Join us to explore how Vietnam is poised to become Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. It is only the latest milestone in an ongoing success story. The country is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, a rising manufacturing and technology hub, and an increasingly important player in the Indo-Pacific.

A close partner of the United Kingdom, with the two governments signing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in October 2025 marking a new phase in cooperation and deepening ties across trade, investment, and innovation.

Few people are better placed to discuss Vietnam’s ascent on the world stage — and its relationship with the UK — than the British-Vietnamese entrepreneur Kenneth Atkinson OBE. He has spent decades working in Vietnam and has watched the country’s transformation from the inside. He just released his memoir Never Say No: My Journey from Saddleworth to Saigon, a thrilling account of living and doing business in one of the world’s most dynamic economies.

This event is online only. Sign up here
Monday 12 January at 11:00 UK time / 18:00 Vietnam time.

Speakers:

Kenneth Atkinson OBE

Kenneth Atkinson OBE is a British-Vietnamese entrepreneur and the author of Never Say No: My Journey from Saddleworth to Saigon (2025), a memoir that recounts his more than 50-year professional journey and over 35 years of commitment to Vietnam.

Originally from the north of England, Atkinson started his career in international banking and after 14 years, including assignments in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, he set up his own consultancy business, which became Grant Thornton Vietnam in 1998.

With over 45 years emerging market experience and over 40 years Asian experience, Atkinson has undertaken corporate finance transactions in many emerging markets worldwide. He has been working almost exclusively in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR during the last 30+ years, and is a Board Member of the British Chamber of Commerce Vietnam.

Atkin lives in Ho Chi Minh City and was named one of Vietnam’s most influential individuals by Tatler Asia.

Dr Theo Zenou

Theo is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. He holds a PhD in history at Cambridge University, where he also taught undergraduates. He has been a Theodore Sorensen Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and a Visiting Researcher at Boston University.

Theo has written features, essays and reviews for The Washington Post, The Economist, FT, The Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times, TLS, Spectator and others.

Prior to his doctorate, he worked in TV for several years