We started off today with a lecture on the green economy in Vietnam and what they can do to improve their sustainability rating. Like Mr. Quang from yesterday he stressed the importance of people, profit, and planet. Vietnam currently gets 60% of its power from coal and is trying to switch to nuclear energy so it can be more sustainable. He also mentioned how the tariffs will send Vietnam backwards just when they are getting the momentum to keep moving forward. However he did mention that this is a welcome call to Vietnam to become less reliant on US trade. Another challenge they are facing is their lack of infrastructure. An example of this is, they just finished a project for better WiFi cables a few months ago which is way behind most developed countries.
Then we went further into the Vietnamese language classes learning common phases and how to declare our relationship status to those around us. This was very challenging to say because I kept forgetting how to pronounce each of the letters. The professor even had me stand in front of the class and speak an entire paragraph in Vietnamese which was quite the challenge. I definitely messed up a good deal of the words.
After the classes at UEF we had a site visit at FPT software which incorporates AI into its coding so that it can better serve its clients. Their building was actually amazing. I don’t think I will ever see another company that has a more employee focused space. There were plants and parks around the building as well as an open concept space that encourages collaboration. They also had pickleball and basketball courts with company wide leagues where they play after work. They definitely have a green campus that incorporates aspects of sustainability and the three P’s that Mr. Quang mentioned yesterday. After seeing a tour of the company’s campus, we had a talk about all of the areas that FPT software is involved in. Some of the products that the company has created were a grading software for a university in Singapore and a ride sharing app for Singapore as well. They are a massive company with over 80,000 employees worldwide and are the first company in Vietnam to reach over 1 billion dollars in revenue. Overall the aspect of the company that appealed the most to me was how they focus on their employee’s wellbeing. Especially with the design of such a gorgeous space that took into account People, Profit, and Planet.
