VNExpress-Mar 23
British entrepreneur Graeme did not expect his 2023 trip to Vietnam to throw up a business opportunity that would convince him to stay. A former footballer who retired at 21 due to injury, he had initially planned to launch a retail business in Bali, Indonesia. But friends discouraged him, citing the market’s competitiveness. During his visit to Vietnam in 2023 he recognized its potential as an ideal place to live and work. With a 100-million population, 75% of them aged under 30, and a long coastline supporting trade, the country appeared ripe for growth. “Living and startup costs here are particularly low,” the 37-year-old says. He first opened a café and an Airbnb business. Then, by chance, he noticed a demand for post-injury sports rehabilitation, an industry largely untapped in Vietnam. Recalling his own recovery process, he saw an opportunity to introduce sports rehabilitation technology to the country.
He partnered with Jordan, a friend with a degree in sports science, to launch a new venture. By mid-2024, they had imported equipment from the U.K. and U.S. and opened Recover, a sports rehabilitation center catering to amateur athletes, in HCMC. Vietnam’s significantly lower business registration and labor costs and operational expenses gave them a competitive advantage over markets like the U.K. and Australia, he says. But he encountered cultural business challenges, particularly in staffing. He found that Vietnamese employees were often reserved when working with foreigners. Tortuous
banking procedures made payments and financial tracking challenging.
“Without local connections, running a business here would be very difficult,” he says. “Language barriers and different business cultures are major challenges.”
After six months Recover stabilized, and he began planning an expansion into Hong Kong. Graeme is one of many foreign entrepreneurs choosing Vietnam, especially HCMC, as their startup base. According to StartupBlink, a global startup ranking platform, as of 2024 HCMC had 182 foreign-owned startups, 52% of the country’s total. Over three years the city jumped 68 places to 111th among the world’s top startup hubs. This growth is fueled by Vietnam’s improving business climate. The 2020 World Bank Doing Business report ranked Vietnam 70th out of 190 countries for business-friendliness. Key reforms like streamlining business registration and reducing processing time to under a month have further facilitated foreign investment. Read more at:
