Inspiring creative startup ideas

(Baonghean) - Recently, "Start-up" has been mentioned more frequently among young people. The demand for economic activities and business ventures among young people is increasing strongly; the desire to establish themselves, build careers, and become wealthy through hard work and knowledge has been motivating many young people to embark on the process of realizing their dreams.

Entrepreneurial aspirations

Through self-study, learning, and boldly investing in modern machinery for production, and leveraging the advantages of the local tea growing region, Mr. Le Ngoc Phuc (Thanh Thinh commune - Thanh Chuong district) has successfully established a tea leaf export business, achieving an annual revenue of 4 billion VND and creating jobs for many local workers. He is one of the exemplary young people in Nghe An nominated for the Luong Dinh Cua Award.

Provincial leaders and the Provincial Youth Union pressed the button to launch the "Nghe An Youth Entrepreneurship" program. Photo: Thanh Duy

However, few people know that to achieve the success he has today, Le Ngoc Phuc spent a lot of time searching for his entrepreneurial path. Lacking capital and experience, the young man struggled to find a direction. Nevertheless, his burning desire to build a career in his homeland always motivated him to find ways to succeed.

After three years working abroad in South Korea, he borrowed an additional 1 billion VND from the bank to purchase equipment and build a factory, aiming to produce tea leaves on a large scale. Besides focusing on quality, Phuc concentrated on expanding his market. To date, overcoming initial difficulties, he has become the Director of Phuc Hung Thinh Tea Company Limited, with a factory spanning nearly 3,000 square meters, processing and selling 20 tons of fresh tea leaves daily...

Over the years, many young people in Nghe An have nurtured the ambition to realize their dreams of starting their own businesses. From 2005 to the present, Nghe An has had more than 70 youth models awarded the Luong Dinh Cua Prize by the Central Youth Union. However, compared to the large number of young people in the province, that number still represents a very small percentage.

In Ky Son, a remote mountainous area in western Nghe An province, there are 4,598 youth union members, but their economic lives are very difficult. Comrade Chu Quang Huy, Deputy Secretary of the Ky Son District Youth Union, stated: "Despite receiving much support, the efforts of all levels and sectors have not yet been able to strongly stimulate the entrepreneurial ideas of the majority of youth union members here. Most young people in Ky Son are ethnic minorities. Besides facing difficulties with capital, many young people also lack knowledge about economics, science, and technology in animal husbandry and agriculture."

Similar to Ky Son, a sustainable career path remains a pressing need for the majority of young people in Do Luong. As early as 2001, Do Luong successfully established a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund with over 500 million VND to support 138 small and medium-sized economic models.

However, these models were mostly self-taught and self-organized, lacking a central coordinating organization to connect them. In 2014, the Do Luong District Youth Entrepreneurship Club was officially established, becoming a support system for ambitious and determined young people to prosper in their homeland.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Luong - Secretary of the Do Luong District Youth Union shared: "Although we have achieved some results, the club's activities cannot yet meet the needs of supporting career development for a large number of young people in the area. One of the reasons is the limited funding, while exploiting social resources faces many difficulties."

"Igniting the passion" of young people.

Sharing his thoughts on the difficulties faced by young people in starting businesses, Comrade Pham Tuan Vinh, Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union, stated: “For young people nationwide in general and in Nghe An in particular, creating their own entrepreneurial opportunities is very difficult. Perhaps only those with existing resources and a foundation from their families can succeed. For young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and rural areas, while they may have good entrepreneurial ideas, implementing those ideas remains a challenging problem.”

Members of the Anh Son Youth Economic Development Club visit a clean vegetable farming model in Hoa Son commune (Anh Son district). Photo: Hoai Thu.

The Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union also stated that in recent times, many solutions and forms of implementation, investment, and support have been provided to union members and young people, such as: disseminating information, providing career guidance and orientation; coordinating with various levels and sectors to organize short-term vocational training and technical transfer training for young people; building models applying science and technology to production, promoting the effectiveness of youth volunteer teams; supporting loan sources from the National Employment Fund with over 4.2 billion VND, the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund with 1.7 billion VND, and loans from the Social Policy Bank with 844 billion VND,... However, compared to the large number of young people in the province, this is only considered encouragement and motivation, not yet a solid foundation for young people to start their own businesses.

In response to this situation, in December 2016, the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union launched the Project to Support Youth Entrepreneurship for the period 2016-2020. This project included several key components such as organizing competitions for youth startup ideas and projects; connecting with funding sources, financial institutions, and businesses to support youth entrepreneurship; developing the Provincial Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund to support startup ideas and projects for young people;... The three main target groups that the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union aimed for were students at educational institutions; rural youth with a desire to start businesses; and young entrepreneurs, business owners, and those in the youth age group who had recently registered their businesses.

“Currently, scale is not as important as speed, experience is not as important as mindset – these are the conditions for young people to succeed,” – this statement by Comrade Le Xuan Dai, Standing Vice Chairman of the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, at the launching ceremony of the “Nghe An Youth Entrepreneurship” program, is a message of encouragement for the province's youth on their path to economic development. The value of entrepreneurship lies not only in financial success but also in contributing to society with a humanitarian nature and as a valuable experience for the youth themselves.

Nghe An province has nearly 1 million young people, accounting for 30% of the province's population. However, according to statistics, the employment rate and the rate of stable employment are only about 60%. The number of unemployed graduates is currently around 20,000, while universities, colleges, and vocational schools in the province train 19,000-20,000 students each year. Given this situation and need, solving the employment problem and providing guidance and support for youth entrepreneurship has become an urgent issue for the entire political system, including the responsibility of the Youth Union at all levels.

Thao Phuong