Chances for Saxion students in fast-growing Vietnamese economy
For Le Minh Dung, who studied at Saxion Enschede from 2002-2004, his MBA degree was the ticket to the job he now holds as an Associate Director at CB Richard Ellis, an international property consultancy company in Hanoi, whose headquarters are in the United States of America.
Pre-master course
Le Minh Dung’s relationship with Saxion dates back to 2001 when he started at Deventer in the preparatory course, then called Pre-Master, to upgrade his English. At the time of his arrival he already had 2 Vietnamese bachelor degrees under his belt: Foreign Trade and Economics. In addition he already had worked as a trading expert for a Vietnamese construction, import and export company for some time, and he continued working during his studies at Saxion. One of his Dutch suppliers was WAVIN, for which company he also worked in the holidays. “This was a long-term strategy, for in this way I got experience both as a white-colour worker in my own company and a blue-colour worker in recycling with WAVIN, besides getting some pocket money.”
MBA in Enschede
Dung, or Tony by which name he is more
widely known at Saxion, obtained his international MBA degree in 2004 after
acceptance of his dissertation about how applying Western business strategies
could enhance successful bidding in Vietnam. His research question was closely
related to his work experience in the international tender department of his
then employer. “My advice to students in business bachelor courses? Always get
a few years of work experience first before taking a master. You need your
experience as a frame of reference in order to acquire and integrate more
comprehensive knowledge.”
New job opportunities in Vietnam
During his studies Tony
went back to Vietnam every 6 months. “I saw Vietnam gradually develop and
attract more foreign investment. My company CBRE (CB Richard Ellis), which has
400 offices world-wide, including 3 offices in the Netherlands, opened CBRE
Vietnam in 2003. It started with 15 employees and now there are already 200
multinational employees, coming from Vietnam, the U.S., U.K., Singapore, the
Netherlands, Germany and the Philippines. Besides Bong (Chu Ha Bong,
H.S.), there are other Saxion graduates working for CBRE in other
departments. We can offer work placement to Dutch Saxion students, with
opportunities both ways: if satisfactory, they could get a future job offer.
Especially real estate and facility management graduates are in great demand
because of the vast economic growth in Vietnam that is going on at the moment.
Offices are mushrooming in the larger cities and need to be managed. ”
Made in Holland
Tony is successful at CBRE, which is
shown by the award he got in 2006 for best performance in the Asia and Pacific
region. He points to the comprehensive business and marketing knowledge and
personal skills (such as international communication and giving presentations)
he daily needs in his work and which he acquired and practised during his MBA
studies. But also his personal happiness is very much connected with Saxion: He
met his wife Pham Thi Phuong Quynh when she studied Facility Management at
Saxion. After working for a non-governmental agency for some time, Quynh now
works for Thai Airways in p.r. and customer management. Together they have a
one-and-a-half-year old daughter called Ha Lan, (Du. Holland), made in
Holland!
Source: SAX Magazine
Written by: Hannie
Schipper