Haunted by Conditions at a Shoe Factory Employing Mainly Vietnamese Women, an Entrepreneur Born in the 1990s Started a Business and Now Runs a Company That Has Secured a USD 1 Million Investment Commitment from VinaCapital.
“When I was a student at the University of Technology, I joined a visit to ten shoe factories where 90% of the workforce was female. I saw young people who reminded me of my younger siblings, including many female child laborers. I was shocked and haunted by what I saw.
Waking up each day and picturing American children going to school, skipping and dancing in shoes made from the blood and tears of Vietnamese children like that makes me want to change something.
“I want to lead and create a new-generation, more socially responsible business, where we Vietnamese can protect one another and go global…,” Phạm Tấn Phúc, co-founder of Gcalls, an application that has just received a commitment of one million USD from VinaCapital, shares emotionally.
‘That is the motivation that makes me feel deeply at peace every day,’ said the young man born in the 1990s, moving many people at the press conference on the morning of December 17.
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Phạm Tấn Phúc, holding the microphone, shares the Gcalls story. Photo: Hải Đăng. |
Nguyễn Xuân Bằng, a friend from university who gave up studying and working in Germany to return to Vietnam and build Gcalls with Phúc, shared: “Phúc has vision and ambition. He also has the persistence and drive to turn dreams into reality. Phúc wants to take Vietnamese technology global.”
Phúc said past experiences often made him act negatively and live rather withdrawn, while Bằng is optimistic and “saintly.” They therefore work well together, like two perfectly fitting pieces.
Phạm Tấn Phúc and Nguyễn Xuân Bằng started ventures together and failed many times, receiving investment only with Gcalls. Recently, on the televised fundraising program Shark Tank, Gcalls secured a USD 1 million investment commitment from a VinaCapital representative.
Gcalls is a platform that lets small and medium-sized businesses build a customer service telephone system in just a few minutes. By registering an account on the website, a business can create a system for answering and receiving calls anywhere with an Internet connection. This helps foreign businesses easily install telephone systems at overseas branches and quickly hire local staff. It also helps small and medium-sized businesses save costs compared with a conventional telephone system.
Before receiving an investment commitment from Shark Tank, Gcalls had received funding from Australian telecom operator Telstra. Gcalls established a company in Singapore at the investor's request to receive the capital. According to Phúc, investment from Telstra served as a passport for Gcalls to develop further.
However, securing the first investment from Telstra was also difficult for Gcalls. Phúc said that in 2014, he used a paid LinkedIn account to message investors. After 6 grueling months of sending 15 emails daily, he finally received a response from Telstra. Through an investment fund, the telecom operator invested 40,000 Singapore dollars in Gcalls.
To keep Gcalls ‘alive’ before Telstra invested, Bằng had to work at multinational corporations to earn enough to sustain the team, allowing Phúc to focus on developing the product and running the business.
After Telstra’s investment, the company received another SD 10,000 (Singapore dollars) from another fund, but its difficulties were not over. In 2016, it faced financial and personnel problems, and more than half the employees decided to leave. Those who remained accepted a 50% pay cut for the following 4 months.
However, Gcalls subsequently received two investments worth 31,000 SGD. Representing Gcalls, Phúc was invited by former U.S. President Obama to the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Silicon Valley. In late 2016, it received support from the Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF) and the Vietnam National University Information Technology Park (ITP), followed by 200,000 SGD from an angel investor.
In 2017, Gcalls established a legal entity in Vietnam and tested the market with Gcalls Softphone. In 10/2017, the first version of Gcalls Webphone was released.
Phạm Tấn Phúc said the company would target 3 key markets: the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. With many companies providing global customer service call centers, the Philippines is well suited to Gcalls’ launch. Markets such as Thailand already have many strong technology companies, so Gcalls will enter later.
Phúc said that after receiving VinaCapital’s investment commitment, the two sides would get to know each other before disbursement. This usually takes 3-6 months. With the funding, Gcalls will be bolder in launching products across Southeast Asia and eventually globally.
Before founding Gcalls in 2014-2015, Bằng, Phúc, and their friends had started a business in 2011. Phúc left a well-paid job at a major corporation to establish Click Now with friends, based on a virtual pet game idea. Players had to eat at food outlets so their virtual pets could eat too. This was intended to increase outlets' revenue, but the project failed after 12 months.
‘The five of us applied for permission not to pay tuition and to use that money to establish a properly incorporated company. But the project failed because instead of developing the game or working with restaurant owners, we were busy filing taxes and handling other minor tasks,’ Phúc said.
A year later, the group went on to develop HR Key, connecting jobseekers with recruiters, but that also failed because they lacked experience in human resources.
Bằng then decided to study and work in Germany, while Phúc continued with the “Anti-Counterfeit Map” startup, funded by the World Bank with USD 3,000. However, this startup also came to a halt.
In 2014, Bằng received a heartfelt letter from Phúc and decided to return to Vietnam to start Gcalls with him.
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Nguyễn Xuân Bằng Recounts the Team’s Startup Phase – Photo: Hải Đăng. |
“Third time's the charm. This time, we used the money we had saved… for getting married to make it happen. If we fail, we will accept it,” Bằng said.
“I am not passionate about entrepreneurship, but I was drawn to Phúc's dreams. I want to help make Phúc's dreams come true,” Bằng said. “Phúc is steadfast. Phúc helped me understand that entrepreneurship is not just six months or one year; it is a three-year, five-year process and a long journey toward realizing a dream.”
“I think entrepreneurship is my calling. I want to create something new that helps workers and local businesses develop. What I design will be in the field of information technology. If Gcalls fails, another product will still be directed toward workers and local businesses,” Phạm Tấn Phúc shared.
Collected.
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