A devoted overseas Vietnamese for the Vietnamese community in France

PANO – Hoping to create a cultural venue for overseas Vietnamese in France, Anoa Dussol Perran, Vietnamese Tourism Ambassador to France for the 2015-2018 tenure, has been wholeheartedly striving to complete the project, “Alliance Maison Vietnam”, in the romantic country. 

The pioneer in new projects

Born in Vietnam, Anoa was 4 years old when she and her parents left for France. However, the young woman always regards her as part of the S-shape country and she terribly thirsts to return to and contribute to her motherland like other overseas Vietnamese, despite the fact that she has become a famous businesswoman in the Western European country.

Although her dream did not receive the support of her father, Anoa showed her determination to return to Vietnam and she became the pioneer in many new projects in her home country.

Anoa Dussol Perran introducing the project “Alliance Maison Vietnam”

The first project Anoa was involved in was to improve Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Hotel, which has become one of the most famous five-star hotels in Vietnam and the world. At that time she was working as a diplomatic adviser of Feal Construction Group.

The second one was conducted in 1993, as she had a historical flight to Vietnam in a helicopter to introduce the then Vietnamese leaders to a new modern aviation service in the world.

Anoa said that having watched news and programs on the Vietnam War and understood the fierceness of the war, Anoa told herself that she must do something to help international friends have a deeper understanding of Vietnam. “Once they know about Vietnam, they will travel to the country on commercial helicopters”, the young businesswoman said. 

After her return to Vietnam, Anoa in cooperation with the Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) under the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam opened a new air transport service by helicopter, named the Helijet Vietnam Air Service Company.

Her desire to contribute to the development of her homeland continued as in 1996, Anoa decided to stay in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province with certain natural resources, such as mountains, forests, clean sand beaches, and a fresh environment to help develop tourism.

After two years, Anoa and her partners successfully completed building the Anoasis Beach Resorta, the first four-star maritime tourism area in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Unfortunately, the project was destroyed by a devastating storm in 2007. Not discouraged by the failure, the young businesswoman continued her passion for developing tourism and resort services. Her efforts  paid off, as in 2008 An Hoa Residence Villas was put into operation. 

The dream to build a venue for OVs in Paris

35 years living in a Western European country, the Vietnamese Tourism Ambassador to France understands what the OVs, especially those who do not know much about their motherland, need to learn about the land better than anyone. That’s why Anoa used to dream of building an ideal cultural venue for the OVs in France to give them a chance to learn about Vietnam’s history, its culture, and people, and the place must be typical for the Vietnamese culture, near the central Paris and attractive to tourists.

Places in Nantes and Puteaux that she had found earlier did not meet her requirements as they are far from Paris and separated from residential areas.

To seek such an ideal place, Anoa made use of her good diplomatic skills and her knowledge of tourism and culture. In late October 2015, Anoa successfully persuaded Patrick Devedjian, President of Hauts de Seine to cede the 5,000sq.m place on Seguin Island to her to realize her great dream. The area, 1km away from Paris, once belonged to France’s Renault automaker, was later built into a cultural and art space for tourists. The beautiful place on the poetic Seine River attracted Anoa’s attention at first sight.

With inspiration to honour and popularize the valuable cultural heritage of Vietnam to the French people and international friends as a whole, Anoa plans to build the house typical of the Vietnamese traditional architecture which will showcase Vietnam’s special cultural products, including the "Ao dai" (traditional long dress of the Vietnamese people) and folk arts.

“Building the image of Vietnam and its people in the French people’s hearts is an effective method to attract more investors to contribute to the development of Vietnam’s economy”, said Anoa.