Vietnam - Asia's rising star with Brook Taylor and Sam Korsmoe

We're excited to welcome Brook Taylor and Sam Korsmoe to The Old Compass on 12th September. They'll be discussing their recently launched book, 'Vietnam – Asia’s Rising Star' [Việt Nam – Ngôi Sao Đang Lên của Châu Á]

Over the past 25 years, Vietnam has advanced from being one of the poorest nations in Asia to an upper-middle income country that is an important manufacturing hub for the world. In 2000, Vietnam’s total global trade with the outside world (exports plus imports) was $30 billion and the country’s GDP was around $31 billion in size. By the end of 2023, its global trade had increased to $683 billion and the economy was around $450 billion in size. In addition, its extreme poverty rate has declined to less than one percent today from over 50 percent in the 1990s.

These are data-supported historical trends. The more interesting questions are about Vietnam’s economic future. Can it sustain the high levels of growth for which it has become known? Will free trade and foreign direct investment be the country’s path to sustainable wealth? Can it grow and develop like the former Tiger Economy countries of South Korea and Taiwan which experienced 50 years of economic growth to become high-income countries? These are the topics that Brook Taylor and Sam Korsmoe explore in their new book.

More than three years of research and writing have produced two versions (English and Vietnamese) of a book that has 12 chapters including six case studies and economic forecasts to the year 2050.

OUR SPEAKERS:

Brook Taylor

 Is a New Zealander who has been living and working in Vietnam since 1997. He has over 30 years of finance and management experience. This includes 25 years in Vietnam, eight years as a partner in Big 5 accounting firms and 17 years as the Chief Operating Officer and the CEO of Asset Management at VinaCapital, a multi-disciplinary investment management firm with more than $3.8 billion in assets under management in Vietnam.

Brook’s work is also his hobby. Outside of VinaCapital, he has founded and invested in several successful startup companies including Timo, Vietnam’s first and largest internet bank, and Rooster Beers, a Vietnam-centric craft brewery and soda company. He is also involved with several other online businesses spanning financial services and tourism. Brook has a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and Administration from the Victoria University of Wellington and an Executive MBA, with distinction, from INSEAD. He is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Sam Korsmoe

 Is an American who has been engaged with Vietnam since 1990 and lived and worked full-time in the country from 1993 to 2004 and again from 2018 to the present day. He speaks Vietnamese (fluently), Mandarin Chinese (survival), and Chavacano (near fluently). Sam has written extensively on business, culture, education, and sports for several publications. In addition to numerous market and industrial research reports about Vietnam and Cambodia, he wrote and published two books, an oral history of Vietnam, Saigon Stories (2006), and a nonfiction book on marathons and other sporting events, A World Gone Mad for Marathons (2019). Sam is the founder and lead instructor of the Saigon Writers Club (established in 2021) which has hosted nine creative writing classes for aspiring writers and has published four short story anthologies.

 Sam has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Montana State University and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Washington. His Master’s thesis was on Doi Moi, the economic reforms of Vietnam.

Join us for a special Saigon evening.

TICKETS

Entrance tickets purchased in advance: 200,000VND/ticket or 550.000 VND/combo ticket (ticket with dinner and 1 drink) Entrance tickets at the door (if available) 250,000VND/ticket. (Please note that this is an intimate venue and most talks sell out).

CHILDREN UNDER 12 YEARS OLD NOT PERMITTED. GROUP REQUESTS HANDLED BASED ON AVAILABILITY. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE OLD COMPASS CAFE - 3rd Floor, 63/11 Pasteur St., District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (The alley right next to Liberty Citypoint Hotel)