Today’s lecture consisted mostly all about the history of Vietnam, Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, and how it all came to be. The instructor nicely detailed the country’s history all the way back from thousands of years to present day. One thing he said which really stuck out to me was (something along the lines of), “We can’t look forwards if we don’t look backwards.” Basically, he meant that with Vietnam’s rich cultural past, they can’t learn to build a future, both physically and physically, if they don’t recognize what has happened to them thus far.
Compared to yesterday’s lecture, today’s was more backwards looking. In other words, he carefully examined many events in history in order to explain why the present is as is, why Vietnam is shaped like an S, how the agricultural and Mekong delta communities play role in the economics of Vietnam, and everything in between. Yesterday’s lecture mostly covered the Mekong delta, and how its impact reaches farther than you can think. It also covered the many issues the Mekong delta is currently facing and how urbanization and development affect those issues. For instance, as cities like Ho Chi Minh city are rapidly developing, the younger generation of family owned river businesses are moving to the city, and the businesses on which the Vietnamese economy so heavily rely will not survive far into the future at this rate, especially with other issues added on such as climate change and dams built upstream
After the lecture, we went to the Glass Egg digital media company, which was incredible. They made designs for popular games I frequently played as a child, which was interesting to see, to say the least. I got to see firsthand how they were made, and how they operated on a business and strategic level, directly from the COO. Yeah, it was awesome. Guillaume Monier, the COO, went very in-depth detailing everything from where they are in the industry, their future plans, how they acquire clients, to even why their strategic advantage works. For instance, he even made a pros and cons list about being located in Vietnam. Pro, there is almost no competition in the country, the labor is relatively cheap, and when clients come to visit, they tend to have a more enjoyable experience than in other countries. Cons, a client can see 20 companies if they go to China for a week, whereas they may be lucky to see 3 in a single week in Vietnam. It was also very intriguing to hear him discuss the history of the company. He showed how they went from nothing to a multi-million-dollar company with famous clients like Disney, Marvel, and EA games. It showed to me how I could perhaps start a small business and turn it into something truly remarkable. That was incredibly motivating to me. That alone was worth the entire day.