The recent RMIT Entrepreneurship Forum titled “Smart startups – How digitalization helps your startup journey” shared great insights on building future digital startups for Vietnam.
Virtually organized by RMIT’s Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurship disciplines, the forum was well attended by various stakeholders ranging from industry professionals, Vietnamese entrepreneurs, academics, experts and students.
The speakers were representatives of digital companies and startups in Vietnam, including the Korean food delivery app BAEMIN, the English learning app ELSA Speak, the Vietnamese audiobook app Fonos and handmade board games Maztermind.
Mr. Jinwoo (Chris) Song, Managing Director of Woowa Brothers Vietnam (BAEMIN) told Vietnam Insider how the adoption of digital technology and technology helped the company and its F&B business partners recover and thrive during and after COVID-19.
“As a food delivery platform operator, technology has given us the opportunity to target potential customers, reduce overheads, understand customer insights and optimize operations, while improving the speed and quality of delivery services through a network of couriers,” said Mr Song. †
“I can predict that the ability to build a unique platform that can meet customer needs and the ability to analyze digital data from a variety of sources will determine the winner of this emerging market.”
On the other hand, the founder of Maztermind Vietnam, Mr. Toan Nguyen, believes that there is a huge space for cross-border e-commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Panelists shared great insights on building future digital startups for Vietnam at the RMIT Entrepreneurship Forum.
“According to Amazon data, exports of Vietnamese SMEs selling with this international platform increased by 48% between 2020 and 2021,” Toan presented.
“Growing social media marketing, flexible digital payment options, easy access to international online sales platforms for both sellers and buyers, and cross-border shipping are key factors influencing the reach of a local brand to an international audience,” he said.
Fonos co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Nguyen Minh Xuan, emphasized the international standard a start-up should consider when starting a business in a globalized world.
“When a startup builds a new business in Vietnam, they need to think about its ability to compete with international players as customers will compare a local product to the same brand they experienced. They don’t define based on geography, they define based on their experiences,” Ms. Xuan told reporter.
She also mentioned the difference in getting customer insights compared to the past thanks to technology and insight data in real time through different ways of customer interaction.
ELSA Senior Director of International Expansion, Ms Natalie Do, added that the number of startups incorporating AI into their business is increasing in Vietnam. It looks promising and will enable a robust ecosystem for tech startups.
In his closing remarks, RMIT, Head of Department of Management, Associate Professor Trung Nguyen, said that being a true entrepreneur is all about creating value through innovation and creativity.
“Digitalization and smart transformation give us easier access to customers, suppliers and other stakeholders in the market. But a true savvy entrepreneur would also constantly learn the local context to develop and deploy the best platform and application to improve the customer experience, as we have seen in today’s panel experience and startup journey.” concluded associate professor Trung.
