Leadership Development & Doing Business in Vietnam

I fell in love with Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam all thanks to ABROADER! I was part of the Ohio University Global Engagement team that visited Vietnam in 2019. Lucy and her team made the trip a never-to-forget trip. Though we were a bunch of faculty and staff, not the usual exchange students that ABROADER handles, they still were there for us. Creating meaningful and worthwhile professional and cultural engagement for us. From the stroll in the central market of Ho Chi Minh City, the boat ride down the Mekong Delta, and interaction with local business leaders and university faculty – ABROADER did an excellent job! When it comes to groups, exchange students, and study-abroad students’ trips to Vietnam intending to have an authentic worthy Vietnamese experience, then without a shade of doubt, I would recommend ABROADER!

For many years, ABROADER has been my trusted partner when I send my students to Vietnam to pursue a capstone international internship as part of their Masters in International Business program. Student teams take on challenging 8-week projects where they help Vietnamese companies from a wide variety of industries deal with an issue or opportunity that is critical to their future success. From ABROADER’s vast network of relationships with great industry leaders to their ability to pair students with local buddies, ABROADER ensures that my students gain a learning experience of a lifetime through deep immersion into the local businesses and culture. In helping with getting my students’ visas processed and from a risk management perspective as well, their team is reliably efficient, thorough, flexible, and highly professional. My heartfelt thanks to Lucy Nguyen and her excellent team for all that you do for my students!

I thank you for your warm greetings ever since my first visit to Hanoi in 2015.  We mainly deal with study tours for Japanese university students, but it is not unusual for students to go abroad for the first time. In an environment where individualized care is required for such students, sincere support has always been provided. Also, seeing our students interact with local students and host families in English, which is not their native language, allows for communication from the heart, which extends beyond just language. That experience has led to their confidence, and this is always touching. All of this is thanks to the pre-training of local students and host families and your efforts as a team. As a result, every student has provided an excellent evaluation every year, which leads to new business for us. We hope that we will continue to grow together and continue to be good partners.

I would like to thank you for your leadership, guidance, and support of our pre-service teachers on the recent Vietnam International Professional Experience. Your thorough planning, preparation, and attention to detail, along with your outstanding leadership during this professional experience, ensured that it was a great success for all concerned. The experiences that you enabled our pre-service teachers to have, and the relationships that you have built with collaborating schools, are vital to the work of the Faculty Education at Monash University. Your wealth of knowledge and experience in supporting the organization of quality International Professional Experience for our students is highly appreciated and valued. I am sure that the experiences had by all participants in this practicum will remain with them for many years to come.

Working with ABROADER has been a delight; their partnership in building a program that works for both our model and local realities has been top-notch. Over the last few years, we have worked closely together to open a new location for Northwestern’s Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) in Hanoi. This eight-week program sends small groups of Northwestern students to intern directly with community-based organizations in Hanoi to partner on work prioritized by the host organization. ABROADER builds and maintains relationships with a wide variety of organizations that are passionate about their missions, as well as hosting students. Working collectively to prioritize both student learning, as well as host organization priorities/community outcomes, has been ideal. During their time abroad GESI students also partner with local buddies, and peers from local colleges and universities, who work with them as teammates throughout the eight weeks. Working with local buddies has proved invaluable; GESI students have gained a significant depth of perspective on life in Hanoi, both professional and personal, by working as teammates. From work placements and homestays to local buddies and cultural excursions, ABROADER has been not only available but proactive in facilitating an experience that offers students deep engagement.

ABROADER is a valued partner for our four-week Faculty-led study program in Vietnam. We have engaged ABROADER to facilitate the yearly program since 2016. What has made the program so successful and engaging for the students is the professionalism and extra effort made by the staff to ensure that the finest details of the program are meticulously planned. Their fastidious attention to detail is one of the distinguishing factors that set them apart from other providers. ABROADER is easy to work with and always accommodating of any last-minute program suggestions. ABROADER has an extensive industry network that they utilize to provide the students with industry tours relevant to their classroom work. They have well-established links to a number of Vietnamese Universities and use them such that coordinated activities and learning experiences are shared between Vietnamese students and students from Newcastle. ABROADER maintains a local buddy system that pairs Vietnamese students with Newcastle students hence providing an amazing insight into the Vietnamese people and culture. Students from Newcastle also appreciate the culture and volunteer days, not only as a break from their classroom studies but as a learning experience as well as a chance to give a little back to Vietnam. ABROADER, you are providing a great service and have a well-satisfied partner!

My meaningful relationship with Lucy Nguyen goes back to 2014 when I served as a Fulbright Scholar in Hanoi, Vietnam. From that time, I have personally witnessed ABROADER’s stellar trajectory of growth and success. I knew from the moment I met Ms. Nguyen that she was deeply passionate about providing high-value opportunities for students both from outside Vietnam and domestically. To that end, Lucy created an incredible three-week, highly immersive, multi-faceted learning experience for my College of Business students. We simply couldn’t have asked for more! My students were exposed to various locales in northern Vietnam, a homestay in Sapa, political/cultural/economic knowledge expert presentations, hands-on learning opportunities, a service project, and industry visits and tours…all interwoven with unique and powerful interactions with local student buddies. Ongoing relationships with these Vietnamese buddies have endured long past our parting. Ms. Nguyen covered all bases without a single hitch—spanning from visa procurement to our flight back to the states. Our program was uniquely developed based on my requests and desired outcomes—not retrofitted into some pre-existing travel package. She superbly well communicated with me prior to our departure, during our time in Vietnam, and after our departure. My students returned home enriched and forever changed by their experience. I cannot adequately express my great respect and sincere gratitude for all that Lucy Nguyen created and provided to my students, and to me.