Mr Anthony Salzman, Chairman of the V-TRAC Group. Photo: Viet Tuan.

Flowers and congratulations were flooding the Sheraton’s Song Hong Grand Ballroom on May 14 and that day will forever be remembered by Mr Anthony Salzman, Chairman of the V-TRAC Group, the exclusive authorised dealership of Caterpillar, Metso Minerals/Nordberg, and Ingersollrand in Vietnam. This was the day that President Nguyen Minh Triet recognised the American’s enormous contribution to Vietnam, principally as a pioneer who’s personal and business commitment opened up a new chapter of friendship and forged the way for others.
A graduate of Yale University and Duke Law School, Mr Salzman arrived in Vietnam after serving as Managing Director of Salzman International Investments (1983-1993), Vice President of Lehman Brothers (1981-1983), and Corporate Strategist and Marketing Manager at the American Express Company (1976-1981).
Almost 18 years after relocating to Vietnam on a wing, a prayer and a passion for winning hearts and minds with business, the country has bestowed one of its most prestigious honours, the Friendship Medal, on the New York native. The Hanoi People’s Committee has also awarded Mr Salzman the Capital Development Medal for contributions to the city’s economic progress.
First fleet
Eighteen years is a long time in anyone’s language. But Mr Salzman will never forget his first days in Vietnam seeking success.
On a trip to Japan in the early 1990s, where his wife was born, Mr Salzman learned of and was curious about the investment strategies of Japanese businesspeople in Vietnam. “At that time I wasn’t even sure of what was going on in Vietnam,” he recalls. “My first trip here was on a family holiday in 1992. At that time there were no diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the US. But I came with a curious mind and was interested to see what opportunities might be available.” He came to Vietnam and brought his family from New York to live in Hanoi, even though his father and his younger brother - both businessmen - insisted that he remained in the US and not move his young family.
At that time US enterprises were forbidden from investing in Vietnam due to the embargo, but Mr Salzman believed he could circumvent the rule by simply creating a representative office. But the attempt was met with countless difficulties and he had to work days, nights, and weekends to make it happen. “I travelled throughout Vietnam, seeking local partners and beginning to understand the culture,” he said. “Every now and then I travelled back to the US to clear the bureaucratic obstacles, but most of my time was spent in Vietnam.”
One of his first companies was the American Service Company, set up to receive a representative office licence from the Ministry of Trade. On July 22, 1993, the American Service Company began operations, with the goal of establishing a presence in Vietnam. Mr Salzman has since assisted Motorola, Ford Motor Company, IBM and many others.
During his time here, Mr Salzman realised that Vietnam’s greatest challenge was its humble infrastructure. “To me, starting either a mobile phone network, building infrastructure or even education were the greatest opportunities available,” he said. “However, at that time, all business was taken care of by major state owned companies. But they needed help, and so I thought ‘Let’s provide the equipment to build the infrastructure’.”
He then presented Caterpillar with a business plan for Vietnam and gave them an introduction to a new and potentially huge new market. That was 1994. He immediately began to sponsor training seminars and workshops, in July, and in September delivered a hydraulic excavator model 320L to the General Director of the Hydraulic Construction Company No 2, to assist in flood control. “This was the first Caterpillar machine in history to be delivered to a customer in northern Vietnam,” Mr Salzman said. V-TRAC was awarded the distributor licence from Caterpillar on December 3, 1994, and was licensed to perform after sales service and leasing. In 1995 V-TRAC delivered 15 36-ton mining trucks to Vinacomin’s famous Coc Sau coal mine. Coc Sau later received Vietnam’s “Hero Award” for high productivity in the vital coal export sector.
Over the last 15 years V-TRAC has had tremendous success in helping Vietnam to improve its infrastructure. “We have done particularly well in providing after sales service for major state owned companies who oversee a tremendous amount of national assets,” Mr Salzman said. “V-TRAC has helped the mining industry in Vietnam increase its productivity by more than five-fold in the past 16 years.” But besides the economic value the company has added and the tax revenue submitted to the State budget, Mr Salzman is particularly proud of how much they’ve added to Vietnam’s human capital. “We’ve trained over 15,000 local people in the infrastructure, mining and marine sectors during the last 16 years,” he said.
Looking for more “firsts”
Beyond Mr Salzman’s business acumen, first as an enabler of productivity in Vietnam’s mining industry and then as a stimulus for the country’s adoption of the automobile, the Friendship Medal also hails his work in dismantling the US trade embargo against Vietnam (on February 3, 1994) and his influence in promoting the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the US and Vietnam (signed on December 10, 2001). The citation also lauds his contributions to Vietnam’s social development. He was one of the first trustees of the United Nations International School in Hanoi and was instrumental in the development of programs at the Hanoi University of Technology.
His tenure in Vietnam is remarkable for a number of firsts. He issued the first cheque in Vietnam’s history, on April 4, 1996. He was the first American to own a car in Hanoi and he sponsored the first bilateral exchange on Intellectual Property Law. Five years after launching V-TRAC, Mr Salzman introduced financial leasing to Vietnam, founding a new company that became the only 100 per cent Western-owned financial leasing operation in the country. “Best of all is having local and international connections that enable me to create mutually-beneficial partnerships and new ventures that will continue to explore new opportunities within Vietnam’s increasingly strong and developing country,” he said. “This encompasses not only continued work to build a top-tier distribution network in Vietnam but also the ability to offer international investors an entry-point to the Vietnamese market that can provide valuable local contacts as well as meet the high standard of business expertise required by international investments.”
It is obvious that he had many “firsts” already and as an entrepreneur that’s always something to get excited about. But, he said, he’s looking forward to achieving many more “firsts” for Vietnam in the years ahead.
Although the Friendship Medal ranks as a type of Lifetime Achievement Award, Mr Salzman believes the opportunities in Vietnam are fresher now than when he started nearly two decades ago. “The trade embargo is gone,” he pointed out. “The US normalised relations. There’s a bilateral trade agreement. Vietnam recently joined the WTO. There’s transparency here that we only dreamed of a decade ago. We used to say there was nowhere to go but up, though there were so many ‘ifs’ to that sentiment. It is no longer part of the equation. Now, we’re sprinting from milestone to milestone.”
“My eyes have followed very closely every move in Vietnam’s economy since 1992. And I must say, the business climate has improved dramatically since 2000! Vietnam has motivated itself, and combined with the advantages of WTO membership has become an attractive place for investors. As Vietnam’s economy has developed, I believe leasing is quite a big opportunity.
One of the challenges in Vietnam is helping foreign investors to find trusted local partners. Foreign investors have high standards in terms of compliance, business experience, and understanding how things work in such a developing market. The last 18 years has given me an excellent opportunity to develop these assets, and I think that perhaps the greatest potential in the years to come is enabling foreign enterprises to bring their knowledge and products to Vietnam.”
Mr Anthony Salzman, Chairman of the V-TRAC Group