I distinctly remember my first time trying to cross the street in Vietnam. The seemingly endless stream of scooters and other vehicles. The feeling of being a fish out of water as I tried to fathom a way to safely weave my way across. The leap of faith as I started to steadily make my way across the road. At that moment, it dawned on me, I didn’t really know the rules of the game in this new place, and it would be a good idea to learn them – quickly.
This past March, I joined almost 50 of my fellow students on the Discovery Expedition to Vietnam through Ivey’s Executive MBA Program. The trip provided an immersive in-country experience to strengthen our capstone Discover Emerging Markets project. Travelling more than 12 hours across the world and working in completely opposite time zones in a different culture (with different approaches to traffic control) took us out of our comfort zones. It’s a feeling that you almost get used to in the 17 months of the program. The program requires you to focus on topics that are new to you (like accounting and finance for me), role play with actors meant to test your ability to manage performance, and just generally improve yourself. But I believe this international exposure is an essential part of Ivey’s mission: To develop business leaders who think globally, act strategically, and address critical issues facing organizations and society. The trip was also a chance to spend time together as a class, expand our networks, and have a great time!
About the Discovery Expedition
The Discovery Expedition takes place in the third and final term of the EMBA journey. Term three has an emphasis on global perspectives, with courses like International Business and Global Environment of Business (focused on macroeconomics) – in addition to the Discover Emerging Markets project. For the project, we worked in groups to support either a Vietnamese company wanting to explore the Canadian market or a Canadian firm looking to enter the Vietnamese market. My team was fortunate to connect with VNG – a Vietnamese multinational gaming, messaging, and cloud computing company – to support its international scoping.
We had an excellent orientation to the country through an introduction to Vietnam’s history and culture, experienced local guides, and engaging panel discussions with investment and international trade experts, non-profit leaders, and tech founders. We were also given the opportunity to participate in several site visits. I opted to visit a garment manufacturing facility and a small salesforce application startup.
We learned about the rapid growth of the Vietnamese economy over the past 30 years thanks to the country’s integration into the global economy through trade agreements. Vietnam today has a very open economy when looking at trade as a portion of GDP. Importantly, it’s also rising in transparency, ranking 77 of 180 countries in the 2022 Transparency International index, up from 123 of 174 countries in 2012. The country has a large youth population, and an emerging middle class, but interestingly also has a rapidly aging population as fertility rates drop while life expectancy increases.
Trip highlights
Some of my best memories of the trip include:
- VNG site visit: My teammates and I spent the day at VNG’s modern campus in Ho Chi Minh City, learning about its operations. We were blown away by the warm welcome (see photo). The company, launched in 2004, runs the country’s most popular messaging app, Zalo. With amenities like ping pong tables and a lap pool, the company’s headquarters wouldn’t be out of place in Silicon Valley or downtown Toronto.
- Heineken visit: The team at Heineken Vietnam graciously welcomed us to the company’s head office where the international brewer has been operating as a joint venture since 1991. Beer accounts for more than 90 per cent of the recorded alcohol market in Vietnam, so naturally many of my fellow intrepid travellers and I sampled the Heineken as well as Bia Viet and other local brands you don’t come by in Canada. Purely for educational purposes of course.
- Vespa tour: Touring around the city on the back of a Vespa scooter, driven by a local guide, gave us a chance to explore a few sites. It was also nice to move with the flow of traffic with the help of our driver and guide!
- Donations to local charities: We heard from the team at Saigon Children’s Charity and Thien Phuoc Center orphanage about the important work they’re doing to support disadvantaged children. Some classmates opted to visit the school and orphanage and organized donations on behalf of the class that will contribute to their impressive impact.
- Mekong Delta tour: The final full day of the trip was spent touring the Mekong Delta. We had an opportunity to see a bit of the country outside of Ho Chi Minh City as we cruised down the river on a boat from Can Tho and rode bikes around the rice paddies.
Benefits of the Discovery Expedition
Thinking back, the Discovery Expedition provided us with many benefits that enhanced our Executive MBA journey:
- Gaining specific country knowledge and an expanded network: I learned so much about Vietnam on this trip – my second to the country – and saw how much it had changed since my last visit 10 years earlier. I also gained new contacts in the country, some of whom reached out to congratulate me on my recent graduation.
- Enhancing the capstone experience: The Ivey experience is rooted in Case-Method Learning, which provides more context for students than textbook learning alone. Similarly, the Discovery Expedition gave us the rich context of having been to Vietnam, met some of its people, and walked its streets. Our Discover Emerging Markets capstone projects benefitted enormously from this immersion.
- Strengthening relationships among our cohort: The already strong bonds among classmates that had formed by Term 3 were strengthened even more as we experienced this journey together. The friendships you form with your cohort are one of the real advantages of the program.
- Pulling you out of your comfort zone: Some of the most important learning happens when you feel the least comfortable and this trip offered many new experiences. I firmly believe this kind of travel can help anyone grow and learn more about themselves.
Today the world is more connected than it has ever been, yet, at the same time, there are important geopolitical cracks. For any leader planning to operate in this volatile global context, it can be really helpful to broaden your international exposure. I have no doubt that our ability to think globally was greatly enriched by our experiences on this trip and I have fond memories of my time spent with my friends and classmates.