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Nhut VoCountry President of Bluescope
“All partners along BlueScope’s business chain have relationships that I believe are incredibly strong and trusting. I always think about how to generate values for our customers. And these relationships are nurtured over time, the same as the one between Vietnam and Australia”. |
Over the course of 10 years as the President of BlueScope Vietnam, Vo Minh Nhut has shepherded the enterprise through various phases of innovations and technology advancements, including those that Vietnam might be the first country in Southeast Asia to apply.
However, perhaps one of the most important and distinctive achievements that Vo and BlueScope have accomplished is new milestones in sustainable development. In 2022, Vietnam’s construction materials industry saw three brands given the green label from the Singapore Green Building Council, among which NS BlueScope Vietnam was the first coated steel supplier to receive this recognition. For a company that has chosen a sustainable development strategy, this label is extremely significant and is the result of its continuous efforts to improve the production processes and product quality.
Having worked with Australia for an extended period of time, Vo realised he strongly believes in the core values of sustainable development. At BlueScope in particular, the sustainable development strategy focuses on multiple factors: first and foremost is building a culture of occupational safety, developing a process for conduct where each person proactively takes into consideration the safety of their own and others around them.
Gender diversity, which all BlueScope companies worldwide implement with specific annual targets, especially in regard to the role of women in management positions and wage equality is another key factor
Fighting climate change is a high priority in both Vietnam and Australia. BlueScope developed a short-term roadmap for the period from 2018 to 2030 to reduce carbon emissions by 30% per unit of product. To coincide with COP26, the company formed a strategy against climate change with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Bluescope focuses on building sustainable supply chains with a code of conduct for suppliers, which includes criteria, auditing and standards to improve suppliers’ practices, especially in reducing CO2 emissions.
Finally, transparent management is key to Bluescope’s strategy, where every year employees are better aware of and practice measures for anti-corruption and fair competition.
“Some Australian companies might think that the administrative burden of doing business in Vietnam is too challenging. However, BlueScope is an example of how transparent operation is possible. I believe that we can still pursue transparency if all of our employees understand the practice, not just focusing on securing a couple of contracts” - said Vo
BlueScope has received the Responsible Steel certification for its factory in Australia. This recognition is given to companies that play an active role in ESG (Environment - Social - Governance) issues during steel production and at steel factories. It is hoped that by the end of 2023, Vietnam will be the second country in the world and the first in Southeast Asia to attain this certification - a standard that will enhance the trust of customers and the community towards the company.
“This certification may not help sell any more steel but it demonstrates a higher level of responsibility towards the community and allows us to share that accountability with other local businesses” - said Vo.