On February 28th, YMCA Vietnam joined hands with International University – VNU-HCM (IU) in organizing the seminar named “Social enterprises in Vietnam, advantages and disadvantages in domestic and international markets” for IU students. Especially, the event welcomed more than 20 students from Singapore Management University (SMU).

YMCA provided international students with the opportunities to access and understand the history, the development of enterprises in Vietnam and to experience their authentic working environment. In addition, this is not only a chance for students to exchange values about the cultures, countries, and people of Vietnam and Singapore, but also a chance for IU students and SMU students to exchange learning experiences, and other activities at school.

To begin the seminar, Prof. Le Van Canh – Vice-President of IU – welcomed 20 SMU students and more than 50 IU students to the event. He also reassured the University’s care and support toward social enterprises and wished the seminar great success.

Prof. Le Van Canh – Vice-President of IU – welcomed 20 SMU students and more than 50 IU students to the event.

Next, the social enterprises shared their operating models as well as the difficulties and challenges they are facing in the Vietnamese market in particular and the international market in general. The three enterprises participating in the sharing are: Enable Code, Sonta Foundation, and CrossTech.

Enable Code is a software company in Vietnam with a programming team of disabled people. To transform the way Vietnamese society views the disabled through their quality services and operation, Enable Code aims to transform the way Vietnamese society views the 15 million disabled people in the country through their success story.

A representative from Enable Code shared about their enterprise.

For Sonta Foundation, this is an organization which operates in Vietnam and in the world with the mission as “Allocating resources to the right projects and organizations to make the world a better place.” The Sonta Foundation Fund came into operation in November 2020, focusing on supporting and building projects in two areas: Sustainable Education and minimizing damage caused by climate change and the pandemic. Therefore, Sonta Foundation will contribute to supporting marginalized groups to promote theirs potential sustainably.

The speech was delivered by a representative of Sonta Foundation.

Crosstech is a free education training unit that provides other services related to the best software production in the future. Crosstech certifications are valid for 2 years from the date the learner is certified. CrossTech’s mission is to bridge the gap for a platform to share theoretical and practical knowledge to all Vietnamese through flexible, free training programs and courses.

An emotional sharing from representative of Crosstech.

The sharing took place in an open atmosphere and invited many questions from students in the hall.

The students excitedly raised their questions.

In the end, the Organizing Committee, IU and YMCA Vietnam delivered their gifts and appreciation to the social enterprises participating in the seminar.

Representatives of the enterprises received the gifts from the Organizing Committee.

A photo at the end of the event that marked a successful seminar.