Mr. Nguyễn Thành Tiến
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With the remaining 8 billion VND, Văn Lang Technology Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (HNX: VLA) will spend 2.2 billion VND on employee salaries, training costs for experts; 2 billion VND for organizing classes, conferences; 1.5 billion VND for documentation, printing, customer reception, transactions; 1.5 billion VND for tax payments and nearly 780 million VND for other expenses related to the company’s business activities.
Prior to that, VLA had completed a fundraising round and raised nearly 20 billion VND since the beginning of December 2023. Initially, the company planned to use the additional capital to establish a branch in Ho Chi Minh City as approved by the General Shareholders’ Meeting in September 2022.
Specifically, Mr. Tiến’s company plans to spend 10.8 billion VND on advertising and marketing, accounting for about 50% of the total amount. The remaining 3 billion VND will be allocated for labor costs and 6.1 billion VND for facilities and other expenses.
However, the Board of Directors proposed a change of plan. Instead, the entire amount will be used to supplement working capital to serve business operations, covering the aforementioned items.
 Details of the use of funds raised. Source: VLA
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Explaining this change, VLA stated that the prolonged impact of the pandemic and the global economic and political situation has greatly affected the domestic economy. Despite the company’s efforts to open classes in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Phu Quoc, and other provinces, the significant decrease in the number of students has led to a decline in revenue in 2023, especially in Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces.
Such developments have affected the working capital for business operations in 2023 of VLA as well as the possibility of a capital shortfall in the following years.
At the same time, the Board of Directors evaluated that establishing a branch in Ho Chi Minh City after raising additional capital would not be effective and would not provide opportunities for research, market expansion, and diversification of fields and industries in the coming years if there is a capital shortage. Therefore, they requested the approval of the General Shareholders’ Meeting to change the plan.
As of February 15, 2024, VLA has used 535 million VND out of the total amount of 9.8 billion VND as decided by the Board of Directors to change the utilization of funds according to the Resolution dated December 29, 2023.
In the business plan for 2024, VLA stated that it will continue to expand its training courses, including real estate investment strategies (CKB), NIK UNI K02 courses, teaching children to become wealthy, awakening unlimited potential, Business Master Bootcamp, investment intelligence 4.0, and corporate intelligence courses.
The General Shareholders’ Meeting in late January of VLA also approved the business plan for 2024 with the goal of achieving 20 billion VND in revenue, nearly double the realized revenue in 2023, and 3 billion VND in after-tax profit, compared to the previous figure of 132 million VND. However, this target is still lower than the actual performance in 2022.
As of the end of 2023, after the additional issuance, Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Nguyễn Thành Tiến and his family currently hold about 30% of VLA’s capital. Secretary of the Board of Directors Mr. Nguyễn Văn Thọ, Deputy Director Ms. Nguyễn Thu Hà, and Head of Planning – Investment – Business Department Ms. Vũ Thị Hiền Nhung are Mr. Tiến’s biological father, younger sister, and wife, respectively.
According to research on the vla.edu.vn website, Mr. Tiến offers a wide range of courses related to investment, real estate, marketing, personal development, etc. The prices of these courses range from free to hundreds of million VND. Mr. Tiến also has his own YouTube channel with 179 thousand followers.
 Some courses by entrepreneur Mr. Nguyễn Thành Tiến. Source: vla.edu.vn
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