What business possibility?

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Whereabouts88 wrote:

Just wondering what is a business that a foreigner can do, that is not already cornered and covered by the brilliant locals??

If you have mega bucks, you can follow the crowd of foreign direct investments (FDI) and open a factory manufacturing anything that is labor intensive to exploit the cheap labor force in Vietnam. 

But I'm assuming you mean businesses without a lot of capital. Here are some ideas:

1.  Tutor your native language.

2.  Open a coffee shop that only speaks your native language (nix this idea if your native language is not English).

3.  Open a restaurant/food cart serving your native food.  A German recently opened and served authentic German sausage on the streets of HCMC.

4.  Lead specialized tours for foreigners, especially your home country.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Whereabouts88 wrote:

Just wondering what is a business that a foreigner can do, that is not already cornered and covered by the brilliant locals??

If you have mega bucks, you can follow the crowd of foreign direct investments (FDI) and open a factory manufacturing anything that is labor intensive to exploit the cheap labor force in.

I often hear about the risks involved with vn government when one earns larger sums of money (+7 figures) in that your business gets "confiscated" due to some bs reason. Is this true?

OzOzOz wrote:

I often hear about the risks involved with vn government when one earns larger sums of money (+7 figures) in that your business gets "confiscated" due to some bs reason. Is this true?

one thing about Vietnamese people is if they hear one rumour they assume it applies to everything.

Farm goats , rabbits, wild pigs or anything else organically. The population is getting wealthier and they will want more protein. or you can import something from China or another country that Vietnam doesn't have (you will have to do your own market research their). i recently discovered that a board used in the advertising industry manufactured locally cost $37 usd wholesale, but i can get it from a supplier in China for $6.50 plus delivery (duties and taxes ) etc...

i want to set up a uniform factory for export to Australia also, because the labour is cheaper in Vietnam than even China. or a Dating Website to help desperate Chinese Men find Vietnamese wives (though i have been told this is illegal), a local newspaper or 'trading post' type publication,  migration agency. I also had an idea to get the exclusive license to sell a certain brand of remote control helicopter, boat and car in Vietnam...but you can research them market and see if you can get the distribution rights to an overseas product...

or you could set up a ebay store and sell something made in Vietnam to the USA or Australia...

or you could set up a recruitment website that has specially designed questionaires and test to find good workers

identify a problem or need, market research, business plan, crunch the figures, risk/reward analysis then just do it.....risk of failure though is greater than 50%

if you don't have alot of capital and you want a relatively low risk approach international trading (both import or export or both) is probably the way to go for an expat and can leverage off your foreign networks...

the locals arn't that briliant, shitloads of businesses have collapsed and the economy is in a bit of a slump at the moment. It is times like this that is perfect to start up as you can rent offices and get workers cheaper.

you can analyse where vietnam has a competitive advantage in ...say rubber, coffee (biggest producer ), tropical fruits, rice (biggest exporter), acquaculture,  dragon fruit..(i tried exporting to china), etc...and get pricing and try to find buyers in other countries..
or you can see what the vietnamese arn't doing well at...( a halong bay tour operator that does what is advertise and doesn't try to overcharge or underservice) and try to fill the gap...
their are millions of opportunities...but it is best to do something that you have experience in and the probablities of success are higher (even though the returns might not be spectacular).

My biggest project at the moment is to start a group buying site for small to medium size businesses. Alot of the time you can get big savings by buying a full shpping container load of stuff from a factory in vietnam or china...but most small businesses cannot afford or want to do this.
i will structure deals ie. toilet paper, cofffee, office paper, almost anything...where they can buy less qty but still get the good price..because they can buy together with other businesses that wan the same deal...I hope this idea will make me billions of dollars..

bongolongo wrote:

the locals arn't that briliant, shitloads of businesses have collapsed and the economy is in a bit of a slump at the moment. It is times like this that is perfect to start up as you can rent offices and get workers cheaper.

I can't imagine someone saying "shitload" with an Aussie accent.  Would be funny. 

"Crikey, mate. There be a shitload of croks ere"

Seriously, I'll second you on the part of the "shitloads of businesses have collapsed". 

In 2012 alone, more than 58,000 businesses shut their doors.  Link to newspaper story as follows:

http://www.thanhniennews.com/index/page … -shut.aspx

bongolongo wrote:

Farm goats , rabbits, wild pigs or anything else organically. ..

I know you're trying to farm goats, but what's your opinion on farming rabbits?  I know of a struggling Vietnamese household that wants to start a small micro-farm raising 10-20 rabbits.  They tell me all great things about rabbits but as one of your other posts suggests.... 

I want to research it a bit before I put together a business plan/report to solicit funds.  They're asking for 10 million VND to start the micro-farm and I think I can ask a few foreign charities on their behalf to raise the fun.

The point is when you import stuff, it has to go through THE CUSTOMS, that's where 'palm greasing' takes place, phai khong?
What about a floral bouquet business or a franchised snacks together with service outlets? We city folks know next to nothing about 'farming'! Exporting goods to USA and Europe etc via websites has low barrier entry, anyone with IT skills can do it

Hi , my experience with rabbits and wild pigs so far is you need a good vet and a good manager. Disease control is a big problem and can wipe out the whole operation.
I have 12 breeding rabbits at the moment but eventually want to have 1000.
Give me 6 months to get things to full production and i would be happy to donate some rabbits to a good cause.

i am new to farming and have been learning new things, so i am far from an expert.

bongolongo wrote:

Hi , my experience with rabbits and wild pigs so far is you need a good vet and a good manager. Disease control is a big problem and can wipe out the whole operation.
I have 12 breeding rabbits at the moment but eventually want to have 1000.
Give me 6 months to get things to full production and i would be happy to donate some rabbits to a good cause.

i am new to farming and have been learning new things, so i am far from an expert.

"Crikey, mate. There be a shitload of rabbits ere"

Good luck with the rabbits.  The people were telling me they needed about 4 million to build the cages and they were going to build it in a room inside their house.  They needed 6 million to buy a male mater and 4 female baby machines.  The gestation rate is 45 days so you get them popping out every month and a half. 

That's just the start-up costs.  I would guess they may need to tack on 2-3 million for food and medicine but that's their responsibility.

How much did it cost you to start with 12?  If you can donate the livestock, then it would cut their costs down to just building the cages, food and medicine.  So thanks in advance.

Maybe we can start a charity like the one they have that gives cows to villages, and when a calf is born, they gotta give that calf to the next village...

I remember reading it somewhere.  Here's one charity in the Uk.  Send a cow charity  http://www.sendacow.org.uk/

4 milion. it worked out to 80k a kg.

bongolongo wrote:

4 milion. it worked out to 80k a kg.

what about other costs other than the livestock?  Like the cages, food, medicine, land..etc?

yes,  you need all that..but compared to other animals it is cheaper.

I know an aussie guy who had a rabbit farm, he went away for a week and came back to no rabbits

colinoscapee wrote:

I know an aussie guy who had a rabbit farm, he went away for a week and came back to no rabbits

Maybe he didn't see the rabbits because they were covered under the "Shitload"?

No, they were just,GONE.

bongolongo wrote:

I also had an idea to get the exclusive license to sell a certain brand of remote control helicopter, boat and car in Vietnam...

Bongolongo, in a way I like how you try to see opportunities, but I honestly doubt that you would be able to achieve anything business wise, let alone any profit buy attempting to get a exclusive license or sole agent agreement kind of deal.

Just my 0.02
1. In this day and age, where you have internet and can find anything with just a few clicks (and dont need to travel the world to find products, manufacturers or traders and also dont need to travel in order to make agreements, sign contracts, negotiate things and so on), it is likely that whatever you introduce to any new market, soon will find a copycat type of competitor.
2. That said, look at it from the point of a manufacturer, why should he want to sign such a deal with you or anybody? The answer is, he does not want to, only if you are Big C, Metro, Lotte, Tesco etc
If a manufacturer signs such a deal with a small fish, he is risking that his product may not make it into the target market, because due to such an agreement, he would depend on the small fish to make a breakthrough and if that does not happen, he loses! With such a deal he may not be competitive and depends on you.
3. Considering you would be able to get such a deal with whatever kind of product, usually they bind it to a sales target, if you dont make it, your efforts are lost, he is the winner, you did his marketing for free and he can then sell to anyone he wants.
4. What would it cost you to get such an agreement set up? From my experience you need a lawyer to set up a proper agreement/contract, which is not cheap!
5. What if the manufacturer breaches the contract and starts selling to other wholesalers, trader, retailers etc. in your area? Lets say he is in China and you are an Aussie in Vietnam, where are you going to drag him to court and how high are your chances to win such a case???

Therefore I think, if you attempt to introduce something new, make sure you can keep ahead of the competition, try to strike fast in terms of establishing your business while it starts to boom and youre the main source of it and if you intend to keep at it for a longer period of time, try to build up a good reputation and maintain good customer relationships, but dont think you need any sort of exclusive rights to do that. It's a waste of time and money!

But that's just my opinion...

Getting an exclusive distribution deal happens all the time.
I am trying to get an exclusive license for a particular brand of remote control helicopter in Vietnam from a Chinese supplier. This brand has a reputation of being better quality and stronger than other chinese brands. It was recommended to me by another company that has exclusive rights to it for indonesia and has done particularly well their. I have to commit to a minimum order qty each 6 months and it is reviewable. In return the supplier cannot supply anyone else in the country and if they get inquires including internet orders from Vietnam they have to refer them to me.

IN the contract , in case of dispute the relevant legal jurisdiction has been specified as hongkong for both mediation and litigation. The relevant contract law is the law of hongkong. So if their is a breach of the contract, i will have to sue them in hong kong which has a pretty good legal system.

This type of business arrangement is quite common and it allows both the importer the security to invest in the business and the Supplier stable sales and an efficient way to enter a market.

Obviously, relationships like this do break down for one reason or another, but a majority of them result in a win win situation.

I have some bussiness idea. Sms me then we can have a direct talk through my number 0909880784 cuong vu

Just flashed across my mind - how big is the market for a toy- type helicopter? It's the mainly male market you are looking at. Then again age maybe from 13 to 30 ? And then again only those who enjoy such a hobby? And only those who can afford it and have an idea where to fly the darn thing! Competing against robot like type toys which can be enjoyed in a room!