The Investor: Information for Prosperity

Vietnamese-language economic publication Nhadautu.vn officially debuted on May 4, 2017. A core element in its story over the past five years is probably that of team building - gathering, nurturing and developing a collective of journalists with the same vision.

At its launch, there were only 12 people in the office, of which seven involved editorials, recruited by Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Anh Tuan from various media agencies.

Since the very beginning - our toddlerhood, a journalism philosophy has been defined: Information for Prosperity!

The Editor-in-Chief stated at the launching ceremony: “Nhadautu.vn desires to become a useful, in-depth and reliable information channel with rich intellectual content on investment and business. It also aims to be a forum for suggestions on improving the investment climate and a companion in supporting and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of domestic and foreign investors and businesses.”

“Our core readership are the community of investors and businesses, domestic or foreign, state regulators, policy makers, economists and others who are interested in investment and business activities,” he added.

The journey over the past five years is a journey of Nha dau tu (The Investor) journalists who have persistently followed these arching principles and goals, while working tirelessly and creatively to enrich the country’s resources of economic information for common prosperity.

In a competitive media environment, identifying a unique path, a distinctive identity, and more deeply, a unique culture would not only determine the position of a publication in the hearts of readers, but also be a prerequisite factor in gathering human resources who build up that publication.

The Investor has gathered a team of advisors and contributors who are sharp-minded economic experts and experienced economic journalists from many press agencies and become a career destination for many young writers who just stepped out of university, not by salary payment and allowance, but first of all by sharing the same vision.

The magazine staff outlined the development strategy and joined hands to implement it “to together fly toward the same horizon” as poet Phung Quan wrote in a poem.

Over the past five years, 2017-2022, from a press agency without a Party organization as well as political, social and professional organizations, The Investor has established and basically consolidated a grassroot political system as well as an efficient and lean personnel structure.

From a simple entity with 12 employees initially, the magazine has now built a team of 30 people, with five departments, three representative offices and dozens of economic experts as advisors and regular contributors.

The Party Committee of The Investor was set up in December 2017 and recognized as successfully completing its tasks for four consecutive years from 2019-2021.

The Editorial Board consists of three people with advanced degrees in political theology, extensive journalism experience, ideological persistence, professional qualifications, and previous important positions at major press entities.

Key personnel across departments, newsroom managers, editors and reporters are all young but possess good professional expertise and a code of ethics, and well adhere to disciplines and rules.

The magazine’s Association of Journalists has been active, especially in professional training for its members. The Trade Union has constantly paid attention to the spiritual and material life of staff, while the Youth Union is active in articulating collective programs and training members.

The Investor publishes print publications every two months with constantly improved information and presentation quality.

With a sustained contingency of contributors including Vietnam’s leading economic experts and journalists, the information in print not only adheres to the magazine’s principles and goals, but also offers multi-dimensional and in-depth analysis of the economic and investment landscape as well as the business and investment environment.

Along with the print publications, Nhadautu.vn, after five years of operation, has consolidated its reputation among the business community. Each year it has attracted about six million users with 12 million page views.

In terms of content, Nhadautu.vn has always adhered to the Party and State’s information orientation, deeply dug into data about investors, and delivered many exclusive articles or series.

On May 4, our media entity launched an English-language economic online publication Theinvestor.vn, with core readers being foreign investors, foreign corporate leaders and Vietnamese companies having business ties with overseas firms and markets.

In addition to the three main publications, The Investor regularly produces special publications, deeply propagating the Party’s resolutions, policies and guidelines. Some of the most outstanding include the following.

- “A panorama of 30 years of foreign investment”, propagating the Politburo’s Resolution No.50-NQ/TW dated August 20, 2019 on orientations to complete institutions and policies for improving the quality and efficiency of foreign investment cooperation until 2030.

- “Private economic sector: Overview and typical entrepreneurs”, propagating Resolution No.10-NQ/TW dated June 3, 2017 of the fifth Forum of the 12th Party Central Committee on developing the private sector as an important driving force of the socialist-oriented market economy.

- “Transport infrastructure investment” propagating Resolution No.13-NQ/TW, dated January 16, 2012 of the fourth Forum of the 11th Party Central Committee on building a synchronous infrastructure system to basically turn the nation into an industrial country with direction toward modernity.

In addition to editorial production, The Investor has become a prestigious press agency organizing conferences and seminars on investment and economic topics.

Its events have attracted the participation of leading economic experts, policy-makers, investors, and prestigious companies to contribute constructive opinions for the improvement of policies, the business climate and institutions. They are highly evaluated by the Party Central Economic Commission, National Assembly committees, other relevant state agencies, and the community of investors and businesses.

For example, in 2021 when the fourth Covid-19 outbreak occurred, seriously impacting the economy, The Investor in collaboration with relevant agencies successfully organized five conferences and one economic forum as follows.

- “Stock market: opportunities, risks and solutions to bolster sustainable development”;

- “Identifying driving forces for real estate development in expanded HCMC in 2021”;

- “The Rise of Da Nang-Quang Nam real estate market in the new normal”;

- “Changes of the world: opportunities, challenges and adaptive solutions for Vietnamese enterprises”;

- “Removing ‘bottlenecks’ for renewable energy development”;

- In particular, the forum “Overcoming Covid” with the patronage of the Central Propaganda Committee attracted the participation of many economic experts, business leaders and journalists.

Overcoming many difficulties experienced by a media agency without state budget support, in the past years, The Investor has well implemented its business and financial plans and balanced its revenue-expenditure, with profit rising yearly.

Staff income is secured, while all regulations on basic salary payment hikes, punctual tax payment as well as medical and social insurance are fully adhered to.

Along with professional activities, the magazine has paid special attention to social charity work. In the past five years, in collaboration with state agencies and businesses, The Investor has handed over Tet gifts and scholarships worth VND10 billion ($430,000) to disadvantaged people in remote areas.

In particular, our Tet gift program in collaboration with Vingroup’s Kind Heart (Thien Tam) Foundation has been deployed annually for the past five years, providing 1,000-2,000 gifts (VND500,000-600,000 each) to disadvantaged people across central provinces.

The Investor’s Scholarship Fund has granted scholarships and funded surgeries for hundreds of poor children in remote and isolated areas. In 2021 alone, charity in form of scholarships rose to VND305 million ($13,100).

With the above-mentioned achievements, The Investor was awarded a certificate of merit by its parent entity Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises for its outstanding achievements in the 2016-2020 period.

The magazine was also awarded a certificate of merit by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for its coverage of the industry and trade sector in the 2016-2020 period.

We are deeply grateful for the attention and facilitation of Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises - our parent organization, Central Propaganda Committee, Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam Journalists Association, ministries, sectors, localities and very kind and tolerant companions - investors, entrepreneurs, and contributors who are leading economic experts.

In the journey ahead, Nha dau tu (The Investor) will try to preserve and promote the core values it has built so as to be more and more worthy of the trust that readers, the business community, economic experts and state agencies have anchored in us.