Entrepreneurial creativity marks resume of six Forbes Vietnam 30 Under 30 listees

Do Anh Thu, 30, Global Growth Product Marketing Manager, YouTube

Born and raised in Hanoi, Thu graduated from the National Economics University and worked for the Boston Consulting Group in 2014 and 2015. She then moved to Singapore to work for Google, managing growth marketing for small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, one of Google’s two first employees focusing on the Vietnamese market.

Thu came up with the idea of using shippers to help promote the use of Google My Business, an initiative which has since then used by the tech giant in other markets around the world.

She also initiated the Women Will program, which partners with the Ho Chi Minh City Association for Women Executives and Entrepreneurs (HAWEE) to help female entrepreneurs manage their business. By the end of last year the program had trained over 40,000 people.

From 2019 until present, Thu has been working for YouTube in several positions. She is now the Global Product Marketing Manager of Growth Market for YouTube Music & Premium.

Tran Trung Hieu, 29, Founder and CEO, TopCV

After graduating from the FPT University in information and technology, Hieu wanted to design a curriculum vitae (CV) to apply for a job at Facebook but could not find a website that was easy to use. This set the stage for creating TopCV, which makes it easier jobseekers to design attractive CVs.

Hieu founded TopCV with three friends and a year later, the company began its transition to a recruitment platform that connects workers with employers.

From 2018 until last year, TopCV’s revenue grew by around 300 percent a year after receiving $2 million in investment from two foreign entities.

The company claims to connect 200,000 job seekers with recruiters every month. It is the most-visited recruitment website in Vietnam, according to data from Alexa.

Pham My Linh, 27, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Telio

Linh graduated from Birmingham University in the U.K. in 2016 and co-founded e-commerce platform Telio in November 2018. The platform helps connect retailers with major manufacturers like CocaCola and Vinamilk and guarantees best prices with free delivery within 24 hours.

In November last year, the company raised $22.5 million from three investors led by internet company VNG, bringing total funding attracted to over $51 million as it seeks to become the biggest business-to-business e-commerce platform in Vietnam.

Le Yen Thanh, 28, Founder and CEO, Phenikaa MaaS

Thanh is considered the “golden boy” of Vietnam’s IT world, winning over 100 domestic and international awards while still in school.

He founded BusMap, an online map of bus routes that helps people get from A to B using the best buses without the trouble of learning and creating their own routes.

The application was then developed to be a Covid-19 contact map in 10 localities in Vietnam, including Da Nang City and Hai Duong Province.

Thanh’s app received an investment of over $1.5 million in March 2020 and he turned it into Phenikaa MaaS, a company providing map services and solutions to businesses and governments.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, 30, Co-founder and CEO, Sky Marvis, Axie Infinity

Trung graduated from FPT University and founded Sky Mavis, which owns the world-famous blockchain game Axie Infinity.

Using blockchain and cryptocurrency, the game allows people to make real money by trading monsters and other items. The total value of assets in the game reached $4 billion this month.

Last year, Sky Mavis raised $7.5 million form Mark Cuban and a group of foreign investors, and another $152 million from other investors.

Tran Hoai Phuong, 29, Vietnam Lead, Wavemaker Partners

Phuong has a B.A. in finance from Lehigh University in the U.S. and an M.A. in management from University College London in the U.K.

She returned to Vietnam in 2016 and became one three first key members of VinaCapital Ventures, an investment fund which began to operate in 2018.

She is now Vietnam lead at Wavemaker Partners, where she leads four Vietnamese startups with a total investment of $3.6 million. These startups, which include FoodMap and Dat Bike, have a total valuation of $120 million.

Phuong also manages 15 of 61 companies that are invested in by Wavemaker globally.

The Forbes Vietnam 30 Under 30 listing has been honoring Vietnamese youth in several areas including businesses and startups, science and education, social activities, art, entertainment and sports since 2015.

This year, the list has named 26 people with an average age of 28.