Maximillien Quan Pham, Founder and CEO of Wisematch Vietnam

Maximillien Quan Pham (born Pham Minh Quan) is the founder and CEO of Wisematch Vietnam, a trade promotion company that takes Vietnamese producers to international trade shows. He has 19 years of B2B sales and marketing experience at CBRE, ANZ and Lazada, founded the corporate gift company Imado Vietnam in 2014, and exhibited at Gulfood 2026 in Dubai. Every article on wisematch.vn carries his name, and he is accountable for the figures in them.

1. Quick Facts

2. It Started With a Passport in 2007

On 15 January 2007, Max landed in Singapore to begin his studies. The officer at immigration opened his passport, laughed, and made a few remarks about Vietnamese people that were less than respectful.

It was a small moment, and many Vietnamese who travel have met something like it. But it stayed with him for almost twenty years. From that day he carried one question: how can Vietnamese products and people go abroad and be seen for what they are?

His answer became the sentence Wisematch uses as its mission: to open up the best of Vietnam to the world through cooperation and connection.

3. Twenty Years of Selling to Businesses

Before he led any delegation to a trade show, Max had three careers. All three were B2B sales. Only the seat was different.

3.1. Working Inside Multinational Companies

From 2008 to 2014, Max worked in sales management at companies including CBRE, ANZ and later Lazada. There he learned how a large organisation makes a buying decision: who signs, who blocks, and which documents they need before they will talk about price.

3.2. Starting a Company and Finding His Own Buyers

In 2014 he founded Imado Vietnam, owner of quadayroi.com and bizgift.vn, which supplies corporate gifts. A start-up programme on HTV7 and several newspapers have covered that period.

This is also when he began attending overseas trade shows for his own company: CAP India in March 2018 and the Taiwan gift fair in 2022. In other words, before advising anyone, he had sat at the small table in the middle of a show, across from strangers, and negotiated for himself.

3.3. Training Sales Teams for Large Companies

In parallel, Max teaches sales and marketing through MQP Academy. Organisations he has trained include Samsung, Oppo, Shopee, Techcombank, Garena, Viettel and Mercedes-Benz. He has also advised on and delivered projects for Sacombank, VPBank and Kido.

The three careers meet at Wisematch. Someone who has sold to corporations knows how a large buyer decides. Someone who has carried his own goods abroad knows what a Vietnamese business owner worries about. Someone who has taught knows how to explain both in plain words.

4. Trade Shows and Trade Missions Attended in Person

5. Five Things Max Has Learned on the Show Floor

None of this is theory. Each point comes with a number or a photograph you can check for yourself.

5.1. Almost Half of the Buyers Are Resellers

At Gulfood 2026, 28% of visitors were importers and wholesalers and 19% were distributors. Together, 47% came to buy and sell on, not to buy for their own use.

That means your price list has to leave room for their margin. Many Vietnamese companies arrive with the retail price they use at home, then wonder why nobody follows up. The person across the table does not think the price is too high. They simply cannot see their own share in it.

Source: Gulfood 2026 Post Show Report, published by the organiser.

5.2. Dubai Is a Gateway to Africa, Not Only to the UAE

Visitors to Gulfood 2026 came from the Middle East (48.61%), Asia (22.1%), Europe (11.98%) and Africa (11.03%). Roughly one in nine people walking past your stand is from Africa.

That means you should not prepare only for questions about the UAE. Prepare for “how much delivered to the port of Mombasa” as well. This is why Wisematch talks about Dubai as a transit hub rather than a destination.

Source: Gulfood 2026 Post Show Report, published by the organiser.

5.3. Buyers Ask About Reliability Before They Ask About Price

The same report ranks the reasons buyers choose a supplier: product quality 60%, supplier reliability 58%, competitive pricing 39%. Price comes third.

At a trade show, reliability is not a promise. It is three things a buyer can hold: a certificate that is still valid, a sample that matches the photograph, and a reply to their email within two days of the show closing.

5.4. Being on the Shelf Is Not the Same as Having a Name on the Shelf

In September 2026 Max counted the online catalogue of the Lulu hypermarket chain in the UAE. A search for “vietnam” returned 18 items, 5 of them agricultural products and spices. All 5 carried the country name, and none carried the name of a Vietnamese company. Two cinnamon items were sold under the supermarket’s own label.

That means cinnamon leaves a Vietnamese farm, goes into someone else’s packaging, and the shopper in Dubai thanks the supermarket. In Dubai, Vietnam is still the name of a sourcing region, not yet the name of a supplier.

To be precise: this is the number of items shown on the online store on 13 September 2026, not everything stocked in the supermarkets.

Source: counted by Wisematch on gcc.luluhypermarket.com, 13 September 2026.

5.5. The Most Important Work Happens Before the Flight

Gulfood 2026’s buyer-matching area had more than 3,500 meetings scheduled before opening day. Large buyers arrive with a full calendar. They do not wander.

There is a smaller thing Max still remembers. One afternoon he had to open his laptop at a wooden table outside because there was nowhere left to sit in the hall. Standing in an aisle, you only have time to hand over a business card. That is why stand N39-F2 for the 2027 edition has its own meeting area.

6. How Max Works With a New Company

Step 1. A conversation by WhatsApp, phone or email to understand your product category, production capacity and goals.

Step 2. A clear recommendation on the route that fits you: visit first, send products for display, or take a stand. Sometimes the answer is that you should not go yet.

Step 3. If you go ahead, Wisematch handles the paperwork with the organiser and schedules meetings before the flight.

You can stop after step 2 at no cost. Max does not promise a number of orders after a show, because nobody can honestly promise that.

7. Trade Promotion Work in Vietnam

Beyond trade shows, Max is the person who organised Wisematch’s 2024 conferences with government bodies: three seminars on the European and US markets with the Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (7 March, 27 June and 26 September 2024), a conference on ESG with the Can Tho Department of Industry and Trade, and a greenhouse gas inventory workshop with the Long An Department of Industry and Trade.

The full list is on the About Wisematch page.

8. Press and Television

• HTV7 (Ho Chi Minh City Television): feature on his start-up years with Qua Day Roi.
• Kinh te va Du bao (Economy and Forecast Review): profile as CEO of Qua Day Roi (in Vietnamese).
• Cong Thuong Newspaper (Ministry of Industry and Trade), 26 September 2024: report on the US-market seminar, noting the talk by Mr Pham Minh Quan, Director of Wisematch Vietnam Co., Ltd, on AI in import and export.
• VOH (Voice of Ho Chi Minh City), 14 June 2024: article on exporting to the US in the AI era.
• CafeF, 18 June 2024: article on the opportunities and risks of exporting to the US in the AI era.
• VOH, 7 March 2024: report on the UK and Europe market seminar, quoting him as managing director and founder of Wisematch.
• Kenh14, 24 April 2024: quoted as CEO and founder of Wisematch Vietnam.

All linked articles are in Vietnamese. The full list of nine 2024 press articles is on the Vietnamese page Wisematch là ai, section 9.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

9.1. Are Maximillien Quan Pham and Pham Minh Quan the Same Person?

Yes. Pham Minh Quan is his birth name and the name printed on his Gulfood 2026 exhibitor badge. Maximillien Quan Pham is the name he uses with international partners.

9.2. Why Do All Wisematch Articles Carry His Name?

Because most of them use data Wisematch has looked up or counted itself, and real quotations worked through with show organisers. The byline tells you who is accountable for each number and whom to ask.

9.3. Does Max Travel With the Delegation Himself?

Yes. At shows where Wisematch has a stand, the founder is the person on the stand. Issues that come up on site, such as rescheduling a meeting or dealing with the organiser, are decided on the spot.

9.4. Can an Overseas Buyer Contact Max Directly?

Yes. Email info@wisematch.vn or message +84 354 624 102 on WhatsApp or by phone. Tell us the product category you are sourcing and your market, and we will tell you plainly whether we can help.

9.5. Is There a Vietnamese Version of This Page?

Yes: Maximillien Quân Phạm là ai.