Vietnam: young people debate business integrity

1 October 2014 in Accountability, Asia Pacific, Civil society, Financial Markets, Private sector, Young people

Vietnam is one of the most attractive emerging markets for international businesses. Even though growth rates have slowed compared to a few years ago, they still look attractive in a challenging global economic climate. However, corruption risks and lack of transparency in key sectors are regularly pointed out as threats to competitiveness and sustainable progress.

While Transparency International’s partner in Vietnam, Towards Transparency, works with various stakeholders in the business sector to promote integrity for long-term success, we believe that young people have a key role to play too. Many of today’s students will soon make important decisions in the future when it comes to doing business cleanly.

That’s why Towards Transparency brought together 40 young Vietnamese professionals and students with staff from multinational companies for a youth conference on business integrity.

Hearing what foreign companies do to identify and stop corruption gave the young professionals a new perspective. Hoang Anh, a student from Hanoi University, said:

I used to take corruption for granted and accepted living with it. Now I understand that we can take action to change it”

When asked how his company tackles the problem, David Priestley, Managing Director of Rolls-Royce Vietnam, showed his “integrity passport” bearing the commitment to avoid corruption in daily business.

Participants acting out real-life corruption scenarios.

To understand the challenge of responding to corruption in business, participants took part in role-play exercises. Hoang Thi Thanh, who received the “best actress award” for her part in the scenarios, explained how they changed her perception of corruption: