Halana to leverage domestic B2B industrial e-commerce success for regional expansion

Vietnam's B2B industrial e-commerce segment has the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia. The Investor talks with Ho Phi An, founder and CEO of Halana.vn, about the driving force behind this growth and his company's journey to conquer the domestic market and venture abroad.

New Vietnamese businesses are strong in business-to-business e-commerce. Why did you choose to focus on this field?

I think the B2B marketplace in Vietnam is in its initial stage. However, because of the global pandemic, e-commerce has become increasingly popular.

In Vietnam, many enterprises concentrate mainly on the business-to-customer segment. That’s why we are confident to be one of the pioneers.

I have spent most of my time since my career began learning about Vietnam’s industrial manufacturing. The picture I’ve seen is Vietnam's industry has had remarkable developments, but there are still many old prejudices that I want to change. I have also learned that both buyers and sellers want to enjoy the best benefits from industrial e-commerce.

Vietnam's B2B industrial e-commerce segment has the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia. What factors led to such growth?

As I mentioned above, there are many important factors. Firstly, Vietnam's industry is a bright spot of growth, and the pillar of the entire economy. Industry benefits from proper policies and shifts in global supply chains. The country’s industrial production index in the first four months of 2022 increased by 7.5% year-on-year.

Second, the digital economy is booming, strongly driving up e-commerce and digital transformation to continue creating momentum for B2B e-commerce. I think this is a particularly important factor, because only when businesses understand the importance of digitalization and digital transformation, can we take quick and solid steps.

Third, it is a young population. The next generation of industrial business owners is going with digital transformation, optimizing the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises both locally, regionally and worldwide.

Halana currently cooperates with more than 700 enterprises who are global suppliers like Schneider Electric, Bosch, Honeywell, 3M, and covers more than 40 industrial parks in Vietnam. How do you assess the goods demand from foreign-invested enterprises?

Huge demand. A typical example is a furniture producer and exporter business in Binh Duong province with 5,000 workers. They need to buy paint products worth VN40-50 billion ($1.72-2.15 million) per month, and hand tools worth VN100 billion ($4.31 million) a year, not to mention materials like wood and leather, of which more than 80% are imported. Doing math, we can see that 140,000 industrial enterprises in Vietnam can spend $254 billion annually on purchases.

How far has Halana gone in your "mission of digitizing Vietnam's industrial supply chain", and what will be next?

That’s the mission Halana set for us and it’s a very long journey. What we’ve achieved is still insignificant, but every step forward marks our constant efforts. Looking forward, we still have a lot of work to do to strengthen what we already have and to continue to grow.

Currently, our Halana.vn platform is seeking to supply most materials, machines and supplies in industry, possibly up to tens of millions of products within the next two-three years.

We are also building an e-procurement software solution to help businesses digitize the purchasing process, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Besides technology, Halana also cooperates with partners to provide embedded financial solutions to help SMEs access capital sources for easier purchases. We also plan to establish an open business community platform based on social networks to share information for businesses in sectors to grasp development trends and boost networking.

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered in developing Halana?

Our biggest difficulties are probably getting access to capital and human resources, like at other start-up businesses. However, we were able to show success by a start-up model, initially convincing investors to accompany Halana and give us a strong motivation to develop.

We also have colleagues and staff who have been together since the early days. Looking for good personnel in information technology and other fields in Vietnam has become challenging in recent years, so in order for Halana to develop further, we are still offering many incentives to attract more talent.

Could you tell us about Halana's capital raising plans in the coming time and what proceeds would be used for?

We just completed more than $2 million in a Pre-series A round for growth. Much of the investment will go to building teams to develop and improve technologies. We will soon announce this investment.

What will Halana do to expand to Southeast Asian markets, then Asia?

The Vietnamese market currently still has a lot of potential for us to strengthen our capacity, meeting local needs. Halana has ambitions to go beyond, first of all, to the regional markets. We expect to achieve this goal from 2024.

What are the opportunities for foreign businesses to cooperate with Halana?

Halana does not distinguish its partners as domestic enterprises or foreign. Any business in the market has the same opportunity when joining Halana. We already have many partners who are foreign enterprises with factories in Vietnam.

They appreciate our business model as we offer them optimal solutions, saving purchasing costs. If you want to expand in Vietnam or enter the Vietnamese market, I think Halana is a very effective sales and marketing channel as we understand the market well and are in a position to team up with partners.