In an official visit to Finland, the Vietnamese First Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, along with the high-level government delegation from Vietnam, had a special meeting with the Vietnamese community in Finland at the Embassy of Vietnam on Friday (27 September).
VietES team had the honour to represent the young and ambitious generation to deliver a speech to the Deputy Prime Minister Binh. We took the opportunity to introduce our organisation’s vision, activities, achievements, and hopes for the future.
VietES was officially registered as an association in March 2019. We currently have 16 core members and nearly 800 members in our community.
It is undeniable that the Vietnamese living and working in Finland are highly-educated, highly-skilled and highly entrepreneurial. According to statistics, there are more than 10,000 Vietnamese people residing in Finland. And out of 10 Vietnamese employees in Finland, there will be one Vietnamese employer.
However, we are aware that many still lack confidence, guidance and connections to fulfil entrepreneurial ambitions. That is why we created VietES. As the first organisation established to support the Vietnamese entrepreneurial community in Finland, our mission is to inspire, educate, and connect Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Finland. At the same time, we want to contribute to the thriving startup ecosystem in Vietnam.
Successful Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Finland influence the advancement of Vietnam in many meaningful ways. They will:
– become a bridge between Vietnam and Finland, opening doors for a comprehensive partnership between the two countries and promoting bilateral activities in trade, technology transfer, etc.
– help attract Finnish investors to Vietnam and vice versa
– contribute to the economy of Vietnam by sending remittances to their families and relatives in Vietnam.
Since we began operation, we have held more than 10 events in Helsinki, facilitating interactions among the Vietnamese talents, promoting entrepreneurship, and providing knowledge and skills for those who want to jumpstart their career in Finland.
One typical example of our activities is the ASEAN+ Day 2019 Cultural Festival which we co-organised with the Nordic-Asean Business Forum Ry (NABF). It is the biggest ASEAN-themed festival in Helsinki and was held last August at Kamppi Square, attracting thousands of visitors.
We also partnered with the Vietnam Startup Network in Europe (VSNE) to organised the first startup idea contest for the Vietnamese in Europe. The Grand Finale was held in Berlin on September 21st with the participation of more than 200 Vietnamese experts and business people from all over Europe.
To grow our organisation sustainably, we proposed Deputy Prime Minister Binh and Vietnamese Ambassador Bich to:
– help us become part of the startup ecosystem in Vietnam so that we can build up a widespread network of investors, mentors and experts.
– help us better understand Vietnamese policies for startups in Finland so that we can continue activities that cultivate Vietnamese leaders and entrepreneurs.
On an ending note, we would like to sincerely thank the Embassy of Vietnam in Finland for giving us such honour. We are determined to grow our organisation to realise our vision and achieve our goals of uniting Vietnamese entrepreneurs.
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