Vo Ha Nhi is sharing her startup map

At the conference themed “PPC Chairman accompanies enterprises” on May 10th, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho decided to support 100 million dongs for the Startup map project, the name of which aroused curiosity and interests from many delegates. What is the idea that has made you or Hue Startup Club develop the Startup map for Hue’s startup community in particular and for that of Vietnam in general?

In fact, this idea is not new. It originated from the time I went to Korea where I found that at the airport, there were free maps sharing routes to local famous locations/places. The maps were very convenient for tourists to find addresses without requesting further instructions.

I returned home with a concept of developing a startup map to promote and introduce to members of Hue’s startup community. This was difficult for startups to develop the map themselves due to the lack of resources.

At that time, I was very surprised that Chairman Phan Ngoc Tho promised to support the project, and then, the Department of Planning and Investment also affirmed to help us complete the project and approach newly-established businesses.

Currently in Vietnam, there is not any comprehensive information channel on Vietnam’s startups. How was the startup map built and implemented to achieve this goal?

At the end of November 2018, as preparing to participate in the National Creative Innovation Day - Techfest 2018 in Da Nang, members of Hue Startup Club Management Board struggled with what we should bring along to introduce at the festival and what the “taste” of investors and their preferred connections might be...

I promoted the initiative of developing Hue Startup map for the team to discuss, and received support from them. The Club completed the initiative from its concept to an output product within three days prior to the Techfest conference.

During the project deployment, businesses even did not understand what to register. Also, I myself did not know how to explain because there was no sample product for illustration.

However, after receiving the project approval, the Club started calling on mobilizing support, and gathering more than 50 brand names for Hue Startup map, which was then printed into folding and compact brochures. The map contained quite enough information about Hue startups (adding some other businesses). It was expected that this map could be considered the fastest and most complete way to introduce Hue startup community to investors and conference participants.

After the Techfest, many members of Vietnam Startup Club, Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF)... learned about the project and began their cooperation with Hue’s Startup community. Also, from this information, the team completed the Startup map by designing the website https://bandokhoinghiep.vn/.

Fortunately, my project was chosen to nurture by a jury of Hue Startup competition (who is the Director of Songhan Incubator Joint Stock Company).

Through the process of being guided, mentored, and nurtured from the original project, I decided to take the project further into the field on which I have expertise - the accounting. Since then, the largest accountant website in Vietnam (https://ketoan365.com/) was born.

Up to present, how far has Hue Startup map reached in Vietnam startup map after more than 6 months of implementation?

In fact, the startup map might not be spread to many people but the https://bandokhoinghiep.vn/ website is different. Similar to Google map, yet this is the google for businesses. The website shows businesses’ locations, information, industries, scales... and in the coming time, we are preparing to add the “verify” function for businesses.

For example, if an agency wants to buy Hue Cajeput oil but does not know which product is reputable, it will find adequate information about relevant businesses with comments and reviews of the customers, the government, the tax agency, the insurance companies... Investors can also connect with startups through this map.

Currently, the startup map is under the development and completion phase with over 70 businesses. Yet, in the future, the number of businesses and Vietnam’s startups to be connected through the website will not only be dozens, but hundreds and thousands of them.

You said that you are willing to donate the Startup map project to the province?

That’s right. I want to donate the project to the province because, as a matter of fact, the club currently lacks marketing resources for the project. On the other hand, if the project is “supported” by the province, its prestige, authenticity and “halo effect” of information to businesses will be greater.

One more thing, as I know, Vietnam does not have any startup map. Therefore, this will be a useful tool for doing statistical analysis of information and evaluating startup ecosystem of localities as well as that of the whole country. Later, when we grow larger, we will continue to refine, stratify, and classify industry groups in more details.

In the near future, how will Hue Startup Club continue the project and call for budget?

In the short term, the club is sending a “calling” dossier to the Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF); and I hope that the province will build up Hue Startup Center to gather startups and attract investors and experts to support Hue’s startups.

As for the startup community, up to now, I am proud to say that Hue startup community has done well in supporting interactions, sharing information, and developing online and social network channels... for its members.

Thank you!

By Lien Minh