{"id":4150,"date":"2015-03-31T14:16:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T07:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/?p=4150"},"modified":"2026-09-19T00:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:55:00","slug":"nam-sinh-viet-gianh-giai-nhat-cuoc-thi-khoi-nghiep-toc-tai-phan-lan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/nam-sinh-viet-gianh-giai-nhat-cuoc-thi-khoi-nghiep-toc-tai-phan-lan\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese male student wins first prize in a \u2018Speed Entrepreneurship\u2019 competition in Finland"},"content":{"rendered":"

With \u2018Survey in Pocket,\u2019 a web application for creating attractive surveys suitable for smartphones, 25-year-old L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng's team excelled in winning first prize in the Ahjo Accelerator Program\u2014\u2018Speed Entrepreneurship\u2019 competition in Finland.<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Born in 1989, L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng made a bold choice: leave a well-paid programming job and go abroad study business<\/span> and then joined forces with friends to open his own software company.<\/p>\n

\"L\u00ea
\nL\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng (left) at the \u201cSpeed Startup\u201d award ceremony in Finland<\/div>\n

An Award from a \u201cShocking\u201d Decision<\/b><\/p>\n

While studying Software Engineering at FPT University, L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng (from Qu\u1ea3ng Ninh) began working at two major software companies in Hanoi in his third year. After graduation, his career progressed smoothly, and within about two years he had become an experienced programmer earning a comfortable salary.<\/p>\n

Ho\u00e0ng confided that he loved programming, but after two years of work felt he needed something different for his career. His growing desire not to keep following the same path urged him on. Yet what he truly wanted remained a major question. After months of thought, Ho\u00e0ng decided to take a break from his current job and travel to places he had never visited, to renew himself and understand what really mattered to him.<\/p>\n

Ho\u00e0ng\u2019s decision to quit and \u201cpack his backpack and go\u201d shocked both his company and family. When he decided to leave, the director and HR staff came to ask: \u201cAre you unhappy with the company? Why are you suddenly quitting?\u201d But after hearing his wishes, everyone understood and supported him.<\/p>\n

The following half-year took Ho\u00e0ng backpacking to distant, unusual parts of his homeland: from Ng\u1ecdc Cape in Qu\u1ea3ng Ninh to C\u00e0 Mau Cape, from the remote easternmost point to majestic Phanxipang. Through the volunteer organization AIESEC, he then continued his journey by teaching English to orphaned children in a Malaysian temple. There he had the chance to live in a peaceful environment, eat vegetarian food, chant the Buddha\u2019s name and live like a real monk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose unusual experiences changed my thinking tremendously. Traveling to new places, doing things I had never tried, and living many different lives gave me a more positive and comprehensive view of my abilities and desires. When I returned to N\u1ed9i B\u00e0i Airport, I realized that I was no longer the person who had departed. And the first thing I did the next day was sit down to study for the SAT in preparation for applying to Aalto University. At that time, I had only one goal in mind: to study business in Europe, and I am very proud that I accomplished it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying a completely new field in Europe brought L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng many difficulties: living far from home, independently adapting to a new environment, and particularly language barriers, since Finns speak English well but mainly use Finnish in business and transactions. However, Ho\u00e0ng gradually overcame these challenges and adjusted to studying and research\u2026 Alongside language and specialist studies, he proactively began doing business and nurturing a startup idea.<\/p>\n

Seeing Finland\u2019s highly favorable startup environment, Ho\u00e0ng invited friends to join him. \u0110\u1ea1t and Ninh, two close university friends\u2014one living in Singapore and the other also studying Business in Finland\u2014became ideal companions for the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Ho\u00e0ng and his friends developed software called Survey in Pocket, a web application for creating attractive surveys suited to smartphones. His team entered the product in a startup competition called the Ahjo Accelerator Program, or \u201cSpeed Entrepreneurship,\u201d in Finland. With a good product and strong potential for practical use and growth, the project received enthusiastic support and feedback from the organizers.<\/p>\n

After weeks of urgent \u201cbattle\u201d\u2014convincingly presenting ideas and business plans, refining the product, and finding customers\u2014the team won a resounding victory in the startup competition. Taking first prize overall, Ho\u00e0ng\u2019s team received a learning trip to Silicon Valley in the USA and a non-repayable government grant of 200 million, officially launching the company.<\/p>\n

True to the spirit of the competition's name, Ho\u00e0ng's company was founded and began operating at astonishing speed. Many Finnish companies noticed the young team and proposed partnerships to bring Survey in Pocket to their customers. Depending on their requirements, customers pay 50\u2013300 euros per month. The company has now operated for several months in the Finnish cities of Turku and Mikkeli.<\/p>\n

\"L\u00ea
\nL\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng and a friend on the night they won first prize in the startup competition<\/div>\n

The dream of \u201cigniting\u201d entrepreneurship in young people<\/b><\/p>\n

According to L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng, any young person with passion and an idea can begin building a career of their own. There is nothing particularly unusual about the secret behind Ho\u00e0ng's initial successes beyond professional expertise and important skills accumulated while still at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I have learned from experienced people, a crucial factor in assessing a startup is its people. While still at school, take the opportunity to develop teamwork skills: combining people's abilities, managing time and tasks, persuasion, leadership, and more. All will become essential in practice,\u201d Ho\u00e0ng advised.<\/p>\n

In the future, alongside running and developing his own company, Ho\u00e0ng has many ideas and dreams related to marketing and entrepreneurship. In particular, within his capabilities, he wants to help young people in Vietnam and Finland by sharing inspiration, experience, and opportunities with those passionate about entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two particular interests: marketing and entrepreneurship. Besides working at my own company, I therefore help develop startup communities in Finland. My main role is to promote these organizations\u2019 activities to young students, helping them expand their networks and access entrepreneurial opportunities. I am currently on the organizing teams for two startup competitions, NASA Space App Challenge 2015 and Ahjo Accelerator Program 2015, and I hope to organize similar programs in Vietnam in the future,\u201d L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng shared.<\/p>\n

Nguy\u1ec5n Qu\u1ef3nh<\/b><\/p>\n

Source: D\u00e2n tr\u00ed<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V\u1edbi s\u1ea3n ph\u1ea9m ph\u1ea7n m\u1ec1m c\u00f3 t\u00ean \u201cSurvey in Pocket\u201d \u2013 m\u1ed9t \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng web gi\u00fap t\u1ea1o c\u00e1c survey \u0111\u1eb9p v\u00e0 ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p \u0111\u1ec3 l\u00e0m tr\u00ean \u0111i\u1ec7n tho\u1ea1i th\u00f4ng minh, nh\u00f3m c\u1ee7a L\u00ea Ho\u00e0ng (25 tu\u1ed5i) \u0111\u00e3 xu\u1ea5t s\u1eafc gi\u00e0nh gi\u1ea3i nh\u1ea5t cu\u1ed9c thi kh\u1edfi nghi\u1ec7p c\u00f3 t\u00ean Ahjo Accelerator Program \u2013 \u201cKh\u1edfi nghi\u1ec7p t\u1ed1c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4150"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17815,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions\/17815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}