Khánh Dương

HÀ NỘI — When Đặng Hoài Linh registered to take part in a start-up journey across Việt Nam, he never expected to walk away with a prize for his idea.

The idea Linh and his friends came up with looks to develop raw materials and commercial zones for artichoke products in the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang. They won the first prize at a mini start-up game held in the journey.

Linh and 99 other young Vietnamese entrepreneurs have gathered in Đà Nẵng City this week after finishing their ten-day start-up journey across Việt Nam.

Aiming to inspire young people and encourage them to come up with innovative ideas, the journey was entitled I Love My Homeland, and was organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Việt Nam Youth Federation and Việt Nam’s Young Entrepreneur Association.

The participants were divided into two groups and departed from Hà Nội in the north and Cần Thơ City in the south on November 18, going through Hải Phòng, Nghệ An, Quảng Bình, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, Phú Yên, Lâm Đồng, HCM City and finally Đà Nẵng, where a series of events at the national innovative start-up festival Techfest 2018 are taking place this week.

During the journey, participants attended workshops and listened to experts and investors, as well as incubators on innovation in e-commerce, high-tech agriculture and tourism.

They also visited enterprises and learned from outstanding local start-up models.

A networking session between the young start-up entrepreneurs and investors was held yesterday as part of Techfest.

For the first time at Techfest, the Government has focused on the important role of the youth in the innovative start-up eco-system.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Vân, permanent vice president of the Việt Nam Youth Federation, said the journey was expected to equip young people with knowledge and networking opportunities to become successful managers.

“The young entrepreneurs will be helped to access funds, connect with investors and apply what they have learned to start up new businesses,” she said

During the ten-day journey, participants experienced the different cultures that are spread across the country to learn the advantages and weaknesses of different areas so they could develop products that meet local demand, she said.

Nguyễn Văn Kỷ, one of the young businesspeople who took part in the trip, said he had been given the chance to exchange opportunities with fellow young entrepreneurs, incubators and investors in an important journey that helped inspire young people like him to be innovative and start practical business models.

“Having met and talked with entrepreneurs who have formed successful start-up models, I understand that starting a business is not an easy journey and full of challenges. Every place we visited taught us lessons about starting up sustainable business models,” Linh said.

The group will today take part in a policy dialogue to seek breakthrough measures for innovative start-ups in Việt Nam during which they will have the opportunity to submit their proposals to the Government on how to improve the Vietnamese start-up ecosystem. — VNS