Navigos Group — Vietnam’s largest recruiting and integrated HR-solutions provider, and owner of the popular job website VietnamWorks.com — announced that in Q2 2007 Indochina Capital invested $1,100,000 in the company.

Navigos Group is now fetching $2.50 per share (split adjusted), up from just $0.01 three years ago.  That’s an increase of 24,900%.  Initially, in early 2006, Indochina Capital invested $2,000,000 in the rapidly growing company.  Navigos Group/ VietnamWorks.com founder and CEO Jonah Levey said of its investor, “Indochina Capital is an ideal partner, providing strategic support and financial capital to fuel our growth.”

And growth there has been — five years ago Levey, an American, moved to Vietnam to start the job website VietnamWorks.com.  At that time the HR-services industry in the developing nation barely existed.  Since then more than 900,000 job seekers have registered with the website, and this year the site will serve more than 8,000 corporate clients.

Levey also founded Navigos Group, which offers a broad range of HR solutions, including executive search, payroll management, contract staffing and training.  “In Vietnam the reality is that nearly every company, while growing as a result of the economy’s robust expansion, is faced with the constraint of a shortage of qualified human resources.  And that’s where we come in — we help companies attract, develop and retain their most important asset: people.”

This year more than 500,000 university graduates will be chasing white-collar jobs and scanning VietnamWorks.com for the best opportunities.  In addition, Vietnamese mid-level professionals are changing jobs every two to three years, which creates a big demand for the company’s services.  To reach these graduates, and other more senior job candidates, employers pay VietnamWorks.com $50 for a basic job listing for one month.  The website receives more than 3,000 new job listings a month and reports more than double the visitors of its closest competitor.

Tung Kim, managing director of Indochina Capital comments, “Online businesses have high economies of scale.  The bigger you grow, the better the margins.  And, when you have more employers using your website, you have more jobs and more job seekers, so it is a synergistic circle.”  At this point VietnamWorks.com and Navigos Group are well ahead of the competition.  About 50% of the company’s revenue comes from its online business; the rest comes from offline executive search, print ads, training, etc.  “The combination of ‘clicks and mortar’ has worked well in a country where many people still check newspaper want ads for jobs,” adds Kim.

In addition to VietnamWorks.com’s commercial success, Levey is especially enthusiastic about what he calls the “emotional richness” of the job business.  “We help people earn more money, advance their careers, and generally improve themselves by getting better jobs.  What could be more gratifying?” he asks.

The company has also made a special effort to help young professionals.  For example, Levey noticed last year that many new graduates were scrambling to find work and, at the same time, not many companies were advertising for internships or entry-level jobs.  So the company embarked on a campaign to encourage employers to hire interns and entry-level staff.  Now it estimates that this year more than 5,000 graduates will land their first job through VietamWorks.com.  That’s 10% of the nation’s 2007 graduating class. “Not bad at all,” Levey comments proudly.

Levey attributes the company’s success partly to picking the right time to enter the market, and also to his team.  Combined, VietnamWorks.com and Navigos Group have 230 employees, and the company has been able to attract impressive executives to its ranks.  People in senior management have worked for companies such as Microsoft, British Petroleum, Prudential, Yahoo, Ernst & Young, Manpower and other impressive organizations.  “This dynamic team of experienced professionals creates our success” Levey says.

Navigos Group focuses on executive search, HR consulting, salary survey, temporary staffing and training. Vietnamworks.com provides job seekers free online access to thousands of jobs and extensive career-development resources, and provides companies online job posting services and a searchable resume database. The company also provides print job advertisements in popular newspapers.

For more information please contact:

Nguyen Thi Minh Tam
Director, Corporate Marketing & Communications
Navigos Group Ltd./VietnamWorks.com
130 Suong Nguyet Anh Street
Ben Thanh Ward, District 1
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Tel: (84 8) 404 1373, ext: 170
Fax: (84 8) 404 1372
Mobile: (84) 90 395 9749

tam@navigosgroup.com

http://www.navigosgroup.com