Category: Rushi

One of my strengths during the internship experience has been patience. While I experienced various obstacles at the start of the internship, such as not having a physical supervisor, I remained patient knowing that inevitable adjustments would come with working in a country across the globe. I was able to exhibit patience when waiting for feedback and answers to questions from my supervisors, initiating new subtasks for myself in the meantime. Another one of my strengths during the internship has been my time management. I was lucky enough to work out an agreement that enabled me to work for two different firms at once, one remotely and the other in-person; however, this opportunity came with double the normal responsibility. I was able to efficiently manage my time by working on assignments for the in-person company at my desk and working on task for the remote company either while waiting for feedback from the supervisor from the in-person company or after getting home from work. One area I have room for growth is my ability to work cooperatively with others. Since the nature of my work was largely independent, I did not receive a chance to work with others collaboratively towards the same assignment goals. While it required me to take on more responsibility, I know that working with others is irreplaceable. Another area of improvement for me is professional communication. Since the nature of my work was remote, most of my communication was through email and Skype, but I lacked enough in-person communication. As a result, I believe I still have room to grow my professional speaking skills to reach my goals more efficiently.

Coming just out of my freshmen year of college, I believe that this internship in Vietnam has been a valuable and illuminating experience for my professional development. While taking classes at the university have introduced me to business concept and theory, this internship illustrated those concepts being applied in real-life and demonstrated how businesses operate from the inside. More importantly, while I understand the important nature of the work given to me during this experience, working on assignments and networking with others has helped me realize that it is worth exploring areas of business beyond finance. I believe that I had pigeon-holed myself into one set path without experiencing the work with a real company. Furthermore, I feel comfortable exploring new areas, such as the application of engineering to business, knowing that I gained a myriad of transferable skills.

One main key takeaway from this experience is the importance of being a life-long learner, a message expressed by multiple leaders within the companies. I have realized that any work environment can be unpredictable, and you must be a fast learner to acquire the skills necessary to pivot yourself and complete tasks beyond your comfort zone. Not only does this open you up to more opportunities, but it also makes you more flexible and valuable. The other main takeaway from this experience is the importance of communicating with others. Regardless of your personal talent, speaking with others will enable to discover new things beyond your scope of knowledge and approach tasks or opportunities in a more efficient manner. Additionally, communicating with others makes the work more engaging and leads to better end products overall.

Without a doubt, my most proud moment of the internship occurred when I submitted the final copy of my first assignment after four rounds of editing. My task was to research and create a PowerPoint presentation about an emerging area of investment interest, and my supervisor provided me a template for me to follow. After conducting a full week of research, I created my first draft following the organizational structure of the given template but implementing my personal design style that I learned through the Gator Student Investment Fund. My supervisor’s feedback humbled me because although he approved of my unique design, he expressed that my presentation still did not completely address the main questions that needed to be answered. Over the series of the next three editing cycles, I often found myself stuck because my supervisor wanted me to cover more information than was shown in the template. After spending a whole month perfecting my submission, I was able to transform my initial 20-slide presentation mirroring the template to a radically more-thorough and engaging 50-slide presentation that balanced view between the holistic and specific aspects of the emerging industry.

One of my biggest professional accomplishments of this internship was learning how to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate a company whose financial information is not public, unlike the SEC-filed companies that I have previously evaluated. Within venture capital, this accomplishment is useful because its entire business model relies on the ability to identify and analyze the potential of companies within new market segments. On the other hand, the accomplishment has been useful within Vietnam’s securities industry because companies attempt to invest into equities that they believe may be overlooked but have strong growth and return potential. Within the scope of Mirae Asset Securities Vietnam, investors are very likely to ask for investment consultation and refer to the equity research reports generated by the company’s analysts.

An important way that living and working in HCMC has changed the way I look at life is by training me to seek the beauty within the chaos. The transition to living in Asia over the past two months has undoubtedly been challenging, and I’ve adapted largely by seeking the implicit order within the starkly different aspects of society here. For example, the daily morning traffic to work in HCMC may seem chaotic at first glance, but over time I have realized that the HCMC population has an implicit understanding of the way things work, including the excessive honking and crossing streets. Within the context of my internship, I have had to deal with the transition from one company to another and the remote nature of work that would normally require direct supervision in the US. Regardless of my initial frustration, with patience I have been able to empathize with the “Asian” office culture and accept more responsibility without being able to frequently ask questions.

I have had the opportunity to learn about the venture capital industry and its role specifically within Vietnam. For example, I realized that venture capital firms in Vietnam concentrate their investment largely into tech companies in order to mirror the successes of the western world. Nonetheless, the industry is becoming more open to new segments that have potential technological applications. As a result, my assignments revolve around exploring new possible new segments, such as FinTech and Healthcare Tech. Another thing I’ve learned about the venture capital industry in Vietnam is the importance of seeking opportunities from the government’s agenda. For example, the government’s promotion of a cashless society caused my company’s interest in FinTech companies.

One of the strengths of my company is its reputation as the first venture capital firm in Vietnam, which helps entrepreneurs build trust with IDG Ventures Vietnam easily. Another strength is its role as a smaller branch within the multinational IDG Capital firm, enabling access to high-quality guidance. On the other hand, one weakness is the difficulties in finding talented entrepreneurs. Instead of relying too much on brand recognition to bring entrepreneurs to itself, the company should actively seek out overlooked investment opportunities. One of the external opportunities is the government’s loosening of strict regulatory hurdles that prevented startups from helping achieve common goals. Another opportunity is the increase in foreign investment into Vietnam amidst US-China trade war tensions, giving my company the ability to invest into more startups. On the other hand, one of the threats to my company is slow pace of regulatory reform, which struggles to keep up with innovation and forces my company to wait longer before realizing profit. Another threat to my company is the entrance of newcomers, which may draw attractive investment opportunities away from my company.

An amazing moment in my HCMC life occurred this week when I decided to venture into a hidden French restaurant. Aside from the beautiful aesthetics inside the restaurant that made me feel as if I was eating in France, I was in awe at the hospitality of the chef. He read out, explained, and recommended different food options from his menu found on a chalkboard. Although we each spent only $8 on our meal, he offered to taste his numerous appetizers for free; I tried an amazing spinach soup and gelato. The food that I ordered was arguably the best meal I’ve had in Vietnam, consisting of spaghetti carbonara and Italian specialty cheese. In addition to the fantastic meal, we were able to have an interesting conversation with the chef, who revealed his previous role as a software engineer and his experiences traveling the world. Without a doubt, he made my first time trying French cuisine magnificent, and I will be returning very soon!

Without a doubt, the most challenging aspect of my internship has been to stay focused on one assignment for an extended period. To contextualize, my supervisor has told me to work on the same task, a PowerPoint exploring the FinTech industry in Vietnam, for the last month. Although my supervisor gave me a sample report, he encouraged me to improve the design and quality of the presentation. Through multiple edits and submissions, I took a basic 20-slide PowerPoint that mirrored the adequate sample report to a high quality 50-slide presentation that would really “wow” the clients. My experience working on the assignment long-term has been challenging because it contrasted my initial expectation of the work I received and the pressure my friends have been facing from numerous assignments with fast deadlines. Despite the challenge, focusing on this single assignment has provided me the opportunity to learn the value of patience and creating work of high quality, as opposed to rushing through numerous low-quality reports. Additionally, not having the physical presence of my supervisor nor a team has been a great challenge for me. I have found myself lacking motivation to complete assignments because no one is in the office to remind me the importance of my work nor give quick feedback. Nonetheless, the challenge has presented the opportunity to appreciate the uniquely remote nature of my work and the importance of reaching out for help.

The best feature of my internship is the flexible nature of my work. Unlike the teachers in a typical classroom, my supervisor has trusted me with the responsibility of completing my work remotely without him constantly checking on me. I believe that this can be an advantage because it gives me the freedom to work at my own pace to ensure I deliver the highest quality of work. While vague instruction can sometimes be frustrated, especially when my supervisor clarifies them after I have made my submission, I still appreciate the opportunity to deviate from the standard template and seize real ownership of the work I have done.

Aside from work, I have really enjoyed my experience with street food in Saigon. My favorite dish that I’ve discovered in Saigon is Banh Trang Nuong (aka “Vietnamese Pizza), which translates to grilled rice paper. The dish is made right in front of me, so I know the ingredient used by the vendor. To create the dish, the vendor begins by slathering dry rice paper with butter and then setting it atop a coal brazier. Next, the vendor put in minced pork, shredded pork floss, dried baby shrimp, and chopped spring onions. Lastly, the vendor puts in quail egg yolk and chili sauce to bind all the ingredients. In my opinion, the final product has the crunchy texture of a grilled quesadilla. I would recommend this dish as a must-try for anyone that visits Saigon.

The first project assigned to me was a report on the FinTech industry in Vietnam. For my first draft, I updated the template of the slide deck by making it more attractive and professional. I organized my report by first evaluating the market conditions of Vietnam, then giving an overview of the FinTech industry in Vietnam, and finally describing the different subsegments of FinTech. For my second draft, I updated the report by implementing a PESTEL analysis to evaluate whether FinTech in Vietnam is worth investment consideration, adding a SWOT analysis for each of the subsegments, and illustrating my conviction scores for each subsegment at the end. Currently, I am working on my final draft by adding more depth at the beginning to better illustrate the FinTech industry in Vietnam, adding information about overlooked subsegments, and displaying my conviction level after each explained subsegment. Over the last four weeks, I hope to complete my FinTech report and reports in other sectors, such as healthcare and supply chain. I believe my reports will benefit my company by giving the portfolio managers an in-depth look into potentially different areas of investment from their prior sole focus on the technology sector. Ideally, my reports would enable members of the venture capital fund to solicit investment opportunities from untapped segments.

I believe my relationship with my supervisor is unique and interesting, especially due to the remote nature of his work and my lack of coworkers working on the same project as me. A key strength of my supervisor is that he is extremely knowledgeable about the industry I am covering as a result of first-hand experience working with firms within the segment. As a result, I believe his bottom-up view of an industry can be complimented well with my strength of analyzing an industry with a top-down approach. Furthermore, my supervisor can give practical answers and viewpoints to my more exploratory and curious questions about the industry.

A lesson that living in Saigon has illustrated to me is the importance of reducing self-censorship. The Vietnamese culture has proven to be more unapologetic and truthful about the struggles people face. While people in Western society tend to find ways to hide their pains by disguising their situation to look better than the reality, the people of Saigon have demonstrated the benefits of openly accepting one’s situation and dealing with life as it comes. This distinctive aspect of Vietnamese culture helps explain the hardworking and persistent nature of the people here because although they experience bad days, they can empathize easily and realize that there are plenty of people facing harsher struggles.

My supervisor’s name is Long Dang, and his official job title is Investment Director. Since he works from Hanoi, I do not have a clear view of his day-to-day schedule, but I assume that he participates in client meetings with startups seeking capital and evaluates presented market research to influence investment decisions made by the portfolio managers. Moreover, his personality is unique because although he gives blunt and straightforward feedback, he tries to be approachable and friendly. Additionally, he is extremely knowledgeable and well-versed about his work, and he tries to pass his knowledge to me whenever possible.

While I work on my projects largely independently, I still try to collaborate with the other intern, Tara, and the financial manager of the Ho Chi Minh City office, Hai. While I do wish my team was a bit larger, I believe I am still growing as a result of taking on more responsibility to complete full projects. The scope of my internship role is parallel to that of an entry level investment analyst. More specifically, I am expected to assist the investment team in sourcing and collecting sector-related qualitative research content, managing research interviews when needed, collecting and analyzing research data in excel-based platforms, report writing, proofreading, and other related research activities.

An interesting personal experience I had in Ho Chi Minh City that surprised me was that a group of tour guides from the company that gave us tours during our first week in Vietnam invited some friends and I to play a game of soccer. It was quite surprising because these tour guides had never seen us in person prior to us coming to play with them. Even more surprising was that they rented the whole field so that they could play against us. While they were initially winning, our American team emerged victorious in the end. Instead of being upset, the Vietnamese tour guides showed great sportsmanship and even invited us to try a Vietnamese delicacy afterwards: duck eggs. This group of Vietnamese tour guides showed us their favorite nearby road stall to grab the food, and we all ate together in good spirit. At the end of our encounter, they paid for our meal and invited us to play again during our stay in Vietnam; this was my first true taste of Vietnamese hospitality and the openness of their culture.

I am working as a Research Analyst Intern for IDG Ventures Vietnam, one of the earliest established companies within the venture capital industry of Vietnam. While my company does not sell a physical product nor service, it invests into early-stage companies to maximize returns while minimizing risk. The four primary segments that my company operates in are Information and Communications Technology, Media and Entertainment, Technology, and Consumer Infrastructure.

I believe my experience in the first days of my internship has been unique and not quite what I expected. On my first day, I dressed in business professional attire and eagerly sat in the CRCC Asia drop-off van. I discovered that not only would I have my co-worker Tara in the same office, but also two other friends, Richard and Cole, interning with another company. While Richard and Cole were introduced to their supervisor, Tara and I realized that neither of our supervisors were in the office; my supervisor was at the Hanoi office for the week. While this was unexpected, I tried to make the most of my time by closely researching IDG Ventures’ investment portfolio while I waited for my supervisor to reach out. Although my supervisor was unable to reach out on my first day in the office, I had a Skype call with him the following day. He was able to explain the inconvenience of having no IDG Ventures employees in the Ho Chi Minh City office to supervise us and gave me some instruction for the week. Throughout the rest of my first week, I was able to independently work on a report on the FinTech industry, a sector that IDG Ventures Vietnam has been recently active in, and reach out to my supervisor for any questions. Although I knew my experience was quite different from the interns working across the room, who had daily checkups from their supervisor, I appreciate my supervisor being flexible enough to give me direction and look forward to working with him next week.

In terms of the environment of my workplace, IDG Ventures Vietnam is a small branch, consisting of 4 partners and 15 investment professionals, within the global IDG Capital. While I work in Ho Chi Minh City, the company’s headquarters are in Hanoi and another office is in Singapore. I would describe the culture as more relaxed and flexible than typical investment banking firms, such as the company that shares the same office as mine, open-minded enough to explore untapped segments, and goal-driven to produce excellent results.

The most culturally informative activity was visiting the Cao Dai Holy See temple. I believe that experiencing Caodaism truly illustrated Vietnam’s distinct identity and role as a cultural melting pot. Like the Vietnamese culture’s ability to endure through millennia of Chinese dominance, it is interesting to see the regional religion of Caodaism persist with millions of followers despite the influence of today’s most prominent religions. The organizational structure inside the Cao Dai temple demonstrated the Tay Ninh people’s ability to preserve their culture by forming an adaptable religion that brought together specific tenants from different ideologies; as the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Most importantly, the Holy See temple was culturally informative because it illustrated Caodaism as an intersection of the organizational hierarchies found in western religions, like Catholicism, and the moral philosophies of eastern ideologies, like Confucianism and Taoism.

One of my first impressions of Vietnam was that the city of Saigon was rapidly growing and arguably quite modern. I was shocked by the number of skyscrapers and overall size of the city seen from the sky as my airplane flew down into the airport. This completely surpassed my expectations of Vietnam as a country that is only beginning to experience its first steps towards modernization, such as the region I saw the last time I visited India. Another first impression of Vietnam was that the people were much more friendly than I anticipated. Whether its communicating with my Grab driver or asking locals about their opinion on the price of a specific item at the Ben Thanh Market, the Vietnamese people make foreigners feel welcome. The intersection between Vietnamese people’s modesty to “save face” while still being prideful about their unique culture has genuinely impressed me and illuminated a new perspective.       

Some cultural questions I would like to address during my time in Vietnam are:

• What are the small things people do daily to “save face?”
• What are the cultural ceremonies and festivals that are important to the community?
• What do Vietnamese people define as success?
• What are common misconceptions about the Vietnamese culture?
• How do the Vietnamese people balance between Communist nationalism and growing capitalism?

The most illuminating aspect of Vietnamese culture for me was the extensive use of bargaining in business, in contrast to the fixed prices found in the United States. It was interesting to see that bargaining in Vietnamese markets can enable more competition amongst vendors and can be utilized to build relationships between the customers and vendor, which is important in Vietnamese culture.

One cultural similarity between Vietnam and the U.S. is the embracing of capitalism within their economies. Although the Vietnam War established a socialist government, the country failed to experience economic growth due to the implementation of collectivism and other socialist policies that could not incentivize people to work harder. However, Vietnam was able to endure by utilizing Ho Chi Minh’s flexible interpretation of communism to maintain a socialist government but allow more free-market policies. Today, the country of Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, has modernized and established itself as an important exporter of goods, such as coffee and electronics. Similarly, the United States strongly promotes capitalism and fosters a consumerist culture. The United States has lifted its trade ban against Vietnam and become a huge trading partner with Vietnam, which further illustrates both nations’ culture of engaging in capitalistic economies, irrespective of their political differences.

One cultural difference between Vietnam and the U.S. is the attitudes towards relationships and respect. Vietnamese culture is group-oriented, while the US culture is individual-oriented. The Vietnamese place a greater emphasis on maintaining harmony and following norms, while Americans focus on individual preferences and direct confrontation. Within the context of business deals, the Vietnamese spend time in the beginning establishing strong bonds and trust before closing, while Americans typically do the opposite. Lastly, the Vietnamese believe one should reject praise and be modest, while Americans overemphasize their accomplishments and welcome praise.

I believe that these cultural aspects will undoubtedly influence my personal and professional experience in Vietnam. The cultural similarity of engaging in consumerism and capitalism should hopefully ease my transition to Vietnam as I will still be able to purchase the things I need or want. For my professional experience, this similarity will enable me to still contribute my background knowledge on consumer habits to my work during the internship. Nonetheless, I predict inevitable obstacles, including the need to haggle when shopping in the marketplace and understanding the intricacies of the socialist government’s attitude towards the growth of capitalism. Furthermore, I believe the cultural difference towards relationships and respect will influence my personal experience because I will have to consciously adjust my interactions with locals that I may meet. It will affect my professional experience because I will have to approach business relationships and interactions in a manner that conforms to their values.