Dai Lai, May 23, 2025 – A pivotal strategic session of the Executive Board (EB) and the Presidential Board of the Keieijuku Vietnam Business Community took place dynamically at Flamingo Dai Lai. The meeting focused on comprehensively assessing the current operational status and outlining a concrete, high-potential action plan to build an increasingly stronger business community.

1/ Reflecting on the Journey and Challenges The EB presented an overview of the community’s activities. Highlights included the success of the BFS (Business Follow-up Seminars) series, with 69 sessions organized, and an impressive figure of over 185 million USD in trade value exported to Japan and Japanese businesses in Vietnam from just 20 Keier members during the community’s 15-year anniversary celebration.

However, the EB also frankly pointed out areas for improvement. Specialized activities such as BFS and Kei Cafe, though valuable, were sometimes spontaneous, resembling a “club” rather than a strategically cohesive system. After more than 5 years, some classes/batches showed signs of declining connectivity, and members’ contribution time to the community became increasingly fragmented due to other social commitments. Consequently, a common desire emerged: to focus on practical, effective activities that align with the real needs of businesses and reduce formalistic activities.

2/ Vibrant Brainstorming: Towards a Comprehensive and Strong Keieijuku The core of the meeting was a brainstorming session to develop a 6-month action plan. The 25 EB members present at the meeting were divided into 4 groups – Phoenix, Action, Ocean, Sparrow – and generated a series of creative ideas and concrete solutions, revolving around key objectives:

• Deepening Connections: Building a detailed “Kei Databank” on the capabilities, products, strengths, and challenges of each enterprise; organizing regular thematic/sectoral activities; establishing specialized connection groups (EB, industry, sports and culture) and official information reception and feedback channels for the community.
• Increasing Real Value for Businesses: Implementing in-depth training programs on financial management, taxation, production standardization, and lean business with expert participation; organizing mutual company visits for practical learning and networking.
• Promoting Trade and Cooperation: Proposing bold ideas such as building a common “Keieijuku Vietnam” e-commerce platform, even a shared Alibaba account to expand markets; publicizing internal trade results; creating mechanisms for resource sharing; and appointing trade connection representatives from each class.
• Building Brand and Professional Operations: Members desire to elevate the Keieijuku brand, potentially through evaluating and certifying “Kei Quality Enterprises.” Discussions included establishing an operating fund (possibly from member contributions linked to KPIs), having paid full-time staff, and setting up an official office/headquarters for the community. Sports activities like golf, tennis, and pickleball were also proposed to enhance cohesion.
• Effective Communication: The community’s presence on platforms like Zalo and Facebook needs to be led and disseminated by the EB. Regular communication about activities, especially trade results, is deemed necessary, potentially with specific KPIs.

3/ Learning from Experience – Guidance from Predecessors Mr. Toda, a veteran member (“Old-voice”), shared an important message: one should not be overly concerned with formality, but rather let things evolve naturally, with the EB’s role being to support and create a playground. The establishment of a “Kei DataBank” on member enterprises was emphasized as a foundation for effective mutual support.

Experience from the Japanese business community also indicates that when Vietnamese businesses, especially in supporting industries, gather sufficiently in terms of quantity and quality, greater opportunities for cooperation and support will emerge.

4/ Commitment to Action The Keieijuku Community Executive Board meeting concluded with a high spirit of determination. Ideas will be synthesized, filtered, and concretized into a detailed action plan by the Presidential Board. With collective consensus and wisdom, the Keieijuku Vietnam Community is heading towards a new phase of development, promising to bring outstanding value to each member and affirm its position as a reputable business community actively contributing to the nation’s economic development.