Nguyen Huyen Chau, RMIT alumni inspires sustainable entrepreneurship

CULTURE: symbol of sustainability and culture

5 years ago, Nguyen Huyen Chau founded VAN•HOA with the desire to create gift products that "look like Vietnam" to spread Vietnamese culture to international friends. Up to now, VAN•HOA has made great strides with a wider scope of activities: designing and producing cultural souvenirs, brand consulting, cultural research, building cultural stories and experiences, and collaborating to implement creative projects.

After 5 years of establishment, Huyen Chau has turned VAN•HOA into a sustainable enterprise that inspires the community.

PHOTO: RMIT

VAN•HOA is not just a business, but also a new vision of design thinking and culture in sustainable development, creating positive impacts for the community.

In addition to cooperating with large enterprises, VAN•HOA proactively creates a space to encourage and preserve creative thinking through internal projects on Vietnamese patterns applied in design, supporting brands for young enterprises such as MAJ Vietnam or Magnolia Responsible Travel, organizing creative playgrounds such as "Come home to eat rice" in cooperation with UNESCO Vietnam...

The mark of VAN•HOA and circular economic thinking is clearly demonstrated at the RMIT Alumni Green Business Showcase 2024.

RMIT alumni's Green Business Exhibition clearly shows the mark of Huyen Chau and VAN•HOA

PHOTO: RMIT

With the theme emphasizing the ability to reuse and recycle, VAN•HOA developed the Green Spiral concept - a symbol of circulation and constant movement - by applying CIRCO Circular Design thinking and turning the exhibition space into a place to tell the story of regeneration and sustainable development. Through the exhibition, VAN•HOA introduced a prototype of a "circular" wooden display frame, encouraging reuse to reduce waste after the event. Each VAN•HOA product at the exhibition is beautiful, sustainable, and removable, a model of savings worth encouraging in marketing and event organization.

The person behind VAN•HOA: Nguyen Huyen Chau: from "bewildered questions" to an excellent leader

Nguyen Huyen Chau, the founder and soul of VAN•HOA, is an outstanding RMIT alumnus. However, Chau was not an outstanding student from the beginning.

Chau recalls the time when she was shy and passive, often not daring to ask questions in front of the class but waiting to ask the lecturer privately when she first started studying at RMIT. But a lecturer encouraged Chau to ask smart questions in front of the class, to learn more instead of being afraid of making mistakes.

That conversation changed Chau’s learning experience forever. She became more proactive and motivated to do what she wanted and fight for what she believed in. That positive attitude, along with her increasingly open mindset and knowledge through her studies, led Chau to win the RMIT Vietnam Student Leadership Award, and then to be in the top 10 teams of the RMIT University Business Plan Competition in Melbourne.

Huyen Chau (far left) and her team at the RMIT University Business Plan Competition in Melbourne

PHOTO: RMIT

"RMIT is the first place that not only encouraged me to ask questions but also created conditions for me to experiment with new ideas," Chau shared.

The creative and exploratory environment at RMIT has shaped Huyen Chau into a daring and inquisitive person who boldly pursues her passion. Despite graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce, Chau has been able to apply this knowledge to new areas in the cultural and creative industries. Her unique ability to absorb information has not only helped her delve into history and culture, but also to receive invitations to share her views from many different perspectives.

With Vietnamese culture to the big sea

From an excellent alumni, Chau won the IATSS scholarship on sustainable leadership in Japan, joined the Global Shapers community of the World Economic Forum, and was the only Vietnamese under 30 to attend the Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland 2014.

At the Vietnam Day 2022 event organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in Switzerland, VAN•HOA had the opportunity to bring traditional weaving art and contribute to introducing nearly 20 sustainable-oriented Vietnamese enterprises to spread on an international stage.

Not only reaching out to the world through social projects, VAN•HOA has had the opportunity to cooperate with the construction company Anantagraha with a history of more than 20 years of operation in Indonesia, through which VAN•HOA has become familiar with international standards, adapted to a multicultural working environment and improved its capacity to move towards a larger and more professional market.

From small ideas to projects reaching further out to the ocean, Nguyen Huyen Chau and the VAN•HOA team are strongly inspiring the community about connection, creativity and responsibility.

Sharing her secret to success, Chau believes that discovering oneself, defining one’s ideals, and always being ready for new challenges are extremely important. For Chau, that important stage has always been given wings by RMIT to be ready to confidently take on all challenges to succeed and bring sustainable values ​​to the community.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguyen-huyen-chau-cuu-sinh-vien-rmit-truyen-cam-hung-khoi-nghiep-ben-vung-185250523174654973.htm