A FastGo motorbike driver. The firm became the first Vietnamese one in the ride-hailing sector to expand to foreign markets with its presence in Myanmar and Singapore now. (Photo: nld.com.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Nguyen Huu Tuat launched a Vietnamese ride-hailing firm ayear ago, with dreams of scaling up the business overseas.
Manypeople told him he should develop fully in Vietnam before expanding abroad.
Half ayear after its launch, FastGo became the first Vietnamese firm in theride-hailing sector to expand to foreign markets, going some way to proving thedoubters wrong.
Vietnamesestart-ups have various approaches to going global, like attracting investmentfrom foreign investors, going overseas themselves or partnering withinternational businesses.
Start-upfounders with foreign ambitions face a tricky dilemma of whether to go localfirst then global, or try both at the same time.
“If I hadtargeted the Vietnamese market only, the market size then was small, not tomention my company was being ‘squashed’ by giant ride-hailing Grab and GoViet,another Vietnamese ride-hailing service be launched (at that time),” Tuat,FastGo CEO said.
Since hedeveloped global digital-based technology for the service, it was notchallenging for Tuat to bring it overseas half a year after it was launched in Vietnam.
In December 2018, FastGo opened inMyanmar, a market with rapid development in e-commerce, tourism, retailand the online economy.
It took FastGo only amonth set up the service in Myanmar, thanks to its global-based technology.
This year it reachedSingapore and recruited some 3,000 drivers in the first month.
Quan Le, co-founderand CEO of blockchain tech firm Binkabi has plenty of experience expandingoverseas to places like the UK and African countries.
He said these somestart-ups, especially software-based start-ups, can easily go global, aslocation matters less than a quality product.
FastGo is the secondlargest Vietnamese ride-hailing firm in number of users and rides andits CEO envisions expanding to other Southeast Asian countries.
The start-up hopes to double its user count of one million thisyear and plans todevelop on-demand multi-services including daily rides (motorbikes andcars), travel, transportation, catering and personal finance.
Trial anderror
Going global withFastGo was not the first time Tuat tried to bring his own Vietnamese start-upabroad.
Before FastGo, hisfirst attempt with e-commerce start-up NEXT TECH failed. Three years afterhe tried to expand overseas, half of the stores closed due to tough competitionwith local companies.
“Going global earlyhelped me learn lessons and grow up, especially in terms of strategies forselecting partners and human resources,” Tuat said. “Start-ups shouldco-operate with local companies to develop their products to increase thechances of success.”
From his experience,start-ups about to go global should ask themselves whether their business cancompete with local companies and if the market size of the country they want toexpand to is big enough to develop in.
Start-ups should alsohave a financial foundation and tech start-ups must have a technological foundationto scale up, he said.
“And for sure, thepath is never rosy and full of failures. Maybe our first, second attempts willnot be successful. Keep taking fearless steps to continue to try.”
Thorny path
Going global is noteasy for most Vietnamese start-up owners, who are passionate and innovative,but lack experience.
Do Kim Dung, businessdevelopment director of Ecomobi, a Vietnamese social selling platform that hasoffices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, said obstacles for start-upsgoing global come from conflicts of mindset due to cultural differences betweenVietnamese and people from other countries, especially in Muslim countries likeIndonesia.
“When we expanded ourbusiness to Indonesia, the complicated local procedures were another obstaclefor us,” she said.
Quan Le of Binkabiexpanded his business in London and African countries.
“English speakingcountries share the same legal basis as English law so we have commonalityamong markets. But in Africa, 54 different countries with different states ofdevelopment and environment, there are many obstacles, not just abouttechnology but also about legal aspects. When you try to bring something new tothe market, it needs to adapt to the general population,” he said.
To help start-ups goglobal, the Government has collaborated with global ventures funds as part of anational programme for supporting an innovative start-up eco-system through2025.
For example, theKorean Venture Investment Corp, in partnership with Vietnamese Ministry ofScience and Technology, has entered the Vietnamese market and set up a jointventure fund to help Vietnamese start-ups explore the Korean market.
Besides venturesfunds, Vietnamese start-ups can receive support from incubators, mentors andaccelerating programmes.-VNS/VNA
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