Sharing experience with semifinalist projects in the Hult Prize competition (in Vietnam), the world’s largest student competition for starting social enterprises. This competition is supported by Bill Clinton. The grand prize is 1 million USD!
Social enterprise is not unfamiliar to me. Before the Forbes Asia list, I appeared on Forbes Vietnam's 30 under 30 list in 2015 as the sole person in the Social Entrepreneur Category. That is the path I chose, and my business philosophy remains consistent with it. Whenever possible, I “spread” the social entrepreneurial spirit. Yesterday's talk show with FPT co-founder Thanh Thanh was the same: I took the opportunity to discuss “Shared Value,” Social Enterprise, and what we call Charity 3.0 (you can watch the talk show in the post below). I know this concept sounds easy to understand but remains unfamiliar in mindset to quite a considerable number of entrepreneurs in my country (shrugs)
Quite frankly, much of what we do is neither charity nor business. I intensely dislike the word charity. I do not hate business, but I am not particularly fond of the ‘profiteering trader’ kind. We, the companies within TMT, focus not on being ‘Profit-oriented’ but ‘Impact & Value-oriented.’ That will be our guiding principle!
Earlier this year, I was invited to be a Co-Founder of Hult Prize in Vietnam, but at the time I could not take on anything else. Now I am fulfilling my promise to train their contestants. Wishing Hult Prize Vietnam success!
