After studying and working abroad, many tech talents return to Vietnam, becoming an important resource for the startup ecosystem.
Many countries are looking to develop their own Silicon Valley. Vietnam is no exception. "Many Vietnamese tech talent are returning home, boosting the electronics supply chain and the rapidly growing digital economy," Nikkei Asia said.
For more than two decades, Vietnam has had many students go abroad. Young talents travel the world, accumulate valuable skills and networks before returning home when their careers are mature. This is when Vietnam is considered to be in the "harvest" stage.
Vietnam has been among the top 10 sources of international students in the US for more than a decade. According to the country’s 2022 data, Vietnam ranked 5th in terms of the number of students studying here. Universities in Finland and South Korea also ranked Vietnam as the country with the largest proportion of students.
The number of Vietnamese international students ranks first in Southeast Asia. Source: Unesco
Since 2003, the US Congress has established a scholarship called the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) to attract students. Tu Ngo, a VEF investor and scholar, said the fund is a typical example of the results of study abroad programs when alumni have grown up and affirmed their position in the Vietnamese economy. Her contemporaries have continuously founded famous startups, such as machine learning provider Palexy. Many prominent businesses such as Tap Tap, Uber Vietnam, Abivin, Genitica... were also founded by Vietnamese students.
"More and more graduates are choosing to return and settle in Vietnam. As the economy has achieved world-leading growth rates, attracting companies such as LG and Alibaba, the brain drain has also decreased sharply," Nikkei Asia commented.
According to a study by Google, Temasek and Bain, Vietnam is forecast to see the largest increase in the size of the Internet economy in Southeast Asia by 2025. Venture capital deals from 2025 to 2030 are expected to grow dramatically.
Previously, Bloomberg said that Vietnam is becoming the new technology hub of Southeast Asia as the number of startups and investment deals increases sharply. According to a report by KPMG International and HSBC Holdings in July 2022, the number of startups in Vietnam has doubled from early 2021 to mid-2022. Many large investors in the world such as Sequoia Capital, Warburg Pincus LLC and Alibaba are pouring capital into promising startups in Vietnam.
Before returning to Vietnam, Dr. Tuan Cao was a senior engineer at Google AI, then founded Genetica - an AI-based genetic testing company in the US. "In 2017, when I decided to leave, all suggestions pointed to Singapore, a place that is extremely open to new technology, supported by the government and easy to connect with potential customers... But in the end, looking at the bigger picture of the market, I decided to return to Vietnam," Genetica CEO said about the reason for returning to his homeland to start a business.
Dr. Cao Anh Tuan - CEO Genetica (left photo). Source: Genetica
After many years, Tuan Cao still believes that it was a lucky decision and completely changed his life. "Everyone says that Vietnam is difficult to develop, but I see that there are many opportunities here," he said. First is the government's support for new technology fields, hospitals, universities, colleagues in the same field, and technology companies. Next is the Vietnamese and regional markets, which are very open and potential. "No matter how good the technology is, if there is no market, it can still have to close down. The market decides everything. Genetica decodes genes for Asians, so returning to Vietnam is nothing strange," he said.
Nguyen Quoc Huy, developer of the note-taking app CollaNote and honored by Apple as an outstanding innovator bringing Vietnamese products abroad, also decided to return to Da Nang to start a business after studying abroad in Germany.
"When the project was big enough and had its first revenue, I thought it was time to form a professional team to conquer bigger goals. The first place I thought of was Vietnam when I dreamed of a global dream," Huy said. According to him, the application was developed in Germany, the largest customer markets are from the US, China, Arabia, Germany, and South Korea, but if the operating team were located in Vietnam, it would have many advantages in optimizing operations while the quality and skills of the younger generation are not inferior.
However, on the other hand, analysts say that the performance of Vietnamese workers has not yet caught up with the country's development potential.
Apple suppliers say they can’t find enough engineers in Vietnam as they expand production. Despite the emergence of tech unicorns, Vietnam is still looking for a startup that can truly take the country’s brand to the world, like Indonesia’s Gojek or Singapore’s Shopee.
"Investors often say Vietnam has a lot of potential, but the challenge lies in finding founders and partners who can be trusted to build businesses with governance and integrity standards," Tu Ngo told Nikkei Asia . However, she believes that generations of overseas students returning home to start businesses will be an important bridge to move things forward, helping to reshape perceptions of Vietnamese businesses.
Compiled by An Thu
Comment (0)