Shoo Wan Ting Bridget
Faculty of Science
Source: IRO StepOut Newsletter March 2012, Page 3
Who is an entrepreneur and what makes an entrepreneur? I first started having these questions during my exchange programme in Delhi, India. It occurred to me one day when I was walking on the streets of India that those street beggars, people selling magazines to car drivers waiting for the traffic light to turn green and vendors at the occasional oddly-located food stalls in the middle of the road may very well be entrepreneurs although they are not traditionally thought of as such. They were never taught to be entrepreneurs; they became so simply by the nature of their circumstances. This thought stuck with me throughout my stay in India and I started to think more about social entrepreneurship.
It was timely when I found out about STEER Vietnam 2011; the programme‘s theme centred on community development and social entrepreneurship. I was easily won over by the programme which was designed to provide students the exposure to not just social enterprises and non-governmental organizations but to government Ministries in Hanoi as well. We would also have the opportunity to learn about the theme through the lens of different agencies. True enough, the trip did not disappoint me.
Before the trip, the IRO staff organized a pre-departure session, which included a brief introduction to Vietnam’s history and politics by Dr Vatthana Pholsena from the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS. It was followed by a short lecture on social entrepreneurship by Associate Prof Albert Teo from the NUS University Scholars Programme and School of Business, who also accompanied us on the trip. This was particularly useful because it provided a guiding framework to help me understand what I was about to learn in Hanoi.
On a Junkboat on Ha Long Bay
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The weather in Hanoi was welcoming and her people even more so. The streets were always filled with so much life. Our group spent most of our nights in the Old Quarter where the famous Sword Lake Pagoda was located. We indulged in various Vietnamese dishes and revelled in bargaining for souvenirs at the bustling night market for our family and friends back home. One of the highlights of the trip was the visit to Ha Long Bay, one of the famous gems of Vietnam.
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The UNESCO World Heritage site was truly magnificent and glorious, with its sparsely-located limestone islands and floating villages in the midst of the sea. We spent a night on a boat and woke up to see the changing hues and colours of the sky, set against the rocks as the sun rose. What a breath-taking sight!
Experiencing Hanoi was just one part of the trip. The most inspiring visit was undoubtedly to Will to Live (WTL) Centre. WTL was set up by a pair of siblings who both suffer from severe physical deformities. WTL evolved from being a support network to an IT-related training centre for the disabled. The founders later established a joint-venture company to provide employment for these trainees. To date, the company is thriving and provides a variety of goods and services, including web design, corporate gifts, and airline ticketing. WTL is the perfect example of an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) – an idea first conveyed to us by A/Prof Teo. ABCD emphasizes the importance of identifying assets within the community – in the case of WTL, the aptitude for IT-related skills – and harnessing them to help the community help themselves. In that sense, empowerment starts from within.
STEER Delegation at the Will To Live Centre
Another social enterprise that aimed to facilitate such empowerment within the community was Bloom Microventures. Bloom integrates responsible tourism with micro-financing. They organize tours and the proceeds from them go towards covering operational costs of the tours and serve as micro-loans to women in a village not too far away from Hanoi city. We spent a day with Bloom and they took us to see the expansive hills and lakes in the area. We even tried our hands at fishing, during which I caught the biggest fish! Our tour fees for the day were to go towards providing loans to two women, whom we had the opportunity to meet with during the tour. One was planning to buy a pig and the other, a new sewing machine for producing gloves. I found Bloom’s model very refreshing and novel. I appreciated being able to talk to the founders who were not very much older than us. They were recent graduates of London School of Economics and instead of pursuing a career in the World Bank or other big organisations, they chose to start a social enterprise in Vietnam. From their sharing of personal struggles and lessons learnt, I took home valuable insights which I will always remember. Perhaps, more than anything, I was inspired by their risk-taking spirit which I have yet to embody.
Other highlights of the trip included a company visit to Falcon Incorporation, an interior furnishing company whose Chairman, a Singaporean, spent a day with us sharing life lessons; a humbling visit to children suffering from the effects of Agent Orange; a visit to the Singapore Embassy and IE Singapore during which we listened, first-hand, from the First Political Secretary about Singapore’s relations with Vietnam and about doing business in Vietnam. We also interacted with students from Vietnam National University in Hanoi. They were amazingly hospitable and took us around the city of Hanoi. We went shopping with them and they taught us how to bargain in Vietnamese.
The more I saw on the trip, the more I learnt. To summarize, one of the key lessons learnt on the trip was the concept of ABCD. The other advice that almost everyone we met on the trip gave us was to begin young if we wanted to start a business. They reasoned that we would be less likely to take risks when we are older and more settled in life.
Having met the various entrepreneurs, I learnt that entrepreneurs are not necessarily taught how to be one. Most of them do not have any business background at all and learnt from their experiences along the way. Everywhere you go in Vietnam, you will encounter the entrepreneurial spirit – from the people selling food on the streets and highways to those with makeshift Photo booths or Neoprint stalls in the market. Their businesses may not be big but they have identified the opportunities. In my opinion, an entrepreneur is an individual who is not only willing to take risks, but who can identify opportunities in a way that is innovative and can create value and growth. Arguably then, the informal sector in developing countries is a major source of entrepreneurship.
I'm grateful for this trip, which has provided me with varied experiences which will continually inspire me to be similarly innovative.
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