Hanoi (VNA) -Young people from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand are invited to take partin the “Start-up Francophone 2018” competition, which is open from March toSeptember.
The University of Hanoi and l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (FrancophoneUniversity Association, AUF) in Asia-Pacific have jointly launched thecompetition targeting youth under 35, studying or having graduated from AUFmember universities in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
The contest is also organised by the alumni network of the French VietnameseCentre of Management and Centre for Social Innovationand Entrepreneurship-National Economics University.
The competition aims to create links between the academic world andsocio-economic actors in the region as well as to reward innovative businessprojects by French-speaking students and young graduates. It allows youngparticipants to benefit from experts’ support.
Registration is open until March 31. Online registration form is availableat https://goo.gl/forms/QXn53MDBmwZNcDDK2.
In July, individuals or groups of individuals with the 20 best business ideaswill get the opportunity to participate in a training workshop on businessfoundation to perfect their business plan. They will also have the opportunityto participate in start-up visits, seminars and discussions with professionalexperts who will lend their rich expertise to setting up business projects.
The top four teams will compete in a regional final in Hanoi, scheduled forlate September. They will present their business plan to a jury ofentrepreneurs. The first prize of the contest is 1,000 EUR (1,230 USD), thesecond prize is 500 EUR (620 USD) and the third 250 EUR (310 USD). The winnerswill get the chance to do internships in French-speaking companies in theregion and meet French and Vietnamese investors.
The competition was organised for the first time in 2017 by the Foreign TradeUniversity (FTU) in partnership with AUF. In the 2017 final, FTU’s TrueStackteam beat three competitors to win the first prize with their original idea ofcreating a platform to help start-ups find funding and develop their products.-VNA