(ĐTTCO) – Choosing entrepreneurship also means that young people will face many difficulties and challenges. Some overcome them and write their success stories, while many others must accept failure. Whether successful or unsuccessful, entrepreneurial stories offer experiences to share and connect through.
Creativity is necessary for success
Tạ Minh Tuấn is a familiar name in the startup community, not only because of his achievements at a young age, but also because of the stories he shares about the entrepreneurial spirit in his blood. At 19, while still at university, Tuấn began his entrepreneurial journey with a Digital Marketing project. Despite his enthusiasm, the project did not succeed. Yet that very failure gave him a solid foundation, and at 21 he founded HELP International, pioneering home healthcare.
Then, at 23, he became President of BNI Master Chapter and founded the entrepreneurship training center YUP Institute. That same year, Tạ Minh Tuấn was honored as 1 of Vietnam's 15 outstanding social entrepreneurs according to CSIP, the British Council, and the World Bank. 2 years later, Tuấn also became President of JCI Central Saigon Chapter—the world's largest federation of young entrepreneurs. Forbes magazine recognized him as 1 of Vietnam's 30 successful and influential figures in its prestigious “30 under 30” ranking. In 2016, Tuấn appeared again in the ranking of Asia's 30 outstanding young people. Today, people see Tuấn more often sharing his experience and guiding young people eager to start businesses.
For coffee lovers, Nguyễn Hải Ninh's The Coffee House model is truly impressive. In nearly 2 years, Ninh's chain opened 20 stores in attractive locations on major roads in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Shareholders Hải Ninh, investment fund Seedcom, and the Prosperity Trees group have now invested more than 40 billion đồng in The Coffee House and related businesses such as coffee farms and production and packaging facilities. The Coffee House plans to double its existing network in 2016. Ninh wants to develop it in the style of a Vietnamese Starbucks. He previously co-founded the Urban Station coffee chain.
Another relatively private figure whose success was recognized through inclusion in Forbes Vietnam's list of 30 successful young people under 30 is Phạm Kim Hùng, founder of TechElite. In 2007, Kim Hùng received a full scholarship to Stanford University in the United States. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, Hùng returned to Vietnam and founded TechElite in 2013, developing Software as a Service solutions to help businesses and organizations operate more efficiently and intelligently. TechElite has now developed 3 applications: an online civil service recruitment examination system (implemented with the Ministry of Home Affairs), the BigTime event management and organization application, and WorkTime—software that creates a shared workspace on computers and mobile devices for an entire business, giving everyone a common space to exchange ideas, communicate, and handle work. Currently, around 100,000 people use TechElite products, and around 200 businesses use WorkTime. Hùng expects that in the next 3 years, around 10,000 Vietnamese businesses will use WorkTime, adopt modern management models, and build professional workspaces with strong collaboration.
Deaths foretold
In late 2015, the startup community witnessed the early demise of 2 websites, Beyeu.com and Deca.vn—e-commerce sites backed by well-resourced organizations. Beyeu.com was a product of Project Lana—the owner of Webtretho.com, Vietnam's most-visited women's website—and IDG Ventures. Yet Webtretho's success could not save Beyeu.com as funding gradually ran out. Beyeu.com closed with a message that shocked the startup community: “E-commerce requires a great deal of money; the company has decided to stop burning money. Good luck to those who keep trying.” Meanwhile, Deca.vn was the child of 24h Online Advertising Joint Stock Company. While Beyeu.com closed for financial reasons, a 24h representative maintained: “24h's financial resources remain abundant.” Deca.vn's early demise therefore surprised many, despite its substantial traffic and having once been expected to become a Vietnamese e-commerce site capable of matching Lazada.
One obvious common feature is that both Beyeu.com and Deca.vn belong to companies specializing in publishing (24h owns the 2 news sites 24h.com.vn and Eva.vn, while Project Lana is the parent company of Webtretho). Both 24h and Project Lana are successful in publishing, yet both failed when they poured money into e-commerce. This shows that success in e-commerce is not as easy as 24h and Project Lana expected, especially for businesses with little experience in the field, even though the market has great potential.
Discussing the causes of startup failure, Tạ Minh Tuấn believes that paths to success vary widely, but reasons for failure are almost the same. Common reasons include insufficient motivation or passion to commit, starting a business merely to follow a trend; poor market understanding and overconfidence in what one knows; poor product quality without differentiation or a clear competitive advantage; having a decent product but not knowing how to get it to consumers; insufficient leadership and management ability; and insufficient money and capital to stay in the game…
According to economic experts, young entrepreneurs' major problem is enthusiasm for taking the plunge without a basic understanding of what business is. This easily leads to a lack of strategic direction and suitable plans, poor use of resources, and losses of resources and confidence, making failure inevitable.
Practical support is needed
Two difficulties many young people face when choosing entrepreneurship are ideas and capital. Many believe Vietnamese startups currently copy their predecessors' successes. On this point, we must affirm that Vietnamese people are highly capable and creative. But we must also acknowledge that Vietnam's economy trails developed countries, so what is old elsewhere being new here is unsurprising. Still, each market and customer group has its own characteristics. Without adapting accordingly, a startup merely copies mechanically and dogmatically, making failure hard to avoid. As for capital, many questions arise: Does entrepreneurship really require substantial capital? Where can it come from? How can one raise funds from angel investment funds or venture capital funds… to develop a project? Experienced people say whether substantial capital is needed depends on the scale and nature of the business chosen.
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| Senior management consultant Lý Trường Chiến and entrepreneur Tạ Minh Tuấn (2nd and 3rd from the left). |
Another lesson shared by people who have experienced both entrepreneurial success and failure is that initial funding must come from founders themselves, participating partners, and family. Raising money from angel and venture investment funds is far from simple. Starting a business—or doing anything—always involves both luck and risk: some succeed and others fail. Some rise after failure and continue their entrepreneurial path, though it is not easy. Young first-time founders also have almost no market experience. This is when they need State support, seen as supplying initial “fuel” and motivation.
Commenting on Ho Chi Minh City’s Startup and Innovation Investment Fund for 2016-2020, Tạ Minh Tuấn considered it an encouraging sign. However, what startups need is a truly supportive entrepreneurial environment, with the participation of individuals, experts, business owners, and experienced predecessors sharing valuable experience with those who follow. Most startups today must learn by trial and error on their own, which is very difficult; they lack the means and opportunities to meet seasoned entrepreneurs. That is why groups and organizations are needed to bring such people together to support startups. Among young people choosing entrepreneurship today are both returning overseas students and those educated domestically. However, young people educated domestically sometimes have weaker knowledge foundations than those who studied abroad. That is why some students graduate yet have to learn everything again when they start working. This shows that the State needs to build a solid educational foundation, providing a stepping stone for young people’s passion and willingness to venture forth.
Thanh Dung
(Excerpt from Sài Gòn Đầu Tư newspaper)
