As a successful overseas Vietnamese, prior to VinaCapital’s offer, have you ever planned to return to work and contribute in Vietnam?
I have dreamed up an idea of returning Vietnam, but admittedly Don Lam, VinaCapital CEO, has helped to realize this more quickly than initially expected (laugh). I have worked with Don Lam for long before. During that time, thanks to Khanh, VinaCapital Ventures Managing Director, I have met a number of interesting, energetic and creative start-ups in Vietnam. Thus, I find that it is the best time for me to return Vietnam and give them support.
As the Chairman of Advisory Board of VinaCapital Ventures, a venture capital platform focusing on investing in technology start-ups, what will you do to support Vietnam’s start-ups to go beyond orders?
With a 2-year experience in working as Federal Minister of Health, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology and Vice Chancellor of Germany, I have laid an accelerating foundation for German start-ups. In particular, I built a community fund of euro 600 million to support German start-ups and bridged a number of German start-ups with US partners, big corporations and investors in Silicon Valley.
Simultaneously, I held meeting between German start-ups and foreign investors, among which there were conference with thousands of German founders with attendance of big corporations and USD-billion investment funds. And now, I think I will play this role for startups in Vietnam.
I have taken more than 1 year to learn about Vietnam’s start-up ecosystem. Last November, in a start-up forum in Danang, I came to realize two things, that is, entrepreneur’s energy and passion, and Vietnamese Government’s support for the start-up ecosystem. I was convinced by Vienamese founders and found that it is time for Vietnamese start-ups to go beyond borders.
Which criteria will you adopt to select and advise Vinacapital Ventures to invest in technology start-ups in Vietnam?
To select for investing in Vietnamese start-ups, we use 3 key criteria: Whether the founder has passion, dare to think, dare to do and dare to take risks?, Whether the business model is sustainable?, and Whether the targeted market is big enough? As Given large-scale industries and sectors in Vietnam, we place priority on start-ups that offer solutions to certain industries in Vietnam.
Dr Philipp Roesler was born in Soc Trang province and then adopted by a German soldier’s family at nine months old. He was elected as Federal Minister of Health, then Federal Minister of Economics and Technology (2009-2013) and Vice Chancellor of Germany (2011-2013). Over the last decade, he has enthusiastically taken part in technology activities and development of start-up community. After leaving politics, Dr. Philipp Roesler became a member of the managing board and head of the Center for Regional Strategies of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland. During this time, he established a close partnership between WEF and Vietnam, especially focusing on the development of the Industry 4.0 in Vietnam. He said: “On return to Vietnam, I am very pleasant to return to my roots. Apart from getting well-established start-ups in my networks to support Vietnamese start-ups, my vision is also to help Vietnamese start-ups to go beyond borders and thrive together.
By Congthuong.vn
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