Experts: Trick is to make Vietnamese startups competitive

 

Hanoi (VNA) - Many young people, including those who’ve studied abroad and returned home to establish their own businesses, shared useful ideas on startups at a conference held last week in HCM City.

Nguyen Trong Nhan, director of Fablab Sai Gon, said that starting a business means working for oneself and looking for new values, and these lessons need to be learnt from successful start-ups.

Young people are attracted by recent Government policies encouraging startups. However, while establishing a startup is fairly easy, making it internationally competitive needs support and advice from experienced experts, Nhan said.

Tran Bao Tran, managing director of Sea Media Ltd Co, a former student in Switzerland, said there were three challenges that overseas students faced when coming back home to start a business - finding investors, enthusiastic employees and a conducive investment environment.

David Ngo, an American Information Technology expert, explained his reasons for starting a business in Vietnam: "The Government wants Vietnam to become a start-up nation and has adopted suitable policies on building smart cities. Therefore, the country’s policies are a driving force. Besides, the country is also developing in science and technology. If they receive investments, young people here will not be inferior to others in the world."

Ngo said the entrepreneurial spirit was high in Vietnam.

"However, the boom is developing only in width, not in depth. I found out that many young entrepreneurs are just following the trend. The need orientation and direction from their predecessors. Lacking financial skills, they can easily go bankrupt. I wish to see more training sessions to guide young entrepreneurs in avoiding risks."

Duong Minh Tri of the HCM City Institute of Physics, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said the state’s role in developing a startup ecosystem is not intervention, but creating a transparent business environment.

For young investors, capital is important, but more important is knowledge about the market, experience from failures, innovation and competitiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to foster startup ideas among university and college students, and establishing funds to provide capital assistance, Tri said.-VNA