To Ha Linh: 9X beauty leader

Tô Hà Linh - Ảnh: DANH KHANG — To Ha Linh - Photo: DANH KHANG

Beautiful, talented and possessing an impressive record of achievements, after studying in Singapore, To Ha Linh (26 years old, living in Hanoi) chose to return to Vietnam to start a business and became the co-founder of the technology education startup Outsider and the Singapore - Vietnam Young Leaders Network.

The golden age to try

* You majored in literature and studied abroad in marketing, but in the end, you chose to start a business in a completely new field: technology education. Has anyone ever commented that you were reckless, especially starting a business at such a young age?

- Since childhood, I have been quite independent, self-reliant, and straightforward in expressing my opinions. While majoring in literature at Amsterdam High School ( Hanoi ), most of my friends chose to study abroad in the US or European countries, I decided to study at the Singapore Institute of Management.

In Singapore, I faced many difficulties because my personal profile was not outstanding enough to "compete" in the job market. It was very difficult for me to get an internship program, let alone get noticed by employers.

So I had to come up with a new strategy: participating in Hackathon startup competitions, solving social problems. Thanks to that, I built a better profile to gain an advantage in the internship, making an impression on the employer.

Based on my own story, my co-founders and I chose to solve the problem on the Outsider platform. At the age of 19, I started a business and participated in nearly 30 different competitions. At the age of 24, I returned to Vietnam to solve a new problem. If someone thinks that starting a business at this age is too early, I think it is the golden age for young people to try their hand.

* Surely your startup journey is "not full of roses"?

- In fact, more than 90% of Vietnamese startups fail in the first years of starting a business. I was once among the 90% and after a 2-year gap year (temporarily stopping studying), I had to graduate later than my peers.

Starting a business has never been an easy path. I always tell myself that even though it is tiring, I have chosen this path and I have to be responsible for it. Fortunately, in the hardship, I see myself progressing a lot. Every day I learn new things and meet interesting people.

* It seems that your hard work and perseverance have helped you choose the right path and find like-minded people?

- Luckily, I was lucky enough to join startup competitions, where I found like-minded friends who were willing to join me on the startup journey.

To start a business, having capital and guidance is the best thing. But if you have to build from scratch, a founder must always be prepared for unexpected events that may occur and answer the question "How to survive that period?".

How to work, date, love yourself?

* With a busy schedule, how do you arrange your time to be most effective?

- I can't calculate how many hours I work in a day, but I calculate it by each task I handle. Every month, I have a fixed flight schedule to Singapore to meet with partners and investors, and the rest of the time I have daily online meetings with co-founders in different countries to manage the work.

Sometimes it is too much but gradually I develop habits, practice working speed and problem solving. I will handle priority tasks first, and if not priority, I will delay until the deadline!

* What about time for love?

- I don't have a boyfriend right now (laughs). But I still make time for dating. However, just like in work, I handle the more urgent things. The boyfriend issue is also urgent, but I can't solve it right now so I'll just let it be!

* Do you have any idols?

- Of course, every daughter idolizes her father. When I was little, I talked to my father every night and I still maintain that habit. My father will patiently listen to his daughter tell him about what happened during the day.

Later, I understood the hardships and struggles my father had to endure to give me the opportunity to study abroad and step out into the world . Perhaps my hard-working and enduring personality was partly inherited from my father. That made me love and admire him even more.

Try your best

Currently, To Ha Linh is taking on the role of co-founder of the Singapore - Vietnam Young Leaders Network to create a quality environment for young people from Vietnam and Singapore to exchange and interact with each other. At the same time, promote opportunities for connection and development to support young leaders of the two countries to create influence.

To Ha Linh has achieved success in many competitions such as leading Outsider to win second prize in the Start-up Bett Asia Asia competition in 2023, becoming the first Vietnamese start-up to enter the education technology start-up incubator SuperCharger Ventures and receive investment.

She is also the youngest Vietnamese to receive the Southeast Asia Young Leaders Scholarship from Temasek Foundation and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

In 2022, she won the Outstanding Leadership Award at the Education 2.0 conference held in Dubai.

For female leaders, not only must we honor the strong, angular beauty that has gone through many storms, but we also cannot forget the inherent strength of women.

That is the gentle and flexible beauty of steering a business, especially the deep empathy in operating a business to solve social problems, bringing practical benefits to the community.

TO HA LINH

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