During that year, his efforts led to successful collaboration with the preventive healthcare authorities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, helping raise public awareness of viral hepatitis, its prevention, and the importance of protecting community health. This achievement opened the door to a new opportunity. In 1995, Mr. Nguyen was appointed General Manager in Vietnam for one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. By the end of his tenure, he had gained valuable experience and a deeper understanding of Vietnam's healthcare landscape and the country's pharmaceutical sector.
He recognized that Vietnam's healthcare and pharmaceutical industries were still at an important stage of development and would benefit greatly from long-term investment, access to up-to-date medical knowledge, advanced technologies, and high-quality healthcare products from developed markets.
With this vision in mind, Mr. Nguyen founded Bridge Healthcare in Australia in 2000.
As the company's Founder and leader, he established a guiding principle that continues to define Bridge Healthcare: alongside its business objectives, the company has a broader mission — to serve as a bridge between the healthcare sectors of Vietnam and Australia.
Bridge Healthcare's products are manufactured in Australia at facilities operating in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) standards.
From the beginning, Vietnam has been a key strategic market for Bridge Healthcare. The company has therefore focused on selecting high-quality products that address important and evolving healthcare needs in Vietnam, particularly in areas such as the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and joint health.
INVESTING IN THE NEXT GENERATION THROUGH EDUCATION AND MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE
Over nearly a decade of operations, Bridge Healthcare had achieved a number of milestones in Vietnam. When asked about the experience behind these achievements, Mr. Nguyen emphasized that there was no special formula for success beyond a simple principle:
A business can only grow sustainably when it grows together with the market and the community it serves.
For Bridge Healthcare, this meant building a relationship based on partnership, mutual support, and shared development.
With this philosophy, the company established the Bridge Healthcare Education Foundation, allocating a significant portion of its profits to support healthcare education and professional development in Vietnam.
Over the years, the Foundation contributed approximately AUD 1.1 million to support scientific societies and medical organizations in Vietnam in organizing scientific conferences and professional seminars. It also supported programs that brought Australian healthcare experts to Vietnam to share the latest scientific knowledge and clinical experience, while providing opportunities for Vietnamese professors and physicians to attend major scientific conferences in Australia, the United States, and other countries.
Particularly from 2006 onward, the Bridge Healthcare Education Foundation placed greater emphasis on supporting young and talented Vietnamese physicians who were eager to further develop their professional expertise through international training.
These initiatives included annual short-term cardiology programs in Australia, as well as longer-term training opportunities for young cardiologists in Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr. Nguyen believed that when Vietnamese healthcare professionals have access to up-to-date knowledge and professional standards comparable with those of advanced healthcare systems around the world, Vietnam's pharmaceutical and healthcare market will naturally develop alongside global trends.
A more open, knowledgeable, and progressive healthcare market would, in turn, create greater opportunities for international companies such as Bridge Healthcare to contribute and grow.
Looking ahead, his business strategy for the following decade was clear: to continue growing alongside Vietnam's healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors while investing in and developing strategic products that support the health, growth, and cognitive development of Vietnamese children.
He stated:
“We are developing and will continue to develop a premium pediatric healthcare portfolio, manufactured in Australia for the Vietnamese market. In doing so, we aim to support the strategic vision of the Vietnamese Government: investing in and nurturing a generation of children who are healthy in body and strong in mind.”
CONTRIBUTING TO VIETNAM'S DEVELOPMENT AND ENCOURAGING FURTHER INVESTMENT
Reflecting on his experience of doing business in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen acknowledged the many advantages he had experienced, particularly the support of Vietnamese partners and healthcare professionals.
Leading professors, medical experts, and officials in the healthcare sector understood the challenges faced by a foreign-invested business and provided valuable support and cooperation throughout his work in Vietnam.
At the same time, he identified professional capability and workplace standards as areas where further development was needed. In his view, Vietnamese employees needed to embrace changes in mindset and working practices in order to keep pace with an increasingly independent and competitive regional market.
He also welcomed the reforms and modernization taking place within government agencies, including tax and customs authorities, which had helped reduce some of the challenges faced by businesses. Nevertheless, he hoped that these reforms would continue and become more comprehensive, enabling public agencies to fulfill their functions effectively while providing greater support to the business community.
Mr. Nguyen also regularly participated in meetings and exchanges among business leaders, sharing his knowledge and experience with entrepreneurs who were new to Vietnam or considering investment in the country.
He believed that the growing success of Vietnamese-Australian entrepreneurs operating in Vietnam could help encourage other overseas Vietnamese business leaders to explore investment opportunities in the country.
Reflecting on his own experience, he said:
“After nearly a decade of investment in Vietnam and achieving a number of meaningful results, I believe I can share my experience with entrepreneurs who are considering investing in Vietnam or have only recently begun doing business here. They can see that the actual business environment is more promising than they may expect, and that Vietnam has undergone remarkable change and development over the past two decades.”
“In practice, before investing in Vietnam, overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs often look at the experiences of businesses that have already established themselves in the market. The success of these businesses can give them greater confidence in making their own investment decisions.”
“Therefore, the success of a small and medium-sized enterprise such as Bridge Healthcare Pty Ltd in Vietnam is a meaningful example of how the sustainable development of a business can go hand in hand with the stability and development of Vietnamese society.”
Source: VOV.VN, 5 February 2010
Originally published under the title “Nguời nối nhịp cầu y tế giữa Việt Nam và Australia” by Dai Doan Ket.
This article is an English translation and adaptation of an original article published in the above-mentioned issue.
