Frontier Markets: Vietnam 2021

Frontier markets—countries such as Nigeria, Ecuador, Vietnam, Cambodia and Romania, whose financial markets are considered insufficiently transparent or liquid to qualify as emerging economies—are home to almost a third of the world’s population. Of the 10 fastest growing economies worldwide, eight are frontier markets, according to HSBC. Half of the countries that global advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather, determined would be key to middle-class consumer growth over the next decade are frontier markets.

 

They are also hotbeds of innovation in sectors such as fintech, healthcare, communications and cashless payments. And events of the past year, while they have hamstrung some of the commodity producers, have fueled exciting developments in manufacturing, trading and technological innovation in frontier markets.

 

For multinational companies and for portfolio investors, frontier markets represent an unrivaled opportunity to tap into a rare growth story that combines a swelling population, rising incomes, rapidly increasing connectivity, innovative business communities, and surging economic growth. For aspiring business leaders, frontier markets offer access to a growth story that will not only be professionally fulfilling and diverse, but can also have tremendous human, environmental and social impact.

 

This course will provide students with a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges in frontier markets, and a vision for how they can play a part in the development of some of the world’s most exciting economies, businesses, peoples, and ideas.

Last updated: 09/22/2019

Last updated: 11/2/2020

Faculty Bio

As the editor of Frontier Markets at the Wall Street Journal, Dan Keeler coordinates the Journal’s coverage of the world’s frontier markets. Dan conceived and launched the frontier market coverage in early 2014, adding a well-regarded weekly frontiers newsletter later that year.

WSJ’s frontier market coverage brings together a broad range of news and analysis, providing readers with a deeper understanding of some of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing economies.

Dan regularly speaks at frontier-market-focused events. He’s moderated panel discussions at a variety of leading conferences, including Africa business conferences at Harvard and Wharton universities, frontier-focused panels and discussions at Columbia University and the New York Society of Securities Analysts events, keynote interviews at the IFC/Emerging Markets Private Equity Association annual conference, and panel discussions at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the Institute for Global Development.

Prior to joining the Journal, Dan was the editor and subsequently editor-at-large of Global Finance magazine, where he steered the magazine’s coverage toward corporate responsibility and emerging markets.

He is also founder of New York’s FM Network, a group that hosts gatherings of finance professionals focused on smaller emerging markets.

Prof. Dan Keeler’s Newsletter: http://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=376