Uncategorized – Page 15 – UF in Vietnam Internship

Unexpected Opportunities

After only five days of interning at Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL), I am bursting with optimism and excitement for what is to come in the next six weeks. I have felt exceptionally welcomed since I entered the office on my first day. The warm atmosphere of IBL helps facilitate the networking process between myself and the employees, which has been one of my favorite aspects of this internship so far. The incredible work environment and people have made my experience very insightful.

IBL is a research and development company that focuses on services utilizing blockchain technology. This company consists of six individual labs concentrating on a wide range of topics from FinTech to business development. I am currently a marketing intern for GINAR, a provider of Decentralized Random Numbers Generation solutions that launched in 2018. Although technically not classified as a project, IBL helps propel GINAR’s progress, and the two businesses are located in the same office. GINAR applies blockchain technology to produce tamper-resistant random numbers at rapid speeds, a service that is especially useful for lottery and online gambling operators.

I have been given a wide variety of tasks in the first few days of my internship. In the first week, I have conducted SEO research, gathered a list of blockchain influencers on various forms of social media, edited a website for grammatical mistakes, expanded GINAR’s social media reach by engaging with the blockchain community, brainstormed iGaming infographic ideas (1 of 6 that I will create myself) and researched the content for it, and attended a blockchain training session with the IBL team from Taiwan. I have also been able to make connections with the employees during lunchtime and breaks. On Thursday of my first week, GINAR’s marketing specialist, who I work closely with, drove me to a company soccer match on her scooter. Although it rained during the entire game, I had an amazing time cheering on my team with the other employees. This is just one example of my attempts to network with as many people as possible in IBL. This week, I was also informed that I would be traveling to Barcelona to help represent GINAR at the World Gaming Executive Summit (GES) in July. GES is one of the most exclusive conferences for the gaming industry, and I will be able to network with top companies as well as document the event for our social media channels. For someone double majoring in marketing and Spanish, this opportunity is like a dream come true and proves that anything is possible in Asia.

I would describe the work environment as calm, focused, and enjoyable. There are about 250 employees that include blockchain developers, researchers, marketers, and planners. All of the employees seem very focused when working but are not afraid to take a snack break when necessary or play a game of ping pong during lunch. Because of this, I do not feel very pressured, and I am able to think clearly during my internship. Everyone that works in IBL seems very open they all work in the same room, even the CEO.

Overall, I believe my first week has been a success. I have learned so much about marketing, business, my own skills, and how I can apply my previous experiences to the IT industry.

Get’cha Head in the Game

As the first week has come to a close, I have never been more excited to see where this internship will take me. The company I am working for is Axis Research Group as Marketing Research and Technology Assistant. Axis Research Group is a full-service marketing research agency. They offer Business to Business and Business to Consumer services such as business research, consumer research, retail surveys, consulting services, marketing services, and market research. My responsibilities as Marketing Research and Technology Assistant are to assist in desk researches to set benchmarks while observe and learn the stages of market research projects, to assist and develop a marketing plan for TEEGOE: translating project, and to join in brainstorming sessions for app developments.

After the company and industry orientation with my supervisor, I began my first project of encoding market research reports as a part of the new company website development. I love that the work I am doing matters and that my company trusts me enough to give me these opportunities, even though this is my first professional internship. The next day, the interns continued our work on the company website, but due to an error with the website servers, it ended up deleting all of our previous 130 entries. On the bright side, it led us to join our supervisor, Mae, and our boss, Mr. Minh to brainstorm over a new app that our company is creating and potential app development for one of our clients. Mae originally planned that we create research outline presentation for her and Mr. Minh, but due to Mr. Minh meeting with the client on Friday, it had to be a refined presentation that he could show to the client. Just within the first week, you can see I had to adapt to the changing workload and responsibilities, but I love it because I’m never bored and it keeps me on my toes.

Despite the office only has 25 employees, the company is very efficient and influential since they have a wide array of clients from Pepsi to local Vietnamese businesses. This shows that everyone’s voice matters due to the open office setting, horizontal structure, and familial environment. This was very empowering, not only as an intern but also as a female businesswoman, since the majority of the office are female employees. I am so excited to see what I will learn from my time with Axis and the relationships I will build along the way.

International Accounting at Emerhub

This summer, I am fortunate enough to work as an intern for Emerhub – Vietnam. Emerhub is a market entry consulting firm that works to reduce barriers to entry for foreign companies and investors looking to expand to Southeast Asia. Emerhub conducts market research on behalf of a company, obtains the legal documents necessary for the company to begin operating in Vietnam, assists employers in finding a local workforce and acquiring work permits, and manages the company’s accounting system after the move is complete. Emerhub helps its clients streamline their entry into South East Asia with tailored market entry services, allowing them to easily and efficiently break into a brand-new market without shifting the focus away from their business.

The first week of working at Emerhub has gone much better than I could have ever anticipated. Accounting is a pretty international subject; the basic fundamental rules and calculations are relatively standardized, with only slight variations in the tax code and compliance standards between each country. Therefore, I am able to complete assignments without much difficulty, and my colleagues and supervisor have made me feel as though my contributions are meaningful and productive. I am learning all about Vietnamese employment taxes and how to manipulate payroll to minimize personal income taxes. I even had the opportunity to attend a networking event at a chic rooftop bar, where I met a vibrant and sophisticated Italian woman who teaches European companies how to protect intellectual property when doing business in Vietnam.

In total, Emerhub has about 100 employees in 4 locations (Jakarta, Bali, Vietnam, Philippines), but the branch in Ho Chi Minh City is quite small, with only 12 full-time employees. Our office is essentially just one room – maybe about 200 square feet – with a glass wall sectioning off a small area to serve as an office and a conference room. The accounting team is comprised of 3 individuals, 2 of which (myself and another accountant) both started work at Emerhub on Monday. However, Emerhub is growing rapidly. On Wednesday I accompanied the country manager to view properties to potentially accommodate a larger office space, and Emerhub is working to expand to Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

The only real challenge I have had while working at this company is overcoming the language barrier between myself and many of the employees. Although all business is conducted in English, small talk around the office is always in Vietnamese, creating an exclusive environment that prevents me from forming any social relationships with me coworkers. Occasionally, my coworkers attempt to speak to me at the office, but I frequently misunderstand what they are trying to communicate, so our conversations are now completely limited to online messaging. My first day, for example, I was assigned a project that I completed twice incorrectly because I misinterpreted the instructions. Luckily, Kadri, the country manager is European, and can usually help explain what is expected of me.

Overall, though, I love working at Emerhub in Vietnam. I am very much looking forward to the progression of this internship and am extremely grateful to have this experience.

Feeling the Pulse

I am currently working for Pulse Active, an event hosting company which specializes in runs and concerts. They have hosted some big names, like The Chainsmokers and Zedd, and they are also the host of the annual Ho Chi Minh City Marathon.

My first few days have gone pretty well. I have a general directive and I am left to myself for the whole day. I do sometimes feel a little lost, but I know that I will start to get more of a feel for what I am supposed to be doing all day. On Friday, I gave a presentation on SEO (search engine optimization) and how I think we can improve ours on the many websites we have. It was well received, and I was given the task of helping to write a description to be placed in all of our YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram posts from now on. It is short and utilizes words from our own home website, and it links all the events which we organize. I am currently waiting on permissions to edit our websites so I can add the links to our websites as well. This week has been a little undirected, as I figured, but when I get the website permission, I know I will have plenty of work to be done. I was tasked with fixing the English mistakes on their websites, and there were a lot; these errors have not yet been fixed because the people with the ability to change them have been busy. When I get the permission, I will be able to tweak and edit as I see fit.

Pulse is a young company with about 30 people working in a very open space office. There are tables set up with unassigned seating, so people generally plop down and work where they want to. The tables are almost all the way full, but everyone seems to get along. We are currently gearing up for the Color Me Run, so the office seems busier than normal. Overall, I am happy to be working here, and I am excited to see what I learn!

Adapt or perish

The organization I am working for this summer is called EU-Vietnam Business Network or EVBN. EVBN is an international trade consultant project co-funded by the European Union established in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014. The overall objective of EVBN is to increase exports and investments of the European Union (EU) to Vietnam through Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as strengthening the EU Business sector in Vietnam by facilitating market access through advocacy primarily with the Vietnamese Government. EVBN helps promote Vietnam as a high-potential trade and investment market to assure that EU companies are better able to exploit the growing opportunities in Vietnam and Vietnam as a gateway to the SEA regional market.

The first day of my internship was overwhelming yet underwhelming at the same time. I’ll explain why. Upon my arrival to my company Mrs. Mayte Pernas, my supervisor’s boss, forgot that we (myself and my co-worker Danielle) were coming today. However, after being there for a couple of minutes already and having done research on my company prior I understood why our arrival had escaped her mind. One of the main events EVBN helps organize is called EuroSphere- a unique exhibition dedicated to bringing the premium European Art of Living to the Vietnam and Southeast Asia market. This event is scheduled to be hosted on the 14^th to the 16^th of June so exactly 11 days until its start. The whole office was busy and all-hands-on-deck on their upcoming exhibition. So, we didn’t have any work prepared for us or any guidance for the first couple of days- we were left to ourselves.

At this point I had to adapt. I knew that everyone at the office was busy and didn’t have the time to train or coach two new interns with this big event happening in the next week, so I had to take ownership and be responsible with my own time. So, I opened Microsoft Word and created a 15-page document going through the files on EVBN’s network of all the exhibitors we were hosting next week and complied brief company profiles on my laptop. This early decision on the first couple of days paid off because I was able to familiarize myself with each of our clients so that way when my coworkers talked about each company and the help that they needed I understood what market they operated in, their intention for coming the Eurosphere, and who was representing that and what country they came from.

My environment and culture of my workplace is pretty laid back. My company shares an office space with CCI France Vietnam (French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam), EuroCham (European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam), and the South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesk . My organization gender demographic is 99% all female, with me being the 1% only male working for them, and the work culture is very lax. I clock-in in around 8:30/9 am and leave at 6 pm and I have an hour and a half lunch break. Everyone in the office is friendly and helpful so I am very excited to be interning for EVBN for the next couple of months and I hope I can do my best and assist them in anyway possible.

Spicing things up in HCMC

While in Vietnam, I will be interning at Spiced, which was the first coworking company in Vietnam when it opened in 2012. Spiced provides office space to digital nomads and expats who don’t need permanent office space, just reliable connection to Wi-Fi. However, in order to separate themselves from their competitors, they emphasize building a community around the office space. In order to accomplish this, they have an in-house bistro that serves a community lunch to all members, and they have a pool and garden for members to network and hangout in when they aren’t working. They recently relocated from D1 to a bigger 3 story complex located in D2 of Ho Chi Minh. The first level is the bistro and the pool and garden, and its main use is to build the community and allow members to interact and network with one another. The second level is community space, where we have bedrooms available for rent for people interested in coliving, as well as a living room for members to work or talk in indoors. The third level is the office space that is available for rent. This layout gives members that want space to relax and network many locations to do that without interrupting the work being done on the third level.

Spiced has a very laid-back culture and environment, as they prioritize getting the job done well over getting the job done fast. The team is composed of 5 people: Martial, the CEO; Trí, the bistro operator and chef; Luka, a tourism intern from France; and Jake and I, finance interns participating in the UF in Vietnam program. It is a very small start-up where all 5 of us sit together in a room on the third floor of the complex. In fact, they don’t have their grand opening of their new D2 location until June 24.

My experience during the first week of my internship was an overall very positive one. During the first day, I was given a tour of the unfinished location, and the CEO explained to me his vision of what he saw each room becoming and what its purpose was in the grand scheme of the company. However, during this tour we had some communication issues, as I interpreted his explanations as meaning Spiced was more focused on the bistro than the coworking space. This confused and worried me, since we had focused on only the coworking space during my interview, and I suddenly felt out of place and unqualified due to my very limited knowledge about the restaurant industry. This prompted me to seek a conversation with him into what Spiced’s business model was and how I could be utilized best, which helped alleviate my concerns about the work that I would be doing and the impact that I would be able to have on the company as a result. It was also very beneficial because for the rest of the week I was assigned to work on a pitch book for investors, which allowed me to learn a lot more about both my company specifically and the coworking industry. Although it was challenging at times since I was new to the company and had never made a pitch book before, it was a very beneficial experience and I learned a lot about how to sell a company. I really appreciated how I was given the opportunity to do meaningful work right from the beginning, allowing me to learn hands-on and have the opportunity to help shape the future of the company.

The picture below is of a normal desk setup on the third floor co-working space.

Just going for it

That’s a wrap for the second week in Vietnam; a week that brought even bigger changes as I can now see first hand how the Vietnamese business world works. Also, it took me to a new beach town called Mui Ne.

My internship is with a company called Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL). As the name suggests, this is a Blockchain company. What I liked the most is the fact that is not focused just in Cryptocurrency. IBL looks to penetrate different markets by developing products that go from eWallets (Infinito), traceability systems (Wowtrace), identity verifier (Blockpass) and the product that I am assigned to in the Business Development department, Ginar.

Ginar is an RNG (Random Number Generator) aiming for the gambling and iGaming industries. This product provides secure randomization and verifiability. Something that will lower the costs of hosts like online casinos due to the fact they spend considerable money on verifying results when there is a winner of big pools.

As of my first day in the company, I recommend just have a “go for it” mindset. There is nothing to lose in this experience. In fact, the mental stress that we put in ourselves is unnecessary. Vietnamese people appreciate international students and make you feel welcome from day 1. As my first week went by, I felt like I had a month already at the company. From the people in my same department to the CEO, the Vietnamese showcased an embracing, humble and positive attitude.

The company has 300+ employees in between the branches located in Thailand, Singapore and Saigon, but the structure transmits a sense of freedom as the company is aiming for expansion. 80% of the company’s staff are technicians, providing big opportunities for me as part of the development area of the company.

Coming to Vietnam already feels like the best decisions, so I encourage you to get out pf your comfort zone and live whatever experience you can get.”

Surprised by similarity

Throughout my first week in Vietnam, I have found that there were both cultural and physical aspects that I was expecting to see, and also many that were largely unexpected. Among the things that I was expecting to see, were a very hectic and busy day to day life, the mixing of old and new buildings, and the mixing of different Asian cultures. The streets in Ho Chi Minh City are very hectic, and driving styles are very different from the United States. Traffic laws are largely ignored in most scenarios, but despite this, I am still yet to see a traffic accident. I believe this to be the case because of the countries frequent use of horns as a means to alert other vehicles of other driver’s locations. All of the drivers drive in what I would describe as an aggressive manor, and because of this, drivers are expecting the aggressive style, and can adapt. Also, seeing high rise buildings next to very old areas was one thing that even having expected to see, was still very surreal.

Among the things I was surprised to see in Vietnam were the large number of English speakers, polite attitudes towards foreign travelers, and extremely high-end shopping areas. I have felt that my lack of knowledge of Vietnamese has really not hindered my traveling of Vietnam thus far. Most of the younger population speaks English, and those that do not, are still very observant and are able to understand my needs despite the language barrier. I have felt that I have been treated very well throughout this first week, and am surprised how willing the locals are to help out with directions, and any general questions.

Traveling to and through the Cu Chi tunnels was the activity that I found most interesting and informative in my first week of traveling. I had some knowledge of the use of these tunnels in the Vietnam war, but seeing them in person really put into perspective what many had to go through during the war. Even the short amount of time I spent in the tunnels was a lot, I cannot imagine having to live under ground for any extended period of time.

As this trip progresses, I hope to discover more and more about the culture of Vietnam that cannot be read, or found online. I especially am excited to start my internship, and learn how business in Vietnam compares to business back in the United States.

I have landed on an alien planet

Vietnam was a culture shock. My world was thrown into complete disarray as soon as I arrived, it was comparable to landing on an alien planet. It was mesmerizing. There was an immense amount of beauty within the bustling and chaotic streets of this rapidly expanding city. I was greeted by street vendors hustling for an extra few cents on their sales, to then look up to a Lamborghini passing by without garnering much notoriety.

Another shock was the amount of English-speaking citizens here. Essentially every young person under the age of 35 has been able to communicate effectively with me. Diversity within Vietnam is quite unique as it shifts onto its own platform within the world economy. I have to say my expectations were exceeded. I knew this would be a challenge, and it has been. However, learning to adapt and thrive on the go is certainly a skill I am developing.

Life in Saigon is nonstop, and it is a hustle. You can feel the influence of an economy shifting towards a western capitalistic mindset as it sheds its’ socialist past. Vietnam is also a place of extremely unique and beautiful cultural background. The people are proud of their past and open minded to influences from abroad. There is no official religion here, and you can see influences from each major belief system. Our trip to the Black Lady mountain was highlighted by a visit to a Cao Die temple where I got to see this mixture of religion in action. “Cao Đài” is a relatively new, syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. This belief system is a combination of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It is rapidly growing within Vietnam. Our trip there was a beautiful cultural experience. We visited the main temple of the following and were welcomed with nothing but smiles and open arms. It was similar to our earlier trip to a Buddhist temple, except after the service, the members hopped on their scooters (of which there are 45 million in Vietnam) and returned to their normal lives instead of retreating back to temple life.

The culture here is a mixing pot of various Asian influence from the surrounding countries. It is interesting and even reminds me of America being influenced by European culture. As this trip continues, I would love to learn more about the local culture within Vietnam from a social standpoint. Such as learning what the locals do in their free time and where they hangout or network. It truly is an amazing and unique country.

The biggest difference? Traffic and water

Over the first week here in Vietnam, we have experienced a lot of awesome things. I feel that when we went to the Cao Dai Temple, we got to experience something unique to Vietnam. Cao Dai is a religion started in Vietnam that fuses the philosophies of Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism all into one. Our tour guide for the week, Long, took us there and we were able to experience a Cao Dai service in their temple firsthand. It was a surreal experience and one that made me feel as if I was truly learning of the culture. (Picture attached below)

Vietnam has more than surpassed my expectations, and I am grateful and happy that I decided to join. Ho Chi Minh City is a lot more modern than I had previously believed, and the only real difference between a large American city and this one is the traffic. Here, lights are suggestions, scooters drive wherever there is enough space to maneuver, and crossing the street is an eye-opening experience. The street food here is also very delicious, and I will probably need to withdraw some more money from my bank because I am trying everything I can. It is hot, hotter than Gainesville for sure, and water doesn’t come free with your meal most of the time unfortunately. Staying hydrated has been a struggle because of the combination of these things, but convenience stores are aplenty, especially in District 1 (the downtown area). District 2 (the area we are staying in) has a lot of foreigners, and with the foreigners also comes the foreign restaurants. I may or may not have had Buffalo Wild Wings, and I may or may not go back soon to visit. Overall, the food is great, the people are great, but the weather sucks.

For my next seven weeks, I hope to improve upon my cultural knowledge, especially the business culture here. Some questions I would like to have answered are:

Why is saying no and being brutally honest disrespectful here?

What is the correct way to introduce yourself in a business setting as compared to a social setting?

Why is the Vietnamese language so difficult? If I learn these things while I am here, I would consider it a great success