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The monied heroes of a new Vietnam
After a decade of roaring growth, wealth is no longer something to hide in the once unwaveringly Communist nation.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the March 13, 2007 edition
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HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM - Move over model worker, that Communist icon of self-sacrifice and sweat. Vietnam has a new hero: the model taxpayer.
Last month, Le Cong Tuan Kiet, an executive at a French-owned lighting company, woke up to find his name on a tally of top taxpayers in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006. His annual income-tax return of $15,000 put him at No. 5 on the list, which local newspapers printed along with ringing praise from the tax department for his contributions to their coffers. The No. 1 payer, who works at a Swiss pharmaceutical firm, kicked in $181,000, in a city where factory workers earn $45 a month.
Slightly embarrassed but unruffled, Paris-educated Mr. Kiet doesn't take his ranking too seriously. He points out that the list covers employees at foreign-owned companies, not Vietnamese entrepreneurs who also draw large salaries. Still, he reckons it should be a career booster, as corporate headhunters will know he commands a high price.
"Being wealthy in Vietnam isn't a problem today. Many people want to be rich," he says.
As foreign investors continue to pour money into Vietnam's vibrant economy, which grew by 8.2 percent last year, its 83 million people are dreaming of a bright future. After Vietnam suffered the privations of a state-planned economy, its new free-market policies – dubbed "renovation" by its architects – have, since the 1980s, slowly yielded to a turbo-powered model of capitalism that has put entrepreneurs back in the driver's seat.
Social attitudes toward public displays of wealth and success are shifting after decades of war and austerity, particularly among the under-24 crowd, which makes up over half of the population. Luxury-brand retailers are vying for consumers who until recently preferred to sock money away or invest quietly in real estate rather than flaunt it. And as Vietnam integrates fully into the world economy – it joined the World Trade Organization in January – such trends seem likely to grow, as more Vietnamese join the affluent classes and feel more secure about showing off.
"Vietnam is a country that's gone from looking down on entrepreneurs and private businessmen to revering them. This is a culture that worships successful entrepreneurship," says Than Trong Phuc, country manager for US chipmaker Intel, which is building a $1 billion plant in Vietnam.
Nowhere is the pace of change more apparent than in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial powerhouse.
When its stock exchange opened seven years ago inside a former colonial legislative assembly, it traded only a handful of stocks, three days a week. Turnover was paltry, and investors grumbled about the slow pace of government privatizations.
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