Visit to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hi,

I had been wanting to write about my Business Trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for a long time, but couldn't find the opportunity earlier. I am glad I am able to share this now. I am also very thankful to my Mentor- H. Kannan because of whom I got this wonderful opportunity to visit Vietnam in Jan 2018.

Key Observations during my Visit to HCMC:

1) People- Never ever before I have met people so welcoming and so fun loving and hospitable. If there is one thing that stands out of my trip to HCMC, it is the effort made by the Vietnam team, especially, Hoai An & Hanh to plan my each and every minute in Vietnam with extreme detail and precision. I got immense exposure to the Business, Culture & Lifestyle prevalent in HCMC in a very short time. I got an excellent chance to visit all the important tourist spots (Cu Chi tunnels, War Museum, Independence Palace, etc.) along with an exposure to urban/rural/MT markets.

2) Business- The markets in HCMC is similar to that in India with more traditional/general trade outlets. However, with the local culture of eating out, Away from Home channel is growing very fast

3) Coffee- I am generally not a coffee person (I am more of a Pepsi Person!), but the coffee in HCMC was excellent. As I am writing this post, my taste buds and my brain can still recall the distinct taste of the coffee that I had (nearly everyday) there.

4) Love for Football and country- I was fortunate to be in HCMC when the Vietnam U-23 team was participating in the finals of the AFC Championship. The team took me to one of the pubs to watch the match together along with the entire office team. The atmosphere was electric and the love for Football and for the country was apparent.

I was glad to be invited by the SPVB team to work with them in formulating their Learning & Development plans for their entire sales team. We had good insights wrt. the culture and the way people work during our market visits and interaction with Sr. Leadership. We have made a robust plan for Sales Capability Building for the future- both short and long term.

I still cherish the time spent with the team there and would love to visit the country again!

Cheers,

Ritesh