Irvine Consultant a Guide in Vietnam Business Maze : Commerce: Since country opened its markets, George Dang has found his value to entrepreneurs has soared.

By THUAN LE

April 25, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HANOI — In the sweltering heat and surging crowds of this weekend’s Vietnamerica Expo ‘94, David Tran searched almost in vain to buy American-made construction products for his building materials distribution company in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran, whose supplies now come from other Asian countries and Europe, complained that there were only a few U.S. manufacturers of builders’ materials at the exhibition, the first to exclusively showcase U.S. companies in Vietnam since Communists took control of the nation in 1975.

“I have to go to California soon,” he said to George Dang, an Irvine business consultant attending the expo, “and you have to take me to those companies. American products last longer and I must have them to sell.”

Dang, president of Alca International Co., smiled. “The first place I’ll take you is a Home Depot,” he said. “There you’ll see many products and brand names in one place, and decide which you like the most.”

Dang is one of hundreds of Vietnamese American business consultants whose value to aspiring entrepreneurs in Vietnam and throughout the world soared several years ago when Vietnam began to open its markets to foreigners.

Go-betweens like Dang represent international clients who cannot speak Vietnamese and are unfamiliar with Vietnamese business practices, but are eager to enter the lucrative and expanding market in Vietnam, worth an estimated $9 billion in trade and investment opportunities for international companies, according to the United States-Vietnam Trade Council.

Simultaneously, Dang is linking up with Vietnamese businessmen like Tran who are not well-versed in the English language or the ways of international business, and are seeking help dealing with foreigners.

“I never thought I could be this valuable to Vietnamese entrepreneurs and businessmen outside Vietnam so soon but I’m glad I’m needed,” he said. “Doing business in Vietnam right now is a bewildering maze, and I can be a guide.”

Dang already has connected Tran with one U.S. company since President Clinton lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam in February. Tran is now the exclusive Vietnam distributor for engine oil and other lubricant products of New York-based Superlube Oil Co.

Dang last year introduced Tran to Tay Chok Chuan, whose Singapore-based company specializes in waterproofing buildings.

Last year, Chuan and Tran signed a joint venture contract that calls for Tran to provide the supplies for Chuan to waterproof buildings being built in Vietnam.

“My job was to get these two to marry each other,” Dang said over dinner with his clients in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Now we are waiting for our children to come up,” Chuan said, laughing. Their “children” include a 12-story office building in Hanoi and a shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City. Both are scheduled to be finished by next year.

Dang, 38, who fled Saigon for the United States by boat with his parents and eight siblings as the South Vietnamese capital fell in 1975, has remained fluent in his native language. He also has continued to follow its customs, which keeps him familiar with protocol in dealing with Vietnamese government officials and business professionals.

Married with four children ranging in age from 6 to 10, Dang graduated from Coastline Community College in 1979 after majoring in international business. He worked in the fields of computer programming and real estate before founding Alca in 1990.

“I wanted my own international business company because I enjoy traveling and meeting people of different ethnic backgrounds,” he said. Dang, who earns about $70,000 annually, now has about 40 clients worldwide. Most are involved in construction and were acquired through referrals or trade organizations.

As international trade becomes more common in Vietnam, Dang sees his role as only getting larger. “There will always be cultural gaps between different countries,” he said.

For non-Vietnamese entrepreneurs like Chuan, consultants like Dang can help overcome hurdles that may exist in a once-isolated nation trying to catch up with the industrial world. They face indecisive government officials, ever-changing business laws and laborers who aren’t accustomed to competitive work ethics.

“My Vietnamese workers work 10 minutes and take a break to smoke for 10 minutes,” Chuan said. “Dang explained to me that’s the mentality of a people having been trapped in a time warp.”

Dang said laborers in Vietnam are learning quickly from foreign employers that they must be efficient to keep their jobs.

“The workers know this is a good opportunity for a better life,” Dang said. “How can they improve if they don’t get the chance? So they’re changing.”

Dang said life in Vietnam has rapidly changed for the better since 1990, when he first returned to his birthplace to scout business opportunities. Dang said he now travels from Irvine to Vietnam at least twice a year.

“There are more fashionable clothing stores here now because people are more affluent now,” Dang said. “But you have to remember there are still plenty of poor people who need help. They need jobs. I feel good when I know I’m helping to bring jobs here.”

* RELATED STORY, PHOTO: D3