Kalvin Lam

2013 was a critical year for Vietnam’s startup ecosystem, with the number of startups founded skyrocketing, funding picking up, and entrepreneurship becoming more accessible in urban centers Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Though the startup scene is still in its incipient stages here in Vietnam, we’ve seen tremendous growth. Currently there are over 791 startups based in Vietnam, and over $180M has been raised by them in the past five years alone. It’ll be at least three to five […]

Clinical pharmacist by day and founder of a niche motorcycle community by night, Kin “AstroScrambler” Lam is not the type of person that comes to mind when you think of a road-riding motorcycle influencer. Graduating with high honors at both UC Davis and the University of Pacific and with a prestigious pharmaceutical residency at University of Southern California (USC) under his belt, Kin achieved the Vietnamese-American dream. With immigrant parents who left Vietnam for America in the 1970s, Kin worked and studied […]

When the average person thinks of life in the United States, one of the last images to come to mind are steaming hot bowls of bun rieu or the innumerable red envelopes and firecrackers present during Tet or the haggling at the local fish market for a discount. With nearly two million overseas Vietnamese living in the US, the Vietnamese have played a significant role in the shaping of American culture. By settling in the US, we have found refuge in American […]

A Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s, milk tea or trà sữa is the drink of choice for young Saigonese. With its popularity exploding here in Ho Chi Minh, milk tea powerhouses like ShareTea, Gong Cha, T4, and RoyalTea are finding cozy homes in the hustle and bustle of the city. It seems like everyday there’s a new one opening and another closing. Frequented by college students, teenagers, and young adults looking for a more hip vibe, […]

We recently met with the founder of Facebook group Expats in HCMC. With over 70000 members and only 4 administrators, Expats in Ho Chi Minh City is a tough cookie to manage and the largest English online community in Vietnam. The group was founded in 2007 by Tom Holgersson when he moved to Ho Chi Minh City and started to work for the Swedish Trade Council (The Swedish government’s business development agency, today Business Sweden). We dive in deep with […]

With college application season coming soon here in Vietnam, a plethora of students will be cramming for their exams, jostling to find out what university they want to head to, and seeing where the next step in their educational journey will take them. For many, it’ll be a life changing decision. It’s a tough choice — after high school, students must decide their specialties, to decide what route they want to take. We here at Vietcetera want to make that […]