Ho Chi Minh City (VNS/VNA) — Vietnamese start-ups that wish to goglobal must have a “global mindset” and “decision-making power” and be willingto “take risks” to capitalise on the opportunities for success in the digitaleconomy, experts have said.

Speaking at a recent forum in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Quang Trung, senior lecturerand discipline lead for the International Business Programme at RMIT UniversityVietnam, said first and foremost global start-ups must be passionate abouttheir adventure as “passion gives you vision and energy”.

“They must also have a strong international outlook and internationalentrepreneurial orientation, and proactively compete in the internationalmarket,” he said, adding that in addition, they must be willing to take risks.

For start-ups that want to go global, the key is to leverage advancedinformation and communications technology.

Also speaking at the event, Dr. Nguyen Quan, chairman of the Vietnam AutomationAssociation (VAA) and a former minister of science and technology, said Vietnamwas emerging as a new start-up hub in the region, adding the Governmenttargeted developing the country into a technology powerhouse.
Global start-ups, especially thosethat lack experience, would face a lot of challenges, he said, explaining oneof them is the conflict between mindsets due to cultural differences betweenVietnamese and people in other countries.

To help start-ups go global, the Government has collaborated with globalventure funds as part of a national programme to support an innovative start-upeco-system through 2025.


Besides ventures funds, Vietnamesestart-ups can also receive support from incubators, mentors and acceleratorprogrammes.

Under the national digital transformation plan, Vietnam aims to emerge as oneof the top four countries in ASEAN in terms of digitisation by 2025 with 80,000digital technology companies.

Vietnam is currently among the most dynamic start-up hubs in the world and itswell-educated, young entrepreneurs are expected to improve the country’sposition on the global start-up map.

There are no official statistics on start-ups in the country, but according tosome regional tech sources, there are as many as 3,000 in the country, whichmakes it the third largest start-up eco-system in Southeast Asia.

The country jumped 12 places to 47th out of 127 economies on the WorldIntellectual Property Organisation’s 2017 Global Innovation Index, its highestranking in the last 10 years.

In Southeast Asia, it is only behind two countries, Singapore and Malaysia.

Vietnam has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world and hasbegun to change its role in the international economic order, experts said.

A large number of Vietnamese firms are joining the disruptive, innovativeglobal digital economy, which is already estimated to be worth 11.5 trillionUSD worldwide.

These firms can immediately start dealing with international customers andsuppliers and, so, are born global.

Titled ‘Born Global: The Future of Vietnam’s Digital Economy’, the forum wasorganised by RMIT University Vietnam.

Nearly 100 business executives, policymakers and academics from around thecountry took part.-VNS/VNA