Vietnam: Your next stop for market expansion
At World Trade Center Utah (WTC Utah), we believe that doing business internationally should be as easy as doing business across the street, even if the other side of the street is nearly 8,000 miles away.
Vietnam’s robust manufacturing sector and rich culture position it to potentially pick up many of the manufacturing jobs leaving China due to geopolitical issues. Its rapidly growing economy and expanding middle class have been attracting a lot of attention, including from WTC Utah’s team of global business experts. With a successful track record of helping more than 250 Utah companies with the logistics of globalization, our team provides a range of tools to assist companies at every stage of the process — from market expansion to supply chain optimization.
Recently, two Utah companies, Reading Horizons and Lion Energy, turned to WTC Utah for help in expanding their global footprint. Although they have different business models, both businesses have found opportunities to expand.
Reading Horizons Matches with Vietnam
Reading Horizons, a company that supports educators with powerful tech-enabled foundational reading instruction, used WTC Utah’s business matching services to find new markets in order to test their product on non-native English learners, find a licensing partner, and capture valuable feedback. Together, Reading Horizons and WTC Utah identified Vietnam as a promising market for their product and planned to attend the VietTESOL International Convention, Vietnam’s largest English-language teaching conference based in Nha Trang.
“Although I've previously been to Vietnam and spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia, having the WTC Utah team as a knowledgeable business companion and thought partner was very helpful,” says Laura Axtell, an education specialist at Reading Horizons, “over the course of several days, we were able to have robust discussions on a range of topics, [WTC Utah’s] involvement will benefit our company as we plan for future opportunities in this region and beyond.”
During the conference, Reading Horizons was not only able to confirm market interest in their product, but also met potential customers and partners, and has currently begun the demo process for their first customer in Vietnam.
Lion Energy
Meanwhile, Lion Energy is on a journey to help people become energy independent, through safe, silent, and renewable power that can be used every day. Exploring a China-alternative manufacturing hub, they engaged WTC Utah in market research, which yielded exciting business opportunities in Vietnam.
With lived and worked experience in the region, WTC Utah’s Dustin Daugherty led Lion Energy’s business trip to Vietnam in October 2022. There, they built relationships with two new manufacturing partners and connected with potential buyers.
“[WTC Utah’s] knowledge and connections in Vietnam took the stress and uncertainty out of my foreign travel anxiety,” says Jim Gurr, chairman of Lion Energy. They are already looking forward to their next journey with WTC Utah.
World Trade Center Utah is eager to help more Utah companies expand to new markets. Together, we can establish Utah as the crossroads of the world.
