Opening Ceremony of the 2023 Social Impact Startup Acceleration Program

Attending the event were representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training ; representatives from The Happiness Foundation of SK Group, South Korea; representatives from investment funds, international organizations, and members and advisors of the 10 project groups in the program.

Vietnam Sunny Impact Startup (VSIS) is a social impact startup acceleration program for university and college students in Vietnam, organized by The Happiness Foundation of SK Group, South Korea, and the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, and implemented by the Institute for Innovation and Development (IID).

Opening ceremony of the 2023 Social Impact Entrepreneurship Acceleration Training Program (Figure 1)

2023 marked the first year that VSIS was organized as part of a comprehensive 3-year program between The Happiness Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Training.

This is the only acceleration program specializing in impact entrepreneurship for students, aiming to identify outstanding project teams to participate in the annual SV-Startup Student Entrepreneurship Idea Competition organized by the Ministry of Education and Training. It provides in-depth knowledge and seed funding to help teams clearly develop their products and bring them to market, in addition to addressing pressing social and environmental issues in Vietnam.

Ten student project teams selected to participate in VSIS 2023 come from the following universities: Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry; Vietnam-Korea University of Information and Communication Technology; and Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

Hue University of Economics ; Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy; Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry; Phenikaa University; Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education; Hanoi University of Pharmacy; Hanoi Open University.

The VSIS 2023 program will be held from December 2023 to April 2024, and will include: 10 online training courses; 1 bootcamp in Hanoi including training, networking and visits to startup businesses;

Each team is assigned at least two mentors; participates in two pitching rounds and receives seed funding to launch their project, ranging from $500 to $1500 per round.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Nguyen Xuan An Viet, Deputy Director of the Department of Political Education and Student Affairs (Ministry of Education and Training), stated: In accordance with Decision No. 1665/QD-TTg dated October 30, 2017, of the Prime Minister approving the Project “Supporting Student Entrepreneurship until 2025” (Project 1665), the Ministry of Education and Training annually organizes the “National Student Entrepreneurship Day” (SV_STARTUP) and the “Students with Startup Ideas” competition.

In the early days, the number of participating projects was limited and the quality was not high, but in recent years the number of student startup projects has increased significantly, and most projects have an increasingly high level of scientific and technological content.

After five editions, the Ministry of Education and Training has received nearly 1,670 projects from training institutions and more than 900 projects from high schools and junior high schools nationwide.

70% of the projects already have a product, and 30% are either ideas or products in the prototyping stage.

Currently, many student projects have been established as businesses or acquired by large corporations for mass production.

Some projects from higher education institutions have been transferred to the community, forming startup projects that support livelihoods and socio-economic development in local areas.

However, the implementation of the project in schools still faces many limitations, especially the fact that funding for entrepreneurship activities in training institutions is not allocated regularly but mainly on a per-activity basis, making it very difficult to develop and plan.

"Therefore, the proposal by Sunny Group and The Happiness Foundation to implement the project 'Accelerating Social Impact Startups: Supporting Students in Developing Social Impact Startup Projects after the National Student Entrepreneurship Day' is appropriate to the context and aligns with the goal of promoting the entrepreneurial spirit of students, equipping them with knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship in the field of social impact businesses; and supporting student groups in perfecting and realizing startup projects aimed at creating social impact businesses," said Mr. Nguyen Xuan An Viet.

Comment (0)