if you can't show that, why would anybody risk investing, investing over here? So, you know, it's really bringing them up to international standard. And, but what they can do, is, if they don't have a regulation, they're going from nothing to somewhere very, very quickly. So they're leapfrogging you know, they don't have to make the mistakes of everywhere else. And now that the, the, the people in the country, you know, some years back, there was some companies who, who were not being very environmentally, you know, they weren't doing the best things environmentally. And there was a massive, massive, massive public outcry by the population, say, like, this has got to stop, you've got to do something, your government will step in and shut them down and slap on the wrist and make sure they put all the environmental controls in and, you know, any big facility like that being built now, there's always an environmental impact survey, you know, so it's all it's all happening. It is it is all happening. It really, really is. And, and they're open to do this because the more that they have the same or better conditions than anywhere else, the more attractive they are. And so they seem to have this this Sir, this mindset that they want to be everyone's friend, you know? And when they find out, Oh, these people, they don't like this about us, or can we fix that? Or we can fix that we'll quickly change the law and make things better and make it more attractive. Yeah, we'll fix that it's fix. Okay, know, your offerings now can now invest. So, I mean, foreign investment is huge. It's, you know, around 40 billion, it's a big number.

Dave Barr  40:27

So I'm interested in the point you mentioned, which, which jump into the term I've heard it, obviously, is culture. And there's got to be significant, perhaps cultural differences from we're talking about, obviously, the UK a fair bit, but from other countries as well. For those people trying to navigate what those differences are, what would you say? Were the nuances or the practices, the things that should be should be aware of? Before you start to try and engage and collaborate with new contacts in Vietnam?

Rick Yvanovich  40:57

Good question. It is different here. It is different. I think for anyone, let's say any Brit, who's traveled to Asia, it's different. The customs are different. For sure the customs are different. In Vietnam, there is a in actually in the language, the specific there's a specific niceties, there's a specific hierarchy, there specific pleasantries, okay, and those nuances, if you don't speak the language. And even if you speak it badly, I mean, a very, very hard to grasp, they're very hard to grasp. So, you know, as Brits, maybe if I throw out a few generalizations, and you can shoot me down on this, because I have been away for a long time maybe bring this change. We do tend to be direct, we do tend to call a spade a spade. Okay, and that directness, not everyone here is open to that. It's maybe too direct because I don't know you. Okay, so, you're coming over with that level of directness in business. And I don't know you yet. Because people do business with people that they know that people do business with people that they like, okay, and is very, very much. So here. And they need to know, it's just learning, they need to know if they can trust you. But also if they like you, right? Now, if they trust you and you like you, well, you're gonna have great business. If you can't trust each other and you don't like each other, well, then you're gonna have a hard time don't bother maybe. But it's, you know, get get getting to know them in just little little things can go a long way. I guess it's this sort of same in the UK, you know, that there are pleasantries that we have in meetings, you know, pleases thank yous, greetings, things like that. We have them all here as well. But if the Vietnamese company is not so use to working with international folk, they can really seem really quite, quite different. And, and quite hard to understand. But there are so many Vietnamese companies now that I used to borrow knows that they know how to act. Okay. And they probably understand our mannerisms better than we understand that, and not just ours as Brits, but a whole slew of other nationalities as well, but they do business as well. I mean, they're very, very quick to learn. The language is important, you know, so if, if their language English language ability isn't great, then it really is best to bring an interpreter because we can accidentally embarrass them, if we don't understand them, or if they can't, if they feel they can't make themselves understood. Yeah. And we were joking before we before the podcast about Fawlty Towers. And you know what it is, I mean, there are other you know, again, English comedy, speaking to people who don't quite understand this, we just speak louder. That would not be a good idea over here. It's like shouting. So it's, you know, it's always respectful. You know, I usually bring an interpreter and I'm respectful of that. Even though they may be they speak fluent English.

Dave Barr  44:37

So relationships are, it's important to establish good relationships, rather than going straight into transactional negotiations, contracts. Leave out or build that relationship at a personal level. First,

Rick Yvanovich  44:51

It really is that you got that and you got a friend for life. You know, okay, bye. We'll do the deal. Let's go for lunch, let's go for dinner. You know, let's just get to know each other and relax and have a good time. So this very, very friendly, friendly like back.

Dave Barr  45:14

Keeping an eye on time, I've got another question to ask you. But before we dive into the last question, I think it's important we share the fact that we mentioned you're an author, and you have a book out, will come out soon, called "Business As Unusual - How to thrive in the new renaissance". Can you share some snippets about the book, and also where people may engage with you, see your social media, etc.

Rick Yvanovich  45:40

Okay, Business As Unusual. Where did that come from? Well, the book was, was born during the pandemic, because during the pandemic, I mean, I know it was tough in the UK and elsewhere around the world. But it was tough here, it was, it was tough here. And when I say we have lockdown, I mean, you can't leave your home, you can't go out your front door, that's a lockdown. You know, there was a period of time when you had to have a permit, okay, and the permit would allowed you to allow one person from the household to leave the household and go shopping at the supermarket, we have a separate permit, for another one person to leave the household and go to the pharmacy, that's one a week for one person. If you got a bunch of people in the household, some people don't leave it. It was tough. It was really, really tough. And during that, as things were shut down, and industries, like the worth throughout the world were being decimated, especially anything in tourism, food and beverage, if you've got a shutdown, nobody can go to your place, because you can't even get into it. And people started losing their jobs as they did throughout the world. And just speaking to people, you know, everybody was really, really worried. And some people saying when when this is over, when we get back to business as usual, it'll all be okay, everything will go back to the way it was, you know, well, you know, this is just the new normal, everything will be fine. And then you know, we'd be locked down, then we'll be open, there'll be locked down, and then we open, there'll be locked down, and we open. And then there's another shock and another shock and another shot. So there's all this COVID stuff. And there are other things that have happened in the world. There's the odd war, or the you know, bit of recession here and there, inflation pretty much everywhere. I mean, these, there's nothing normal about this, and I was getting fed up with that. So I said, this is all unusual. This is business as unusual, and it hasn't ended. Okay. COVID was just a catalyst to make it happen. And he did all that. But as I said, we've got a war going on here. And there. We have recessions are looming, or been and gone or still coming. Some mark, you know, some countries, some markets still haven't bottomed out yet. And inflation has reared its ugly head, hasn't it? And the latest curveball is technology. Generative AI Yeah. And that's, that's also bringing some concern to people. Okay, so it's never, it's never ending. So that's why this is I call it business as unusual, because we have business is unusual. Okay, and it is the first of a trilogy, because I've done it from a business owners perspective, or a leaders perspective. And we're all leaders don't forget, we're all leaders. The next book is life as unusual, because our lives have changed. And two years of being restricted, locked down, or whatever you want to call it, have been told to work from home. Today, you've been asked either you must come back into the office, like it did before. That's one extreme. The other one is you can't come back to the office, stay at home and work from home because we got rid of the office, we save so much money by the way. And others are saying well, you can come in if you want is hybrid. And so you got to come in unspecified days, 1234 days, or whatever it is. So it's gone all over the place, isn't it? So what is the way you're going? How's this done with our life? Some of us don't want to go back we were quiet, especially me, you know, people with kids, maybe it's been nice being home with the kids, you know, pick him up, take him to school, and I'd be around but still get all our work done as well. You know, flexible hours. And other people say oh no, I want to get away. I want to get you know, want to go back to work. We all have. We're all making our life choices. And this is where the great resignation, the great reshuffled the great insert, whatever word you want to use, and all the shuffling around is still happening and generative AI is speeding it up in some areas as well now and so that's where the business unusual came in and and the life of is unusual in the third book to work is unusual. And I'm doing that last because it'll probably take another year or so to find out what work really is. Because it's, so I'm hedging my bets there and delaying that. And so what's it going to do with the new renaissance? That's a good one. If we think of the original Renaissance, there are, you know, original Renaissance was defined by exploration, but back then it was the exploration of new countries, new lands, and that kind of stuff. Today, the exploration is, you know, stars, you know, beyond the planet. And, you know, into the depths of atoms and whatever and depths of the ocean. So, you know, it's still there, but it's, it's different. It's technology. Back then it was the printing press today, or the latest thing is generative AI, which has taken the world by storm, back then it was challenging authority, which was the Church. Today, it's challenging governments. Okay. Back then it was embracing some of the classics, like the Stoics, and other things like that. Today, it's still doing that stoicism is still very, very strong. And it's sort of linked to the last part of the Renaissance, which have original relations, which is humanism, humanism, and, and today, and the new renaissance, it's human potential. Okay, and human potential is really, really important. Because I know some people are concerned, shall we say, of generative AI, but it's just a tool, it's only a tool. And it's a, it's a bit like, if you're an artist, and you've got one paintbrush, here comes generative AI is gonna give you a shedload of paints like unlimited, and as many brushes as you want. Now, you can create something, something wonderful, but it's going back to this architects of change concept is what we all have access to generative AI. So just like that, that artists hear all the paint brushes and hear all the paints, and I, you can give it to me, and I might struggle to do anything and draw a stickman you know, and whereas someone else will do some brilliant masterpiece, you know, like, paint the top of the Vatican or whatever, you know, all these amazing things that you can do. So it's just a tool. And so we have to embrace it, because we it's a tool to use, so we can choose to use it or, or not use it. So this is really where the book book came from. Because I found that people are so especially during during the pandemic, people sort of stuck, they didn't know where to go, pre pandemic, go to the office, sit in our cube, get into a hamster wheel and run around in circles going nowhere. Now, they threw the cube away. And there's no hamster wheel in sight. But we're still seem to be stuck in a maze, and we're not too sure where to go. So I've given a bit of a framework on this is how we can get alignment and some shape back into our lives into our future, you know, help you form your life purpose, actually get alignment of who you really can be, and help you be successful. And it's all the tools that I've used for myself and my own transformation, and all the tools that even some of the tools that I don't use, because to work something out, I might have tried 10 things and have to throw nine of them away, because I couldn't make them work. I couldn't work it out. We just didn't resonate with me. And I'm using one of them. But I thought yeah, they're all good, I'll build something better, I'll synthesize all 10 of them will have a super tool type of thing. And I've been in a Swiss army knife. So that's what I got. I put it all in the book, people can pick and choose what they like, and see what resonates with them. Give it a whirl. So how can you get it? How can you get it? That's a very, very good point, you can go to my website, which is my name, Rick ivanovic.com. And on there, there are links to Amazon and other places where you can where you can buy it to connect with me, you can go through through my website as well or just Google my name and my kid you not there's only one person with my name on the planet, which is quite unusual in itself, isn't it? So you can find me easily on social media, because it's my name. And you can find me on LinkedIn because it's my name. So I'm very, very easy to find. And what I want people to do is, you know, remember I opened up, so in closing, I want everybody to remember that we are not just a participant in this ever changing world that we're in. But we're architects and we are shaping the course of our own own lives, our own careers, and the world around us. So I encourage all of you, all of us to embrace change and define it, rather than just adapt to it. So please be the catalyst in your own business as unusual world. And the transformation starts with you. It's your choice of what you're going to do. I'm really, really eager to hear about what what journey you're going to take. So Dave, I really like will express my gratitude to you for having me on your podcast today, it's been an absolutely fascinating conversation, you've been been a great listener, and I'm sure your listeners have been great lists as well. So to allow me to Twitter on about what I know, everybody's enjoyed it as much as I have, and to all listeners to all your listeners, and I really appreciate your time and attention. And I really look forward to hearing from some of you, and learning from your experiences, and perhaps having sharing some more in depth discussions. So thanks again, Dave. And that's all your listeners, it's been one.

Dave Barr  56:11

It's a lot of things you've given us today, I just like to ask one more thing, because I'm know it's important to certainly for for business. And when I reflect on the UK at the moment, and perhaps the condition or how things are, how they are, for example, in China, how they are in India, there are some significant differences. And what I mean by that is the energy, the infrastructure, the ability to connect with the world, people aren't necessarily sure how easy is to have all those resources available in Vietnam. I know if I go to China now, highways, beautiful tarmac everywhere, or reflect on the UK. Not quite so good. If we look at energy costs in the UK, they're astronomic at the moment. How are they in Vietnam? You mentioned solar, you mentioned wind, and obviously the internet, the connections to the digital world, how were they in Vietnam, could you just give us a very brief summary of the state of all those super important things to business and industry in Vietnam,

Rick Yvanovich  57:14

I was speaking to someone a couple of months ago, and they were speaking to a British organization, I won't give their name, who was sourcing materials, tiles, specifically tiles from where you would usually source them across Europe, because they have super high quality. But they were visiting Vietnam, to look at the source of tiles there. Because due to the constantly changing our pricing in Europe, especially for tile manufacturing, where you got to keep your kiln going 24/7 You were getting, they weren't getting a forward price, the prices were changing literally every month, because electricity or gas prices were going through the roof. And so we can't do that. That doesn't work for us, we come to Vietnam, that's all right. And they worked out, it was cheaper to build the factory here. Just come here, take a ready made factory build, it might even take a year or 18 months to fully equipped and get it running. And it is still cheaper than then tying yourself into into the energy price inflation that they were experiencing in Europe. And additionally, they have great time manufacturing here as well. And we have a ton of gas courtesy of BP. So yeah, there is power here. Yes, they're calling out for more more power projects, more hydro, you know, and, and new energy. Solar is probably one of the one of the most vibrant solar markets on the planet at the moment. You know, it's you know, there are, there's billions of dollars being pumped into solar here. And there's solar farms popping up left, right and center, which is good to see. So that there was that, you know, there are industrial parks here, they're very well controlled. You know, several of the industrial parks are not just Vietnamese, they're in collaboration with another country. There's like the Vietnam, Singapore Industrial Park was very, very good. You know, there are some large significant companies here of literally every nationality, including British. So patterns can be built in access to labor force where we have a lot of labor, we have a lot of people, it really depends what skill set that you want. I'm not saying that every single skill set is available here. It's not just like it is not available everywhere else on the planet either. So that that is something that's a bit of due diligence that needs that needs to be done. But I'd say yeah, it's a it's a very, very into Investing market. And if you want to diversify your portfolio, if you're looking for an alternative destination, and you want to be welcomed with open arms, try Vietnam.

Dave Barr  1:00:15

Excellent. Well, thanks very much, Rick. It's been a fascinating discussion today really enjoyed it certainly learned a lot more about Vietnam. And so it's a fantastic place to visit not only for business, but for pleasure as well. So absolutely. Thank you very much for your time today, Rick, 

Rick Yvanovich  1:00:32

Thank you Dave. 

Dave Barr  1:00:33

Take care. Bye. So there's another Real Life Buyer podcast. I do hope you enjoyed it, and it's given you some ideas and inspiration for greater action and achievement. If you are a purchasing or a supply chain professional business owner or director can join my Facebook group for purchasing and supply chain community hub, safe place to engage with like minded friendly people. See you soon. Bye.