Disabled boy rises up to inspire life

Once a healthy person, everything changed for him at the prime of his youth. Loss of feeling in his legs forced the ambitious young man to be confined to a wheelchair.

With the will to overcome fate, he not only overcomes himself, but also silently contributes to the journey of eliminating prejudice, changing the community's view of people with disabilities (PWD), creating opportunities for PWD to rise up in life. He is Nguyen Anh Dung - Chairman of Handy Vietnam Social Enterprise.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung inspires students

D.L.

The fateful turn

I met Nguyen Anh Dung on a late autumn day at the company's headquarters in Vinh Phuc Ward (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi ). At that time, he was busy preparing the final stages to open a course dedicated to the disabled community called "Overcoming Limits - Creating the Future".

He said he had put a lot of effort into creating this course to equip people with mindset, psychology, online marketing and sales skills. Of course, the course is completely free for students. Not only that, for students who live far away, he and his colleagues also support them with food, accommodation and "output" after the training period ends.

In the story, although there were many times when I was interrupted by phone calls, inquiries or someone asking for a few minutes to ask for his advice, that was enough for me to feel that Nguyen Anh Dung is an enthusiastic person, devoted to the people around him.

Nguyen Anh Dung was born in 1982. Dung said that his childhood was like that of his friends with all kinds of mischievous pranks. However, everything suddenly changed during the most beautiful time of his youth - the age of 15.

One day, not knowing whether it was from the fall or from a life-threatening illness, his lower back and legs started to hurt. His family took Dung to seek treatment everywhere. Whenever they heard of good medicine or a good doctor, his parents packed up and took him there for treatment. However, those efforts gradually became hopeless, and Nguyen Anh Dung's youth was gradually tied to a wheelchair when he could no longer walk.

During those long, dark days, Nguyen Anh Dung happened to read the book The World Is Big and There Are Many Things to Do by foreign author Kim Woo Choong. Kim Woo Choong was a man who faced many hardships in life, but from nothing he built Daewoo - one of the largest corporations in the world. Burying himself in the pages of the book, Dung said that Kim Woo Choong's life had helped shape his determination not to succumb to fate.

Dung decided to study information technology in depth. At that time, information technology was still a very new thing in Vietnam and not many people knew about it. But the more difficult it was, the more Dung wanted to conquer it. He bought books to study by himself. When he didn't understand many things, he asked his friends or invited teachers to teach him.

Dung shared that for a normal person, opening a business is difficult and rare, for a person with disabilities, the difficulty is multiplied. However, the difficulties did not discourage Dung. In November 2003, he started an online business with his first job being selling domain names and hosting, becoming an internet card dealer.

In 2005, when he was just 22 years old, he opened his first internet company – Technology Solutions Media Joint Stock Company. At that time, Nguyen Anh Dung was the youngest PWD in Vietnam to be the director of a business. At that time, after only 2 months of recruitment, the company opened by Dung had 18 employees with specialized university degrees.

Not only was Dung the first person with disabilities to open a business, but few people know that he was also one of the first people to proactively submit a proposal to the Vietnam Internet Association. He said that in 2015, he submitted a proposal and was appointed as Head of the Vietnam Internet Association's Training Department. With his capacity, from 2016 to now, he has organized and trained more than 2,000 students who are managers and CEOs of small and medium-sized Vietnamese enterprises in 20 provinces and cities nationwide.

Light up the faith of the disabled

Dung concluded to me that, during the 18 years he started his business, there was little stability but a lot of ups and downs. He opened a company, the revenue was high but his management experience was not enough, so there was a time when he ran out of capital just from paying rent, paying employees, buying machinery and equipment... But at that time, he was still determined not to let those who worked with him suffer. He sold his house, sold his car, sold everything he could to maintain and pay his employees.

Difficulties followed difficulties, in 2013-2014, Dung's health suddenly declined, the expansion of the online book business, a very new market at that time, failed. The money he invested in it was almost lost. Without blaming anyone, nor blaming the situation, Dung told me that the stumbling blocks he encountered all came from himself, from his business management work that still had many errors.

When things were looking up, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, affecting Nguyen Anh Dung's business. During this period, his mother also fell seriously ill. Dung smiled sadly and said that until she passed away, his mother still worried about him. His mother's death left Nguyen Anh Dung in psychological shock. He always felt unstable and helpless.

In 2021, Nguyen Anh Dung was determined to get up and start over. He always thought that he had to contribute more to the community. Thinking and doing, he established Handy Vietnam Social Enterprise, specializing in training, teaching vocational skills and inspiring people with disabilities.

Dung shared that employment and income generation for PWDs are still a prominent issue in Vietnam. Currently, a large proportion of PWDs are still unemployed, while those who have jobs have unstable jobs. PWDs are disadvantaged in many ways, and as a PWD himself, Dung sympathizes and understands these difficulties.

Mr. Dung is running the Handy Vietnam Social Enterprise with the hope of helping more people with disabilities.

D.L.

Dung confided that President Ho Chi Minh once said, "Disabled but not useless... We must study, must try to study a lot. If we do not study hard, we will not progress. If we do not progress, we will regress...". Therefore, he and his colleagues have organized intensive, highly practical training courses specifically for people with disabilities. Dung said that any person with disabilities who has the desire to rise up and is determined to improve and change their own fate to have a proactive and independent future ahead can participate.

To inspire the disabled community, Dung sometimes travels for a whole month to connect with disabled associations in provinces and cities across the country. He said that he opened a social enterprise to inspire disabled people, so all activities are free. The most gratifying thing is that after training, disabled people can find their own direction or a stable job.

"I have a network of businesses that need to recruit people. I play the role of connecting and training. Above all, I think that after training, there must be an outlet for them, so that PWDs can earn their own income, at least to support themselves. As a PWD, I have difficulties, and PWDs also have difficulties, so I have to help them," he shared. Just like that, with silent efforts and tireless efforts, since its establishment in June 2022, Handy Vietnam Social Enterprise has provided free training to nearly 200 PWDs.

For Nguyen Anh Dung, "physical disability is not scary, mental disability and willpower are scary. If people with disabilities do not have the willpower and determination to overcome, no one can help them."

Thanhnien.vn