Catching the Wave - Growing Up: Vietnamese Enterprises and the Mission of "Leading" the New Era Economy

Ho Chi Minh City - the country's economic "locomotive" continues to set ambitious targets for 2025, with a GRDP target of around 8 - 8.5%. Signs show that the City government is focusing on recovery, attracting investment and creating momentum for the next stage of development.

With our country still attracting FDI capital, investors' confidence in the long-term prospects of the Vietnamese market is still very positive. From that advantage, Ho Chi Minh City will be given the premise for large-scale industrial, infrastructure and technology projects. These changes directly affect the development opportunities for businesses in the city when connecting supply chains and attracting foreign partners.

Not only that, signs of investment in data centers and AI capabilities have become increasingly clear as many major domestic and international providers have announced large-scale data center projects, including major projects that have been started in Ho Chi Minh City to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services.

Plenary session "Catching the wave - Growing up" within the framework of the Vietnamese Brand Forum - Made by VietNam Forum 2025

At the series of events to inspire and honor Made By VietNam Day 2025, the plenary session "Catching the wave - Rising" within the framework of the Vietnamese Brand Forum - Made by VietNam Forum 2025 with the participation of representatives of Ho Chi Minh City leaders, private enterprises as well as policy makers painted a picture that is both promising and contains many practical challenges of the new Ho Chi Minh City after the merger. Ho Chi Minh City will have to turn new opportunities into new motivations, and prepare for the City's businesses to "rise" together.

Opening the Workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee emphasized the most important turning point that the entire Party Committee, government and people of the City have implemented in 2025: Ho Chi Minh City merges with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau .

Đón sóng - Vươn mình: Doanh nghiệp Việt và sứ mệnh

The Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee stated that this is not only a matter of territorial expansion, but also an opportunity to create a new development space for the Southern key economic region. When expanding further, the City will exploit new potentials, become a regional growth pole and attract greater resources to become a "super city" as expected by the Central Government.

In the face of the new situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung also affirmed that the new Ho Chi Minh City government will accompany businesses, remove administrative obstacles and create conditions for projects to be implemented quickly and effectively. This commitment opens up expectations, but also puts pressure on both sides: the government must act quickly, businesses must proactively grasp.

As the global game shifts to data and AI, digital infrastructure becomes a vital factor. Ho Chi Minh City will not only have to solve the problem of traffic infrastructure, but also create conditions for the development of digital infrastructure. Sharing at the "Catching the Wave - Growing Up" Plenary Session, Mr. Dong Mai Lam - General Director of Schneider Electric Vietnam and Cambodia, warned that we need to truly prepare for this issue at a strategic level and with clear planning. Because data centers are no longer a few MW infrastructure as before, while the need for computing to serve AI is pushing consumption to hundreds of MW, even GW. Therefore, the issue is not just about having space or fiber optic cables, but about ensuring sustainable energy sources, the ability to integrate renewable energy and optimal operating standards.

General Director Dong Mai Lam further affirmed that by identifying Vietnam as one of the strategic markets in Southeast Asia, Schneider Electric is ready to transfer technology, work with universities to build research labs to train human resources and apply EcoStruxure solutions to optimize operations, save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

It is clear that if Ho Chi Minh City wants to attract large-scale investment in technology and data, the City needs to plan an energy roadmap, plan electricity infrastructure in advance, and encourage a synchronous investment model between physical and digital infrastructure.

As Ho Chi Minh City is determined to work with businesses to break through and grow, building policies to facilitate business development is something we need to pay attention to. From that perspective, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology presented the policy framework that the City focuses on important pillars.

In addition, Mr. Lam Dinh Thang also emphasized that policies are only truly meaningful when businesses know, understand and access them. Therefore, the City not only issues support programs but also designs accompanying implementation mechanisms to help businesses take advantage of the City's available conditions and resources.

With specific efforts to provide maximum support to businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups in the fields of science, technology and innovation. The Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City showed the entire Workshop an investment environment that is more attractive than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic.

As someone who has been involved in the business community for many years, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang - Vice President of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association, Vice President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Record Association, stated that the State's support is only a necessary condition, while businesses themselves must have the spirit of "self-devotion". To do that, businesses need to build a solid foundation to create strategic trust to help overcome challenges and move towards long-term goals.

From there, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang has put forward a very specific "motto" for action: Creativity means continuously innovating products, processes and models; Connection creates a combined strength between businesses and businesses, between businesses and the State; Sharing means sharing knowledge, experience and resources to develop sustainably together. These should not just be "empty" calls but need to become a practical guide so that the team, management, finance and ecosystem are the foundations that businesses must proactively build.

At this Plenary Session, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang did not avoid the risks that SMEs and startups often encounter. From there, he gave suggestions for businesses to proactively learn, take advantage of consulting programs, participate in symbiotic exchange networks with large businesses and take advantage of high-quality resources trained from corporations and universities.

Although the support policies have clearly demonstrated the strategic efforts of the City, the current weakness is that many SME enterprises lack updated information or do not have enough capacity to take advantage. That is the gap that needs the support of the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), creating a bridge for the government and enterprises to listen to each other more and understand each other better.

In an effort to bring policies closer to businesses, Mr. Tran Phu Lu - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) presented a plan to build a digital trade and investment promotion system - a database connecting products, markets and business needs.

According to Mr. Lu, the goal of ITPC in creating this plan is to help the government promptly grasp difficulties, build appropriate support programs and at the same time help businesses find domestic and international partners. This platform, if operated well, will be a bridge to bring policies straight from "on paper" to "on the ground".

Besides the fact that businesses often focus on export strategies to "reach out to the ocean" - aiming at global markets such as the US and EU, speaker Pham Binh An - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies reminded businesses that there is still an advantage that must be fully utilized, which is the domestic market.

In fact, the domestic market with more than 100 million people and the expanding middle class in Ho Chi Minh City will be a great source of demand that domestic enterprises clearly understand in the future of the new era. Investing in distribution networks, building brands and improving product quality are necessary steps to take advantage of this lifeblood.

To build a brand of international stature, branding, transparent governance and access to capital markets in the journey of expansion are the most important things that businesses need to pay attention to.

The real story of Vietjet - a unit from the start-up process to a billion-dollar listed enterprise on the stock exchange and ranked in the VN30 group by Mr. To Viet Thang - Vietjet's Permanent Deputy General Director demonstrated at the Plenary Session that: A development roadmap based on aspiration and transparent governance.

In addition, Vietjet is also a success in the desire to reach out to popularize air travel for people to the decision to list on the stock exchange. This is not only a commitment to sustainable development of the first private airline in our country to investors but also helps the company mobilize resources to officially expand to build the brand as it is today.

The plenary session of "Catching the Wave of Growth" ended with a clear message: Ho Chi Minh City is facing a historic opportunity to become a dynamic growth pole of the region, focusing on Resolution 68 and the pioneering role of Ho Chi Minh City after the merger; however, opportunities can only turn into achievements when there are specific and synchronous actions between the State, enterprises, connecting organizations and international partners.

The State continues to improve policies and speed up procedures; businesses must "engage", innovate, connect and share; the bridge between the government and businesses must become more substantial; and it is necessary to successfully complete the goals of industrialization and modernization to enhance domestic competitiveness.

If all parties turn their determination into concrete projects, the new Ho Chi Minh City will truly develop into a dynamic, sustainable economic center leading the country.

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