haslinda: hello and welcome to highfliers. vieww that gives the 360 of asia. today we meet someone who is a game changer in vietnam. he played a leading role in attracting pizza hut, mcdonald's and other fast food names to the country. his father-in-law is a prime minister.

let's meet him. >> february 2014 was a big moment for vietnam when one of america's most iconic companies finally arrived. it did not happen overnight. mcdonald's took a decade of convincing to make the journey. he was born in vietnam although he grew up in america. veteran golden arches after working there after graduating from harvard. time now for this highflyer to join us on the singapore flyer to give us his recipe for success. ♪ haslinda: looking to highfliers. great to have you with us. >> i am happy to be here. haslinda: you are the big mac. it all started back in school.

>> you can go way further back than that. my first real job where i got a paycheck, when i was a 15-year-old. it was the high school summer job. i had to learn how to make french fries, flip burgers, you name it. fan oflways been a mcdonald's. i got a chance to literally see how the burgers are made. it was like being inside willy wonka and the chocolate factory. it was a kid stream come true. even as i got on the school, when i got to business school, one of the most popular classes was in entrepreneurship class. i remember the first a walking in having our professors say why are you guys all here? you want to be on spring doors, right -- you want to be entrepreneurs, right?

that -- inigures and debt. he finally asked a question, do you know where i will send you if you want to be an entrepreneur? we were thinking fortune 500 companies. he was like a wrong. you want to know how to be a --at under the north become know how to become a great -- he is a business -- here is a business, you have to understand human resources and training, real estate and finance. mcdonald's is a marketing powerhouse. even processes in the restaurant are so advance. that is where the lightbulb went off in my head. i should look into more what mcdonald's is about. i'm in chicago, the global

headquarters. at that time, my curiosity piqued. haslinda: it was a tenure pursuit to bring mcdonald's here. hanoi atwas living in the time. this is 2003. pop test bigdeal deal, we did not have any -- a big deal, we do not have any of that in hanoi. i went online and found a copy of the franchisee application and submit it. and use whatever networks i had to thego to find my way vice president of international franchising and finally just went and did a door knock. haslinda: someone at mcdonald's called you a stalker. -- henry: he said we .ould meet up

he was gracious enough to sit down and have a coffee with me. that coffee turned into a nicer, longer conversation. both white sox fans. from making away decision on vietnam. i still took that as a polite no. i said i better convince them. from that point on out, i made sure i was in constant contact. updates every quarter about what was going on in vietnam. you can ignoreim it, read it, let me know. it and as theyng started their process years later, they brought it with me. henry, i didn't think he would keep e-mailing me. havenda: right now you

three to four more by the end of the year. how quickly the anticipate you will grow in the next year, given that there is a growing henry: vietnam has 95 million people. that is a population that is a little smaller than the philippines. the philippines, that mcdonald's business started over 30 years ago. in the things you have 540 restaurants. five for zero restaurants. you have this up-and-coming demographic, more and more buying power. very open to trying new things. the quality standards and brand comes from that. people want to be able to experience that it is our job to expand our location and increase our penetration. build the business where we are serving customers and they are

happy and satisfied. over 5 million, yeah. haslinda: recognized businessmen in the country. you are also one of the most accessible. ise people say your success committed to your connections. is the prime minister. how do you respond to that? everyone at some point has so many people standing behind them. first and foremost, my family. it starts with my wife. she has always been an incredible counsel and friend to me. she really understands how to do things in vietnam. i understand the optics. i married into a political family. never anticipated that. i never expected to follow love of my wife. you cannot pick those things. do you think that

takes credit away from you? henry: in the end i have to do what i have to do. me, it is nothing that i feel defensive about. i am incredibly proud to come from a family that is kind and loving, and works hard to do whatever job they have. i think from that perspective, for me, being a part of the family has been a great joy in my life. it has been a really important part of my own personal development and becoming a father. haslinda: and twins? henry: that's right. they just turned two just over a month ago. beginning to be a handful. the best thing about twins is they have each other and they wear each other out here it -- out. in beginning we were worried but they have real benefits to it.

a mutual friend of ours to do stress. it is funny because i think we were both resistant to meeting each other because we had heard a lot about each other from friends. haslinda: and you were in construction at that time. i never really pursued or thought about any serious relationship. i never knew how long anticipated staying in vietnam. i figured the less attachment i had, the easier i can make whatever business or personal decisions i had to make. i was very resistant but the moment i saw my wife for the first time in person, that resistance dropped quickly. ♪ >> coming up. henry: they called me and i was like i'm going to need -- i don't be the language, i don't know much there.

haslinda: henry has been here since 1975. your family fled vietnam when it fell into the communist hands. you were 22 months old. too young to remember anything. how has that episode been discussed within the family? henry: my family -- my parents don't like talking about it. my siblings and i have had to piece it together with family friends and family. the pictures -- i think part of

it is my parents wanted a happy moment. that is something they don't want to relive. i don't think they ever wanted us to understand the pain and anguish they went through. so to their own self protective means of doing that here it was a way they thought it was protecting us. haslinda: you made good though, went to harvard. course and northwestern. how much -- how was going up in the u.s. like? henry: you never consider yourself vietnamese? u.s. like? you never consider yourself vietnamese? sports, played also to a spoke in the basketball, american football. and global football. my parents their goal of being in the u.s.

is making sure we had a good life, that we would be educated. east were the kind of asian, vietnamese cultural values, in terms of valuing education and working hard. haslinda: as luck would have it, as fate would have it, you took a summer job and it landed you in vietnam. tells about it. henry: it wasn't purposely. one of the great summer activities at harvard's we used to publish a great travel guide called let's go. it is to be the bible for backpackers going to europe. and ited latin and greek was a classics major. one of the great jobs was a city writing job. if you are in rome, london, paris, you're in one place for eight weeks and your job is to eat out and party.

haslinda: that was the plan. henry: yeah, that was the plan. it was a base which job, because after two weeks, that publisher called down and said we are going to send you our asia books. we need a vietnam writer. they went on melissa saw my name and said call him. when they called me i was like i am probably as vietnamese as john smith. i don't speak the language, i have never been there. i don't know much about vietnam. thankfully, i look back and one of my very good friends who is native thai, but was born in the u.s., he did the same thing the previous summer and talked me into it. it is a life-changing thing. i still was very resistant. i said to them, will look, it is three times the work. i need to be paid three times what you are offering me. i thought they would say no. when i said that, they said sure

, here's is the project. go get it done. that was it. haslinda: what was it like? henry: this is 1995. haslinda: what was like when you first stepped into vietnam echo henry: it did -- vietnam? henry: it to me 52 hours to get into vietnam. they lost my backs. -- they lost my bags. when i woke up the next morning, walking around, watching the , it and the center of hanoi was like stepping into another world, another time. i loved it. it is going to sound corny to say this, but it felt like home. that is not what i expected. i expect to find this stern, austere, socialist place where people were unhappy. haslinda: the american perspective. henry: things i watched in movies, from going up in the u.s.. it was nothing like that.

haslinda: you have invested in more than 45 companies. you invest something like three to five companies and year. has it been difficult? is it easier when compared to 15 years ago? henry: every market has its own set of challenges. when we first got started, the bigger challenge was explained to people what we were and what we did. was brand-new. we didn't have a word for venture capital. the technology market was just in its infancy. iran when i first showed up in vietnam, we were still doubting -- i remember when i first showed up in vietnam, we were still dialing up on the internet. usersmber of internet were in the tens of thousands. the other thing is that vietnam is a very entrepreneurial place.

at the same time, it is not a place that has the entrepreneurial experience. what we needed to do was build an ecosystem where oxford doors were getting -- where entrepreneurs were getting the help they needed. building so to those partners as well. and make sure we had those resources working with companies. that would allow the heavy lifting. haslinda: as a businessman, what you think was the most difficult thing for you operating vietnam? henry: i don't know if it is one particular thing. my answer is going to be somewhat universal which is it is always about people. haslinda: talent? henry: yes. we were talking about how young vietnam is. the level of experience, domain,

knowledge. so much is happening in vietnam all at once, there is no one who is on top of all of it. oftentimes, it is finding people who are dynamic and are ready to learn. and ready to face all those challenges in a constantly changing environment. on top of that, it is a real team first mentality. it is people, people drive business and success. when you are able to partner with the right collaborators, colleagues, it makes all the difference. ♪ >> coming up. henry: i can remember going home for the holidays and my siblings would teach me how to tie a surgical not. things like that.

haslinda: henry is -- if truth he told, your siblings before you, you were meant to be a doctor. what happened? alike my family was a lot other of the enemy's families, wanting you to become a doctor. there chose a lawyer. i am the youngest of four. my brother and two sisters blazed the trail. they are all doctors. i can remember going home for the holidays and my siblings are teaching me how to tie surgical knots. kind of all of -- kind of almost

natural that i would do it. i loved it. science, studying working with patients and taking care of patients. i also realized i loved a lot of other things. it was a critical point in my life, i had to mix and choices. it was hard, but for me becoming a doctor and getting my degree and getting license was important, because that is what my parents dreamed of. all four of us becoming doctors. haslinda: your parents were devastated by your choice. henry: i kind of soft peddled it. and continue my medical training. i sold it as mom and dad i need a year to, i am interested in other things. thankfully, they bought it here it -- bought it. once i started, on that course, there was no looking back.

i think i knew it from the dad stepped out the career that i was not coming back. i do not break to my parents. haslinda: your siblings are very supportive. henry: my two sisters have always looked out for me. they know me externally well. -- they know me extremely well. haslinda: you would get bored. henry: that was part of it. my sister who is a general surgeon, she said look, a great general surgeon has to be doing the same things every day, to have a routine. it is on was second nature. she looked at me and goes i know you, you like taking on new challenges. you have a high tolerance for risk. those are horrible qualities for a surgeon. can you imagine your doctor walking in and i'm interested in trying new things? are you ok with that? their advice was precious.

in many ways those were attributes and entrepreneur needs to have. haslinda: your medical training came in handy. tells about it? is an incredible medical charity. children are born with cleft palates and other cranial facial deformities. they live really difficult lives. they are often pariahs even within her own family. they are often shut in. it, i, if you think about smile is such an important way for human beings to connect. is such an important way for human beings to connect. there's many places in the world where families do not have access to a 20 or 30 minute surgery. things likey not

poverty? education echo -- education echo where most charities do -- nejra: i think it has to do it my back -- henry: i think it has to do with my background. even when i first arrived in vietnam, it had already been well established. when my first friend in vietnam who today is still our director of all of our operations, we connected early on. when i found opportunity to be able to connect essential builders, other -- connect ,ssential builders, and others and also being connected to the other mobile organization, it was a perfect duct tailing of everything i had skills in. like i said, i was one of those the buzz from the

first time i went on a mission and you see the difference. one of your passions is sports. henry: that even predated my family. haslinda: that meant you can be club.ed in the henry: as a fan and participant, i always followed sports. played it all the time. i think every young sports fan dream is to be able to be a part of a club. i found that opportunity starting with basketball in vietnam. howard saigon pro basketball team which participates in the basketball league. that led me to meet some of my partners right now and los angeles football club. all of these things culminate and build into something bigger like this.

it did not happen like this. i walked in and said let's start a football club. it was i have these partners and friends. we love sports together. opportunities come about, let's explore it. haslinda: football in the u.s., like vegas football. henry: football in the u.s. means something completely different. haslinda: the women's team has won in the world cup. do you think that will be a game changer? do you think americans will view soccer in the same way? henry: it has always been one of the top youth sports. happenedomething that from the early teen years from where the dissipation of the game of soccer is the highest in the -- where the participation in the game of soccer is the highest. when i grew up, there was no professional league to speak up. if you are a young talented athlete, you got diverted into other sports, like baseball, or

american football and basketball . now that major league soccer in the u.s. has been around for 20 years, the top young athletes are now seeing that is a viable career to be a footballer in america. on top of that, i think the fans have always been there. they haven't had access to the game as a live viewing event. that is what the league is doing. the league in america has infinite potential. it is the fifth most popular sport in the u.s. now, but the feeling for the sport in america is very high. the feeling for the game globally is very high. that is our drive and motivation when we look at this opportunity together as partners. haslinda: thank you so much for being on highfliers. henry: they can so much. ♪ -- thank you so much. ♪

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