Nguyễn Hoàng Hải was born in 1990 and graduated in Business Administration from RMIT Hanoi. Together with several other young people, he founded the advertising video production company VIVI Digital and was a shareholder of AdsBNC Communications Joint Stock Company.
In 2015, while expanding Vivi Digital’s market in Ho Chi Minh City, Hải and his colleagues recognized huge demand for part-time female workers. This inspired Canavi.com, a recruitment website for women’s jobs such as promotional models, photo models, MCs, assistants and secretaries…
Through Canavi, businesses can find female candidates who meet their requirements, and candidates can find the jobs they want.
According to Hải, many women today do not receive the same preference in employment as men, despite having good appearance, conduct, and knowledge. Meanwhile, very few companies in Vietnam help women build a systematic career path to achieve their desired accomplishments.
That is why the 9X-generation CEO and their colleagues aim to build Canavi into a platform connecting women with jobs, rather than merely a recruitment website. This is also the meaning of Canavi, short for Career Navigations, meaning “Career Guides.”
Hải shared, in the early days, he had to message each candidate to ask them to upload their profiles. Sometimes they considered him a scammer trying to obtain information and even insulted him harshly. Moreover, some friends and people around him laughed at and teased Hải because they thought his website was “improper.”
Yet by continually helping candidates find suitable jobs, Canavi gradually earned people's trust and referrals to friends. Even those who had previously mocked Hải became loyal clients. After more than a year in operation, Canavi now has around 20.000 user profiles and 30 business clients.
After difficult times, Hải learned a valuable entrepreneurial lesson: “Keep persevering with your worthy goal, and one day even those who often ridicule you may become your customers.”
Hải also said he does not think too much about competitors because “In a race, looking back at competitors makes you fall behind. Only by focusing on serving customers and caring for the company's team can you head straight for the finish line.”.
Speaking about being 1 of 4 Vietnamese people named in Forbes magazine’s Asia Top 30 under 30 in 2017, Canavi’s founder attributed it to good fortune. ‘I think I was lucky to be included in the Top 30 under 30, thanks to another piece of good fortune: having experienced, reputable partners alongside me to provide support,’ Hải said.
The young CEO also admitted that his community contributions were still modest compared with the other names. But for this 27-year-old, that would motivate him to keep pursuing his passion and creating better values for life.
Hải and the founding team are currently continuing to refine the web product and mobile application to meet users’ needs as effectively as possible. In the future, Canavi plans to enter international markets, with Singapore potentially its first destination.
Chương trình liên quan tại YUP Education: The Journey – lộ trình phát triển doanh nhân
