Many foreign teachers said they were owed 100-120 million VND in salary by Apax Leaders, leaving them in dire straits, but with almost no hope of getting their money back.
Avinash Soni, a South African, started teaching at an Apax Leaders center in 2019. A year later, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Soni said the company initially promised to keep paying teachers, even if they taught online due to social distancing.
"It was quite shocking that the company was late with the payment, but because other places were also having difficulties, we teachers remained optimistic," he said.
Alexander Wood, an American, commented that the time Apax Leaders started having financial problems was also the time Vietnam applied strict anti-epidemic measures to deal with the epidemic.
"So at that time, we were more worried about the epidemic and the lockdown than about our salaries," he said.
In the end, they and many colleagues have been owed salaries until now, many of them have struggled with life, losing confidence in working at English centers. They also feel "hopeless" of being paid by Apax Leaders.
Apax Leaders English Center on Phan Xich Long Street, Phu Nhuan District, morning of March 26. Photo: Dinh Van
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as "Shark Thuy", founded the Egroup ecosystem in 2008, spanning many fields, notably the Apax Leaders English center chain. At its peak, Apax Leaders said it had 120 centers nationwide, with about 120,000 students.
At the end of 2020 and 2021, parents in many provinces and cities simultaneously complained to Apax Leaders because they paid for their children to study English but the study was incomplete because the centers were closed.
To date, in Ho Chi Minh City, Apax Leaders owes tuition fees to 4,400 students, with about 94 billion VND. This center also owes teachers and staff 11.5 billion VND in salaries, along with social insurance debt of 32 billion VND. There are no statistics on these figures nationwide.
According to Avinash and Alexander, Apax currently owes them about VND120 million each. Meanwhile, Hannah Clemett, a British citizen, said she was owed two months' wages, totaling more than VND100 million, as of August 2021.
“This put a significant financial strain on me for a while, which made me feel extremely anxious,” she said.
Avinash and Clemett both left Apax Leaders after that, but not everyone did. Callan Williams, from South Africa, said that around late 2021 and early 2022, most of the foreign teachers at Apax quit, but he continued because he was afraid of not being able to renew his visa.
"I got married to my Vietnamese wife at the end of 2021 and had to wait a few months to get a new visa. If I quit my job at Apax at that time, I would have no choice but to leave Vietnam, not knowing when I would see my wife again," Callan explained, saying that Apax owed him more than VND300 million.
"On the wedding day, I had no money left in my account. I felt extremely ashamed that my wife and her family had to pay for the entire wedding. For almost a year, I was financially dependent on my wife," he said.
However, Callan asserted that he was “not the most affected person”. There were teachers who owed nearly 500 million VND, had no money to pay rent, and were homeless, or people who were invited from abroad to Vietnam but then did not receive their salaries.
Callan Williams with students at an Apax Leaders center. Photo: Character provided
Alexander said he and some colleagues at Apax Leaders complained to the authorities as soon as the Covid-19 lockdown measures were lifted.
At that time, he had about 200 million VND in unpaid wages. After much effort, he was able to get back 80 million. However, according to Alexander, some employees were less fortunate and have not received a single penny to this day.
Beth Maxwell, an English teacher, falls into this category.
"I sent countless emails, sought legal help, called the office. All to no avail. Finally, Apax's HR department blocked my email address," Maxwell said. To date, she has not recovered VND25 million and has had to return home.
For Oliver, a Briton, the situation was no better. Owed 120 million VND by Apax, Oliver had to spend almost all his savings to survive. He contacted a lawyer who initially seemed willing to help. But after forwarding the relevant documents, the lawyer stopped responding to his emails.
"I went to Apax's new headquarters with the desire to return to work, but as soon as I mentioned compensation records or tax payments, I found all doors quickly closed before I could talk to anyone," Oliver said.
Another American teacher said that according to statistics from a group of foreign teachers, Apax owes at least 81 people, with a total amount of 13.4 billion VND. The female teacher said she has filed a lawsuit against Apax.
"Now that Mr. Thuy has been arrested, we have no hope of getting the money back."
Shark Thuy was arrested on March 25 for alleged fraud in the transfer of shares at Egroup. Apax Leaders later said it would temporarily stop confirming tuition fees and debts while authorities investigate. Currently, the chain has only 8 centers in operation, mainly in the North.
Alexander Wood and colleagues at Apax Leaders. Photo: Character provided
Alexander Wood is concerned about the English teaching industry in Vietnam. He believes that the negative impact of Shark Thuy's poor management, parents' tuition debt and teachers' salaries, could lead to distrust of English teaching centers and facilities in general.
Other teachers also said their experience at Apax Leaders made them lose confidence in working at English centers.
“The trust that Apax broke will never be fully rebuilt,” said British teacher Hannah Clemett. Beth is “scared and wary of working abroad.”
Now a father, Callan plans to stay in Vietnam, but is no longer interested in the education field.
"If there is any opportunity other than teaching, I am willing to change careers," he said.
Oliver found a new job at an international school. Like Callan, he has no intention of leaving Vietnam because he wants to marry his Vietnamese girlfriend, but he does not want to work for any language center.
“Working for a company where I can't find my boss to talk to, that's not a job I want to do,” Oliver said.
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