Uncategorized – Page 5 – UF in Vietnam Internship

Different standards

Because accounting standards differ between the United States and Vietnam, the most challenging part of my internship is determining is assignments that I’ve completed are correct. Whenever I am given a task, no matter how simple or repetitive they seem, I must begin by conducting general research on the topic to confirm that the method I would use in the United States is still appropriate in Vietnam. Often, a coworker will pull me aside when I am assigned a project and explain the process in explicit detail. Working in compliance with VAS is often frustrating because I feel like I should know how to record journal entries or calculate income tax on my own, and yet I continue to rely on the other members of my accounting team for help. However, I know that this experience is a fantastic learning opportunity and is teaching me a lot, and the more comfortable I become with the accounting software in Vietnam, the easier my assignments will become.

The best part of my internship is that Kadri allows me to accompany her on “field trips” to various events to observe other companies and meet business professionals in Ho Chi Minh City. So far, I have attended a presentation about retaining millennial employees hosted by the Hungarian Consulate and a tour of the Swarovski factory. Walking through the floor of the Swarovski factory was especially interesting because we were able to witness the production of jewelry at every stage; every crystal is placed by hand into the molds for bracelets, rings, and earrings. I had expected the factory to use much more automation, as opposed to manual processes. Going on these field trips also allows me to connect with other business professionals and expatriates in Vietnam, providing me with many networking opportunities.

Food in Vietnam is different than what I had expected; many Vietnamese do not like spices on their food, so I have found myself eating lots of plain white rice and noodle soup. Usually, the dish is served with a bowl of hot peppers or chili sauce on the side to add some heat, but there are rarely any seasonings in the dish. However, my favorite meal that I discovered in Ho Chi Minh City is Tteok-bokki (Tokbokki), which, ironically, is a traditional Korean dish of stir-fried rice cakes. The rice cakes are about the size of a piece of penne pasta and are usually cooked in a spicy red sauce that has the of a duck sauce or a glaze. Usually there is some sort of meat and vegetable mixed in as well. It is completely amazing and everyone should try it!

Working hard or hardly working

I can’t believe my time in Ho Chi Minh is coming to an end. It has been an amazing summer filled with beautiful sights, amazing food, and new experiences. At Spiced, I learned a lot about the coworking industry and the day-to-day operations of a start-up company. I feel as if I did well throughout my internship and was able to help Spiced get started on the right foot. One area that I did very well in was financial budgeting and tracking. Some of the projects I worked on that had a direct impact on the company include: revenue and pricing models, pitch decks, and income and expense reports. These documents allowed Spiced to price their items competitively in the marketplace while also maximizing profit, as well as keep accurate and up to date records of their revenues and expenses to ensure they are meeting their targets and staying in budget. An area where I have room for growth is my knowledge of google sheets. While I learned a lot by doing various assignments, I was inefficient and spent more time than I could have taken because I had to learn different formulas and tools that google sheets provides.

The experience of getting to live and work in HCMC for 2 months, as well as travel throughout southeast Asia on the weekends, has been an experience I will never forget. Stepping out of my comfort zone while getting to experience new cultures has helped me grow in numerous ways. One such way is that I improved my interpersonal skills by overcoming language barriers and interacting with people from all walks of life, from street vendors in Malaysia to bus drivers in the Philippines to business professionals in HCMC. I gained professional experience through my internship at Spiced, as well as improved my professionalism by better understanding Vietnamese business culture. This experience will help me in my future career because it illustrated an area I need to improve upon, and it helped me develop my interpersonal communication skills, which are important in the Private Wealth Management industry.

One key takeaway that I had from this experience is that the United States often confuses overworking for efficiency. In the United States, from the moment people wake up in the morning until the time they get home at night they are working hard trying to get as much done each day as possible. While things obviously need to get done, there is no reason we try to cram so much into such a short period of time without giving ourselves a break. In HCMC, people can often be seen sitting and talking on the street no matter the time of day. People here know that they have work they need to do, but they also understand there is no reason to work yourself crazy in the process. For example, while Spiced was under construction, the workers would often sit around and talk and take breaks throughout the day, but they still finished their job on time. In the United States, we view people as lazy if they take breaks. We need to change the notion that if you take sporadic breaks you can’t also be productive and meet deadlines.

Sometimes less is more

The time that I felt most proud during my internship was when I saw that the prices I determined for our different products and offerings were the ones being advertised on our website. It felt amazing getting to see the work that I have done be able to shape the company and help it grow. I was very happy that my work was being utilized and taken seriously, and it further motivated me to continue to work hard and do whatever I could to help the company continue to expand.

My biggest professional accomplishment during the internship was teaching a course on the basics of investing to both our members and HCMC residents. I am a big advocate that everybody should invest long-term as a good source of supplemental income, so I enjoy teaching how to begin investing and building a portfolio while managing risk. This class was especially important to me because it was my first time covering a stock market outside of the United States (both the Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi exchanges) as well as speaking to non-native English speakers. This was something I had to adapt to, as I had to control my speaking rate and pronunciation while making sure I didn’t oversimplify any topic. However, after the class concluded I was able to answer questions from the audience, and the questions they were asking made it appear that I succeeded in being able to accurately convey the information I wanted to. In addition, we had a networking session and I received lots of positive feedback from the audience, making the class feel like a success for both the audience and for me.

One way that living in HCMC has changed is the way I view the hustle and bustle of the United States. Here in HCMC, you can find people sitting along the street talking, eating, or playing games no matter the time of day. While these people undoubtedly have things to do, they don’t forget about taking time to relax and enjoy themselves as well. As a result, even though there is a lot going on in HCMC, you can feel a certain calmness to the city. In the United States however, people are frantically going from one task to another as if they were racing, trying to be as “efficient” as possible. This leads to a feeling of chaos and frenzy, and lots of additional stress. I believe that it if U.S. citizens took time out of their day to just relax and take a break, even if it was only for 5 minutes here and there, they would be more productive throughout the day and feel less stress.

Making friends when you least expect it

From this internship, I have learned a lot about the coworking industry, specifically the coworking industry in Vietnam. The industry is very young, with the first coworking space globally opening around 2005, and the first coworking space in Vietnam opening in 2012. I also learned more about the targeted customers of a coworking space. There are two main types of coworking spaces: ones that target startups and small businesses, and ones that target individual entrepreneurs and digital nomads. Spiced, where I am interning, targets the latter. Prior to this internship, I had thought that all coworking spaces targeted startups and businesses, not individual nomads. One other thing I learned about the industry is the way that they make money. The actual coworking segment of the business is high-volume and low-margin, so these businesses need to make their money in higher-margin segments. Predominantly, this comes in the form of private office space, educational courses, or, in the case of Spiced, a bistro.

Spiced has many strengths in the industry, such as its incredibly loyal customer base (many customers that were members at our previous location are still members today), the fact that we separate ourselves from competitors by focusing more on community instead of working, the fact that we have a pool and garden on-site, and the fact that we serve community lunch produced in-house to help build friendships among members. Some of the weaknesses that Spiced must overcome include its lack of available desk space for coworking, as we are unable to fit as many hotdesks as some of our competitors. Opportunities we face include expanding to be able to serve food from the bistro to locals and other non-members, as well as starting consulting sessions where we are able to provide advice and support for startups. Threats we face include the low barriers to entry of the industry, price cuts by competitors that we can’t match, and not having enough members to adequately build a sense of community.

An amazing moment in my HCMC life was when I was flying back to HCMC from Kuala Lampur. On my flight, I became friends with the man sitting next to me, and we talked about our lives and why we were in Kuala Lampur, among other things. Once we landed, he invited me and my friends I travelled with to go and get drinks with him nearby, so we met him and his son and all got to hangout and become friends. It was a really fun experience getting to go see a part of town I would have never been to, as well as getting to befriend locals and learn more about what life in HCMC is like.

Eat as much as you can

The most challenging aspect of my internship has been adapting to my bosses’ style of communication. He is an external thinker, which means that he brainstorms and works through his progression of ideas out loud. As an internal thinker (meaning that I work through an issue or idea in my head), it took some adapting to be able to understand what exactly my boss was trying to tell me. As a result, at the beginning of my internship I was having trouble understanding the assignments that my boss was giving me, since he would say things out loud that contradicted itself and would confuse me, but it was simply him thinking out loud. I learned to combat this by writing down all the different instructions that he gave, and then piecing them all together like a jigsaw puzzle. This challenge provided me the opportunity to enhance my interpretation skills.

My favorite feature of my internship is that I get to talk to all of our different members and learn about their varying businesses and backgrounds. Since we are a coworking startup targeting expats and digital nomads, our members come from all over the world doing various things. In the past week I have had the opportunity to meet people from Singapore, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy, and France, just to name a few. I’ve gotten to talk to them and learn more about their culture and what their life as a nomad and/or expat is like. I’ve also gotten to meet people across various industries, ranging from cybersecurity to graphic design to writing, getting to learn a little bit about what each industry entails. Prior to the start of my internship, I thought we would only get members from southeast Asia at Spiced, so it has been amazing having the chance to meet and speak with people from other parts of the world as well.

HCMC has amazing food. As a self-proclaimed foodie, I’ve loved having the opportunity to indulge in food unique to HCMC. My favorite food that I have had has been bun cha. Bun cha is grilled pork and noodles. You are given 4 bowls: one of pork with sauce, one of noodles, one of lettuce, and an empty bowl to mix it all together. First, you put the lettuce in the bowl, then you add noodles. Next, you add some sauce from the pork to make the noodles less sticky and then mix the three together. Then, you add the pork and more sauce, and mix again. Now you are ready to eat! The pork was full of flavor from the sauce, and the noodles and lettuce add texture and even more flavor. While bun cha is my favorite, I highly recommend eating as much food as you can while in Vietnam.

In conclusion

My last days in Saigon are dwindling down. I have had an amazing experience overall. I’ve traveled all over Vietnam and the surrounding Southeast Asian countries, and I had a great learning experience via my internship with spiced. Overall, I think my performance was fantastic. I showed up every single day, on time, ready to streamline operations. I accomplished every task given to me, and even went beyond what was asked. For example, to expose more people to the coworking and event space within our company, my coworker Garrett and I organized a presentation on financial basics for the locals. We created financial statements for spiced, attracted investor partnerships and funding, and most importantly, we had a great time.

I think I excelled most in teamwork. I got along great with my employer and the employees of the company. I also made a great friend in my fellow intern Garrett. We were a very efficient team, and morale was always extremely high regardless of circumstance. I would say the area I need the most improvement is perhaps networking. When we hosted networking events or attended any, I was a little on the shy side and did not quite present myself as forward as I would have liked to. This experience contributed a lot towards my personal growth. It taught me how to be much more flexible with people and situations that arise. It also taught me better organization and time management skills that will filter into my future career. I also have gained some great business knowledge and learned how a company operates from the ground up. I am sure all of this will be useful in the future.

Overall, I loved my time in Ho Chi Minh city. It was a rewarding experience filled with adventure. I got to immerse myself in an extremely unique culture, and I truly felt I was experiencing the world in its raw beauty. It certainly has had its challenges. However, the lessons I learned and the friendships that were fostered in Vietnam will last throughout my entire life. I’d like to thank the University of Florida, Jason Ward, and Mike Fitzgerald for helping me find and execute this opportunity. I’d also like to thank all my fellow UF interns in Vietnam, I truly had an amazing experience with everyone! Vietnam has been great, and the people I went on this journey with turned it into the adventure of a lifetime.

Creating a Pitch

So far, my proudest moment in my internship has been given the responsibility of creating a pitch deck for institutional investors with my co-worker, Garrett. Together, we ran through the company’s financials, created a DCF revenue model, and lastly assembled a beautiful presentation on the strengths of the company. We also created a general estimate of how the allocation of money would be disbursed within the company, and how much we would need to expand operations, while not taking on too much debt.

I would say my biggest professional accomplishment within the internship has been Garrett and I’s presentation/workshop we gave to the local Vietnamese. While we certainly are not CFA regulated industry professionals, we do have a fairly high level of education with the realm of the finance world. We organized a presentation to give to the local Vietnamese to bolster their knowledge on the stock market, basic money management, and recommended portfolio diversification depending on their goals. We walked them through various financial markets and how to invest in each of them. We managed to gather a crowd of about 15 people to attend our presentation. We were super pleased when they stayed for an extra 45 minutes during the Q&A at the end to ask us questions. The Vietnamese stock exchange opened recently, around 2000-2001, so it is a relatively new way of utilizing their money.

One way I look at life differently after spending the last two months living and working in HCMC is that of gratitude. Vietnam is a beautiful country, but they are not in the first world yet. There are so many challenges ranging from every single direction just to get through daily life. They do not have nearly the same amount of modern luxurious, healthcare, or general infrastructure as we do back in the states. Regardless, they are an optimistic people, always seen with smiles. This country is certainly on its’ way to greatness. Living here has been an extremely humbling experience and has widened by perspective on overall life. It also has taught me how to be much more adaptable to challenges thrown my way.

SWOT

During my internship I have learned numerous things about this industry. First and foremost, it is relatively young. The major corporations did not start until 2012. Overall, it is a very difficult industry to maintain steady income in. Profit margins are razor thin and success relies on developing relationships with real estate companies or landlords.

My company’s strength is its’ community feel. Unlike other coworking companies, they try to foster growth for a sense of belonging. In a foreign country, it can be difficult to make friends and like-minded individuals. My company hosts a multitude of social events, has “community meals”, and we also have high expectations of hospitality between employees and the customers.

Our weakness comes in the place of competition. Larger companies (such as WeWork) have the power to take over multiple floors in skyscrapers in downtown Saigon. They also have a much larger customer base and can target a wider range of clients, from a single digital nomad, to being able to host an entire company within their walls.

The opportunity for growth is certainly present in Vietnam, There are not a ton of competitors yet, and the population is slowly shifting to the first world and more and more people enter the city each day looking for places to cheaply work or house their startups.

Our threats can come from a variety of places. Dealing with landlords and forming partnerships with real estate companies can be a very political and unstable process. A communist government has many more regulations about the rezoning and ownership of land. One loophole we utilize is registering properties under a Vietnamese partner’s name. Foreigners cannot acquire property in Vietnam.

One of my favorite moments in Vietnam thus far has been my trip to Ninh Binh. It is a city a few hours south of Hanoi, the spectacles on nature there are absolutely fascinating.

Challenges and Food

The most challenging part of my internship is probably the need to constantly adapt to the flow of business daily. It is a recent startup, in a communist country, with significantly less quality of infrastructure than America. Each day tends to present a new challenge on top of the regular workflow. Whether that be random power cuts, Vietnamese workers not properly doing their jobs (or taking 3-hour naps during the workday), or lack of reliable contractors to perform proper maintenance in our building, it adds an extra variable each day. I certainly have learned to be flexible and help deal with these issues quickly and effectively, even with the language barrier constantly effecting each interaction.

I think although this is a challenge, it also is the best part about the experience. Learning how to run a company on a smaller level, dealing with everything from operations, finances, to marketing, is a wonderful experience. The unpredictability of the job also adds an extra layer of excitement. Instead of doing the same exact task every single day, it rather is approached as an “What can we do to make this company better today”.

Changing subject, my favorite dish in Vietnam so far actually is not a dish, but rather the coffee. The Vietnamese increase the amount of caffeine in a typical cup, as well as add condensed milk. It adds a certain twist to it that I personally think can sometimes be superior to a typical cup back in America. It is extra sweet without adding a ton of sugar. It also provides quite the kick and enough to get you through and lack of sleep experienced the night before!

A foundation for the future

Scazma has taught me a lot throughout the weeks that I have worked in Vietnam. Being part of a small and close knit team has given me access to help and opportunities that I would have struggled to find elsewhere. I worked hard during my time, but I still believe that I have a lot to improve. I spent a lot of time in this company learning from my mistakes and practicing with online programs that I previously had little experience with. I liked that I could have my ideas listened to, and I was able to utilize them to create interior furniture for the team.

I was better at designing than I was with using AutoCAD at the beginning of the internship, but I improved greatly as I progressed. I am still able to grow in some technical programs, but I am happy with my progress so far. These skills that I have been able to acquire are vitally important for me in all future endeavors, whether that be school or career wise, so I know that I will continue to expand my expertise in these areas as I proceed through college and life. I am excited to see how my knowledge and skills can be used when I return to Gainesville.

My experience here can only enrich my design process and thinking as I make the transition from more abstract concepts in under division to concrete and real ones in my more advanced classes. This is one of the most important takeaways for me. I have had little experience or concept for concrete design idea before I entered this internship. My curriculum at UF encourages abstract and free concepts during the first two years of architecture school. This has left me very new to the idea of hotel design and creation. This was both a challenge and an opportunity for me as I navigated a completely fresh field of study. I was able to take on this task in a foreign country with relatively little discomfort, which is something that I am quite proud of myself for. I grew to love my coworkers and Ho Chi Minh City, so as my internship draws to a close I am able to look back on it and realize how much I will miss the experiences I have had and cherish the memories that I have made.