What’s standing between Vietnam’s SMBs and their cross-border dreams

Summary:

• Vietnam’s robust manufacturing history, growing tech industry, and supportive policies are propelling its SMBs to seek global cross-border opportunities.
• Despite the strong drive for international expansion, Vietnamese SMBs face significant hurdles, primarily high costs and challenges in international payments
• Overcoming these hurdles and embracing market expansion ambitions is crucial for Vietnamese companies to secure future growth and remain competitive.
• Discover key insights into growth beyond borders through in-depth analyses from industry leaders and fellow entrepreneurs.

Vietnam has a long history of going beyond its borders for business.

It entered the manufacturing stage in the 1990s, and over the last 30 years, it cemented its status as a global manufacturing powerhouse. The country exported US$19 billion worth of textiles and garments in the first half of 2025, up 12.3% year on year.

Photo credit: David Bokuchava / Shutterstock

At the same time, its tech industry is growing. Vietnam ranks 55th on Startup Blink’s list of global startup ecosystems for 2025, and it has created homegrown tech champions such as VNG and Sky Mavis.

It follows that Vietnamese companies – especially its SMBs – are seeking global opportunities, looking beyond their own backyards to unlock the next phase of growth.

The power of commerce

According to a survey conducted by the United Overseas Bank (UOB), nearly nine in 10 Vietnamese businesses are eyeing overseas expansion, with one in four firms looking to markets such as Europe for further growth.

However, Asia remains the first port of call for many Vietnamese companies looking to go abroad.

“My clients often approach me with a basic idea of what they want to do in [a particular] country,” said Stephen Ngo, founder of professional services firm Jade Business Consulting. In his experience, Hong Kong and Singapore are the top two destinations Vietnamese companies are keen on.

Ngo was speaking at the Vietnam edition of Founders Meetup: Celebrating Borderless Ambition, organized by Tech in Asia in collaboration with B2B payments platform Payoneer.

Stephen Ngo, founder of Jade Business Consulting / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

He shared that Singapore in particular is a focus for these SMBs. The country “is the Asia-Pacific hub for a lot of traders and fund managers,” Ngo said. “[It is] also famous as a hub for global commodity trading firms.”

Against this backdrop, cross-border commerce has emerged as an area of interest for Vietnamese SMBs.

Vietnam’s expertise in manufacturing has created a strong foundation for B2B ecommerce to thrive. This growth in international trade has been buoyed as well by the rise of cross-border ecommerce platforms such as Amazon, which make it easier for companies to sell directly to consumers.

These trade flows are further supported by Vietnam’s growing number of free trade agreements with markets across Europe and Asia Pacific, as well as various preferential policies by the Vietnamese government to boost supply chains, logistics, and digital transformation.

This means that Vietnamese companies are at an inflection point, where selling across borders is easier than it has ever been, opening up new opportunities for growth.

Navigating the hurdles

However, “easier” isn’t the same as “seamless.” For all the policies and support in place to enable cross-border expansion, actually doing so is still challenging for Vietnamese SMBs.

Unlock new insights to power your growth beyond borders

Venturing into foreign markets requires recalibrating one’s approach and strategically building up one’s presence in this new market. Language barriers and cultural differences aside, the costs of expansion can be limiting.

In UOB’s survey, 39% of respondents cited operational expenses as a top concern, up from 31% in 2024. Six in 10 firms said that they face growing pressure from the rising costs of raw materials, equipment, and operations due to the US tariffs.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Ngo recounted the story of a client who manufactured and exported coconut juice. The company wanted to expand to Singapore but ran into several hurdles.

“They wanted to sell to one of the biggest supermarkets [in Singapore], FairPrice. However, in order to be present in FairPrice, they had to have the product across every FairPrice supermarket, not just one,” he shared. “To do this, we needed to budget about S$5 million (US$3.8 million).”

Due to the costs, the company’s owner decided to go about things a different way, selling to a second-tier supermarket in Singapore instead. However, this limited its reach, and the company was ultimately unable to break into the Singapore market, forcing a pivot into Europe.

Payments have also emerged as an area of concern, with Vietnamese companies facing hurdles such as high costs, insufficient transparency, long settlement periods, and limited accessibility when navigating cross-border payments.

Turning to payment providers such as Payoneer can help with these hurdles. Border-X JSC, a print-on-demand company, was able to leverage Payoneer’s platform to streamline its payments process for its US expansion.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

“The local banks here [in Vietnam] don’t offer full support, and there are limited providers in the market, making it difficult to receive payments from abroad,” said Hiep Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Border-X JSC. “With Payoneer, the payments process has been streamlined and integrated with many of the platforms we rely on. This has been convenient and cost-effective.”

Nguyen cited strong support from Payoneer’s local team in Vietnam as an enabler, and he shared that the platform has also helped his company’s expansions into other markets such as Canada and the UK.

Payoneer also collaborates with cross-border ecommerce platforms such as eBay and Amazon. On Amazon, sellers can seamlessly receive payouts through Payoneer, streamlining the process for cross-border sellers to sell and transact on popular ecommerce sites, expanding the opportunities available to Vietnamese SMBs.

Taking the leap

The benefits of cross-border expansion are evident, with many Vietnamese companies seeking further growth opportunities.

However, Ngo noted that there is still some hesitance, especially among older entrepreneurs.

“They are so comfortable in Vietnam with their product and their success with what they have built,” he said. “They need to have the right mindset for what they want to do and take that risk.”

With Vietnam on track to become a trillion-dollar economy, cross-border ambition will become not just valuable but necessary, especially for local companies looking to stay ahead of the curve.

Payoneer aims to connect the world’s underserved businesses to a rising, global economy. As part of this mission, it’s working to help businesses unlock exciting opportunities for expansion.

Uncover the hard-won lessons and unlock the secrets to finding success beyond borders through landscape analyses and industry insights, all in one place.

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This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.