Mr. Phan Van Mai: Unleashing the immense creative potential of Ho Chi Minh City's youth.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai presided over a dialogue with 150 outstanding young people of the city in 2024 - Photo: QUOC HOANG

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai assessed   The dialogue session provides an opportunity for city leaders to promptly understand the situation, listen to the suggestions, proposals, and aspirations of young people. Through this, they can promptly direct efforts to resolve existing problems, difficulties, and obstacles related to the rights and interests of youth.

"We must recognize that Ho Chi Minh City's creative capacity is immense, and find ways to unleash this creative potential," Mr. Mai emphasized.

Proposing a system of criteria for digital transformation and cultural connectivity spaces.

The workshop noted that in recent times, digital transformation activities aimed at supporting young people in improving their skills and applying technology to entrepreneurship and career development have been intensified.

However, according to Mr. Pham Trung Tin (Binh Chanh district), due to a lack of systematic approach, digital transformation in startup activities sometimes fails to develop in the right direction. This leads to investments lacking proper evaluation and analysis, causing losses for investors and not aligning with the government's development orientation.

Mr. Tin proposed that specialized units develop a model set of criteria for digital transformation of roads, markets, neighborhoods, and hamlets. This would specifically outline the necessary skills for union members, association members, and young people to utilize their expertise to support the dissemination of information and guide people in implementing the transformation.

Ms. Nang Thi My Duyen (Thu Duc City) assessed that the form and number of cultural and artistic activities and programs in the city are still limited. She suggested that city leaders continue to create cultural products and outdoor art performance programs for the public to enjoy.

In particular, programs with great artistic value, well-invested and large-scale, aim to recreate the history and culture of the city. These could become a highlight of tourism for the city, thereby helping to educate the city's youth about history, traditions, and culture.

Ms. Dang Xuan Van (Phu Nhuan district) commented that young startup businesses often lack the necessary knowledge and framework for each stage of the startup process and fundraising - Photo: QUOC HOANG

National Vovinam martial arts athlete Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram proposed an initiative to form a "Ho Chi Minh City Young Talent Community." This would be an ideal environment to bring together outstanding individuals in fields such as sports , culture, arts, and entrepreneurship. From there, young people could share ideas, find teammates, and receive support from domestic and international experts.

Ho Chi Minh City is welcoming many initiatives from young people regarding the development of digital government.

Mr. Phan Van Mai stated that digital transformation will boost the city's development. The entire city is preparing a digital platform down to the neighborhood level, gradually implementing a digital government with the goal of resolving 70% of public administrative procedures on a digital platform.

From the process of preparing the steps to build a digital government, Mr. Mai encouraged young people to participate in the digital workforce and contribute through initiatives. Many spaces and locations for receiving initiatives are available at the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center. "But it seems we haven't been proactive enough in proposing solutions," Mr. Mai lamented.

He argued that raising the issue of developing more festivals and cultural programs is valid and should be adopted. All of this is aimed at making Ho Chi Minh City a city of events, so that every month there are major activities of national and international significance.

Overview of the dialogue between the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and 150 outstanding young people - Photo: QUOC HOANG

Capital solutions to support startups and business development.

Ms. Dang Xuan Van (Phu Nhuan District, Director of Felix Zone Co., Ltd.) believes that young startups often lack the necessary knowledge and framework for each stage of the startup and fundraising process. Therefore, compiling, selecting, and streamlining knowledge, then packaging and scaling up knowledge packages and standardized incubator models to disseminate to young people in the city is extremely necessary.

Ms. Le Thi Tuong Vy (Deputy Director of the Youth Startup Support Center, BSSC) shared that most startup businesses lack assets and currently have to access informal sources of capital with very high interest rates. This leads to a loss of competitive advantage and many difficulties in competing.

While youth entrepreneurship support funds have long been considered one of the solutions to assist young people in establishing and starting their own businesses, due to various objective conditions, these funds are temporarily suspending lending because they have run out of capital.

"Therefore, we hope that the city leaders will pay attention and provide guidance to resolve the legal difficulties so that the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund can continue to operate and provide loans to young people who need to start businesses," Ms. Tuong Vy shared.

Ms. Vo Thi Thuy Duong (District 12) shared that young people are still not very confident in borrowing money to start and develop businesses. There are many reasons for this, such as insufficient knowledge, lack of entrepreneurial spirit, difficulties with procedures, loan amounts disparities compared to project scale, limited access to funding, and other factors related to the scale of operations and management of policy sources and funds.

From there, Ms. Duong proposed building a network model to connect young people and help each other develop economically ; encouraging young entrepreneurs to take the lead in technological innovation, increase labor productivity, improve production and business efficiency, and build brands for integration and development; and further promoting the entrepreneurship movement among students and young people.

Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUOC HOANG

Mr. Phan Van Mai acknowledged the aspirations of the city's youth to start businesses, strive to prove themselves, and contribute to development. However, he also advised young people to be cautious and to prepare themselves with knowledge, skills, and direction.

Regarding this matter, he commissioned the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union to act as the focal point for designing programs and courses to provide knowledge for each stage of entrepreneurship, fundraising, and business management…

"We are building Ho Chi Minh City into an innovation and startup hub of ASEAN stature. Over the past period, we have built the institutional framework, infrastructure, human resources, and environment to prepare for this. I'm saying this so you know that Ho Chi Minh City is the center of innovation and creative entrepreneurship," he said.

Establishing a youth path

Mr. Huynh Van Toan, Vice Chairman of the Training and Skills Development Council of the Vietnam Youth Union of Ho Chi Minh City, and General Director of the Sao Bac Dau General Youth Union, proposed to city leaders that Pham Ngoc Thach Street be developed into a "youth street." He suggested that the Youth Union manage it, making it a venue for political, cultural, and artistic events, a destination for young people, and a place to connect diverse groups of young people in the city who share similar interests.

Building the Park of Aspiration

Ho Duc Hoan, a Young Citizen of Ho Chi Minh City in 2018, said that the aspiration for a strong and prosperous city is not just the aspiration of young people, but a shared aspiration of many generations of Vietnamese people. From this, he proposed the construction of a park named "Aspiration," to honor individuals and organizations that have contributed to Ho Chi Minh City in the past, present, and future.

"If people in America have a Walk of Fame, then when they come to Ho Chi Minh City, they must know about the Park of Aspiration. This is a place where aspirations converge and take flight, allowing the people of Ho Chi Minh City to feel a shared aspiration and common goal, thereby striving to build a civilized, modern, and compassionate city," Mr. Hoan said.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ong-phan-van-mai-khoi-day-nang-luc-sang-tao-to-lon-cua-gioi-tre-tp-hcm-20241011114241712.htm