The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail on Oct. 1 ran an article,highlighting the Vietnamese market’s great potential and opportunitiesit is offering to Canadian businesses. Entitled “Vietnam ’s growth offers wealth of opportunity”, the article quoted VicePresident of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi , AlexandreLegendre, as saying Vietnam offers lots of opportunities for savvyand adventurous entrepreneurs. “Despite what isgoing on in first-world countries, Vietnam ’s GDP is still growing 5percent to 6 percent a year and that means there are opportunities”,Legendre said. Legendre, a lawyer-turned-softwareentrepreneur, said Vietnam now has a population of about 90 million,and most are under 35. He noted that the country’sinfrastructure and education are booming. There is also a hunger for newtechnologies, an area in which Canada can be very competitive. Software and services enterprises, he added, should look to expandinto the Vietnamese market as he believed the country is an ideallaunching pad – not to “move jobs out of Canada ” but to allow forgreater access to other new markets in the region, creating value forCanadian companies. And with many young Vietnamese citizenswith rising disposable incomes, the consumer goods sector is also ripefor opportunities. “People have more money in urban areas and consumerhabits are changing. In the past four years, just in terms of food, forexample, people are now more open to Western-type food, to try new dairyproducts. They are buying fast food.” Legendre also noted thatthe new generation graduating from schools speak English quite wellbecause they want to do business internationally. And he gave an adviceto businesses seriously looking to enter Vietnam : “You have to bepresent and be here to capture opportunities”./.