Setting up in Ho Chi Minh City. Led by someone who has done it before.
Vietnam rewards entrants who move quickly and with local knowledge. We find, vet and match a senior executive who embeds in your Vietnamese entity part time and gets the factory, office or sales team running while head office keeps control.
The leadership gap in a Vietnam entry
Companies arriving in Vietnam usually choose between two imperfect options:
Relocate an executive
They know the company but not Vietnam, and lose months learning how set-up, suppliers and hiring really work locally.
Hire a permanent local leader
They know Vietnam but not the company. Experienced senior people are scarce, the search is slow, and the commitment comes before the entry has proved itself.
Set-up steps that take planning
Registration, tax and employment for a foreign-invested company involve several steps that are easier with experience. Your advisers handle the filings; your executive keeps the plan on track around them.
Relationships and speed together
Vietnamese business moves fast and digitally, yet still runs on trust and seniority. Entrants need someone who can do both.
There is a better route: a vetted senior executive with Vietnam experience, matched from our collective and embedded from the first month, working to your head office's plan.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- International companies opening their first Vietnamese entity
- Entrants who need speed and local knowledge from day one
- A launch that needs commercial, finance and operations led at once
- Businesses testing the market before committing to a full local C-suite
- A distributor or partner in place, but no one owning the market strategy
Not for
- A pure legal or licensing task an adviser should handle
- Businesses with no product or offer ready for the market yet
- A one-off market study with no intention to enter
- Companies wanting a nominee rather than an operating leader
What Vietnam experience is worth on day one
The part of an entry that is hardest to hire for quickly is knowing how things actually get done.
Set-up experience
An executive who has opened a Vietnamese entity or factory before knows the sequence, the likely delays and the questions to put to your advisers.
Local networks
Experience in Ho Chi Minh City means faster introductions to suppliers, industrial-park operators, customers and service providers.
How Saigon does business
Your executive knows how to work with founder-led partners, how quickly digital channels move, and when a relationship needs a meeting rather than a message.
Manufacturing and FDI know-how
Many entrants are moving production to Vietnam. Where that is your plan, we match executives who have run plant start-ups and supplier qualification here.
A handover we own
If your executive has to step away during the entry, we manage the handover and search again from the brief we hold, so momentum is kept.
How a Vietnam entry unfolds
Four phases over roughly the first one to two years.
Before launch: plan and register
Working alongside your advisers on registration, choosing a site or office, planning foreign and local hires, and building early relationships with partners.
Landing: the first 90 days
Banking, payroll and the finance framework running, the core team hired, and the first customers or production runs under way.
Traction: months 3 to 12
Sales or output growing across Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam, the operating model tested, and the scope adjusted to what the business now needs.
Established: months 12 to 24
A settled business with evidence-based revenue. Some roles move to permanent hires, and we help plan the transition.
The market-entry leadership stack
Most entries need more than one function led at once. Start with the one under most pressure, then add others as you establish.
Market entry needs leadership across commercial, finance, operations and people
The right fractional executive for each part of a Ho Chi Minh City entry.
Our executives bring market-entry experience from
