As part of No.4 work package of V2WORK project, CVSEAS- VNUHCM USSH organized the service “Nurturing the Entrepreneurship Spirit and Star-up Coaching”, hosted by Tran Van Lieng - General Director of Vinacacao Vietnam. Dr Tran Dinh Lam-Director of CVSEAS, students and postgraduates from different faculties also participated in the service.

Dr Lam introduced shortly about the aim and development of the V2WORK project and its new services funded by the E.U.. Next, Dr Lam showed his thankfulness for having Mr Lieng - one of 60 outstanding USSH’s alumni honored in the Ceremony of 60th anniversary of development. The director of Vinacacao has made great contributions to promote the human resource development of the USSH. 

Hosting the sessions, Lieng said that entrepreneurs often experienced fear as well as worries in early stages of their businesses. At first glance, entrepreneurship appeared to be challenging but in fact, it was not that hard to look for opportunities. When we knew that something must be changed for improvement and we could influence other people to do so, we should start the entrepreneurship journey, Lieng mentioned.  

Speaker Trần Văn Liêng always supports the project V2WORK

There is an obvious discrepancy when comparing the rate of entrepreneurship in the US and that of Vietnam. In the US, more than 30 million startups are in operation, accounting for 12% of its population. However, Vietnam just reaches 700,000 ones, making up 0.8% of the population of 90 million people.  Nonetheless, the gap indicates a good sign for Vietnam’s economy since entrepreneurship has become more popular and the government has implemented policies to encourage and promote this kind of business. 

Although entrepreneurship was undoubtedly demanding, everybody stood a chance to become an entrepreneur. Students should adopt the entrepreneurship spirit early to self-assess their own strengths, weaknesses as well as opportunities. Beside truly understanding our own ability, the speaker strongly stressed that every startup had better find a suitable mentor to go through the company’s early time. This was one of the factors that determined the success of a startup. 

After the speaker’s sharing section, participants asked Lieng about his entrepreneurship story when first established Vianacacao. The questions concerned suggestions to find potential markets, effective financial plans and commercializing products. The service provided and broadened students’ knowledge of startups in Vietnam’s market. Through speaker’s experience including both hardship and chances, young people will have a clearer vision on their startup journeys in the future.

Mr Lieng is answering questions from the audience