This is work in progress
The Global South can take advantage of AI, especially AI agents, and Vietnam is especially well positioned to capture an Alibaba-Amazon moment. At the Autumn Economic Forum in Ho Chi Minh City, I spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek Vietnam about why Vietnam can win this next layer, not just use it. Vietnam can extend its bamboo diplomacy to bamboo technology, using both Eastern and Western models, developing agents, and equipping its citizens and SMEs with a globally competitive agent workforce. Home ground is already won: Zalo and MoMo give Vietnam its own consumer layer, while many neighbours still rely on foreign apps. Alibaba gave sellers a shop. Amazon gave them fulfilment. AI agents give them a global team, so a small Vietnamese business can sell to the world.
Vietnam is country 10 on my global tour this year, ahead of research for the upcoming book. Felix Arndt, Alvin Foo, and I are on track to publish the sequel to The Ten Commandments of Investing, Ten Commandments of Investing: Age of AI.
The full article translation in English is at WorkOptional.ai
Watch the 15-minute interview in English here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcyxt2vs-Q
Read the full article here: https://bbw.vn/ong-san-eng-viet-nam-dang-co-khoanh-khac-alibaba-voi-kinh-te-tac-tu-ai-61209.html
#WorkOptional #EastWestAIpha #ikiBrain #10Cs #AI #FutureOfWork
Here is the full article translation
Mr. San Eng: Vietnam is having an “Alibaba moment” to develop the AI agent economy.
In a conversation with a Bloomberg Businessweek Vietnam reporter on the sidelines of the Autumn Economic Forum in Ho Chi Minh City on Oct 28, Mr. San Eng, founder of WorkOptional.ai, said Vietnam stands before an opportunity to develop the AI agent economy. He compared this moment to the moment Alibaba once seized with e-commerce in China.
According to him, Vietnam’s first advantage comes from its bamboo diplomacy policy, and this advantage is now extending to its approach to technology. While Western countries such as those in Europe mainly choose Western AI technology such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, Vietnam can both use these platforms and exploit open-source AI models such as DeepSeek or Moonshot AI’s Kimi at a more suitable cost.
Another factor, according to Mr. San Eng, is that Vietnam owns domestic technology platforms with large user bases, such as VNG’s messaging app Zalo or the MoMo e-wallet in payments. Meanwhile, in many Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand or the Philippines, users mainly rely on foreign apps. Together with the Vietnamese government’s policy of building a new growth model based on science and technology, he said AI agents, if applied appropriately, will help domestic small and medium enterprises a great deal.
Mr. San Eng currently lives and works between New York and Bangkok. WorkOptional.ai, which he founded, is a unit for AI research, training, and investment connection, focused on comparing and connecting Eastern and Western AI ecosystems. According to his introduction, he has about 30 years of experience in investment, has deployed more than USD 500 million into real estate, venture investment, and private funds, and is also the author of the investment book The Ten Commandments of Investing. He is preparing the sequel, Ten Commandments of Investing: Age of AI, and has guest lectured at many business schools, including Wharton. He said this is his sixth time in Vietnam. In the past two years, he has paused investment activities to spend time surveying and researching AI and related investment opportunities, with trips to 10 countries.
The article closes with a note: how AI in particular and the technology wave in general will affect Vietnam’s economy in 2027 to 2030 is a topic international and domestic speakers will discuss at Vietnam Future Economy 2026, organised by Bloomberg Businessweek Vietnam on Nov 26 in Ho Chi Minh City.
