Ho Chi Minh City, 12 December 2022 – The third season of the GBA Business Challenge came to an end after its kick-off in April 2022. It was initiated by the German Business Association since 2020, with the idea to support local young talents with good, forward-thinking ideas to turn their visions into a real business, equipping them with [Entrepreneurial Tools], [Real Life Business Experience] and a [Starting Fund].
This year, the juries selected the top 25 teams over 70 submissions with diverse business ideas who all fulfilled this year’s condition of their idea targeting a social, environmental, or sustainable issue and presented convincing concepts in their initial application. Then, they needed to complete their business plans after receiving several training courses led by Professor Brian O’Reilly and another Sector Committee Members, to get selected into the final round. Finally, the Top 5 teams showcased their prototypes/products/service/app at the marketplaces and pitched their business ideas to the business community with nearly 90 participants at the GBA Monthly Business Meeting on Monday, 12 December at New World Saigon Hotel.
The Champion of the 2022 GBA Business Challenge – ZEOTIC Team from Da Nang University of Economics & Da Nang University of Science and Technology won the grand prize with their passion for environment protection, which specializes in producing environmentally friendly building materials, especially tiles, with a combination of two main materials: waste plastic and spent Zeolite. The team is formed by 5 members: Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh, Nguyễn Viết Thắng, Nguyễn Thị Thùy Dương, Hoàng Hà Thảo Nhi and Lê Văn Nan.
The 2nd prize went to PinkMate Team from Breast Cancer Network Vietnam (BCNV) who have raised the awareness and provided educational information about breast cancer to the communities and improve the life quality of breast cancer patients and other groups affected by breast cancer with an innovative product. The team is formed by 2 members: Phạm Thị Anh Thư and Võ Mỹ Khải Hoàn.
LuWine Team from Da Nang University of Economics and Da Nang University of Education won the 3rd prize. They have blown a new breath into the Vietnamese alcohol market in particular and the world alcohol market in general as it is the first alcohol product made from Lucuma. The team is formed by 6 members: Trương Thị Hương Giang, Nguyễn Đình Phương Trinh, Hoàng Quốc Thiên Tài, Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, Nguyễn Cao Anh Thư and Kiều Phương Chi.
In addition to the award of financial support of VND310 million in total for the three winners, they will also receive the 1-year training and coaching program as well as several sponsored gifts from our sponsors.
We would like to thank our keynote speakers: Hao Tran – CEO of Vietcetera, Linh Pham – Founder & CEO of LOGIVAN, and Raphael Lachkar – COO of Vero for being a part of our successful final pitch and sharing with us plenty of valuable and interesting insights from the Vietnam’s Start-up Ecosystem.
Our gratitude to the 2022 Platinum sponsors: Messer and thyssenkrupp Vietnam; our In-kind sponsors: Action Communication, AK Interiors, BASF Vietnam, Roedl & Partner and Vietcetera for their generous support of the young talents. Also thank you to this year GBA Business Challenge Partners: DAAD and Vietnamese-German University
Last but not least our regards to 17 dedicated Sector Committee Members, led by GBA Board members Lukas Schoeneck from thyssenkrupp Vietnam, and Tuan Vi from Schaeffler Vietnam, and GBA members: AK Interiors (Representative: Linda Pham), BASF Vietnam (Representative: Erick Contreras), Brian O’Reilly, DAAD Vietnam (Representative: Stefan Hase-Bergen), Dezan Shira & Associates (Representative: Julia Goeb), DuPont Water Solutions (Representative: Rozel Luu), Headhunt Vietnam (Representative: Nam Hoang), Hoffmann Group (Representative: Marco Reckermann), International German School (Representative: Michael Schopp), Lecka Vietnam (Representative: Markus Gnirck), Reed Tradex Vietnam (Representative: Tai Vu), Roedl & Partner Vietnam (Representative: Michael Wekezer), Viessmann Vietnam (Representative: Alexander Ziehe), Vietnamese-German University (Representative: Thomas Guidat) and VINEQUEEN ltd. (Representative: Heidi Huyen Nguyen)
And, our personal thanks to Anna Tran and Mai Anh for their hard work in the background.
Once again, big congratulations to all the winners. All of you excellently made the first step to turn your business idea into reality! We, German Business Association (GBA), are very honored to accompany you in the first steps of making the changes that we want to see in Vietnam and in the world.
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- Lukas Schoeneck – GBA Board Member – GBA Business Challenge Committee:
“We believe that the GBA Business Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for young Vietnamese talents to develop their start-up ideas and turn those ideas into reality. Our approach is to support the teams throughout the competition with specific training and professional feedback, making all the difference. Looking back on the last three Business Challenge years, I am very happy to see the remarkable development of the winning teams. We are all excited to kick off season 4, and I would like to motivate all interested young people to step forward and apply their creative idea.”
- ZEOTIC Team – Champion of the GBA Business Challenge – Season 3 shared:
“An arduous journey that took eight months and involved all of us, the ZEOTIC team. As students with a passion for entrepreneurship and start-up, we are truly grateful and lucky to have participated in the GBA Business Challenge 2022. We have received coaching and training from seasoned professionals to access and enhance our knowledge about business, how to create a business plan, strategies for effective pitching, and more. We have also received feedback for future improvements to our product and business model. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to meet and learn more about the potential projects in the top 5 as well as to engage with the community of professionals and entrepreneurs. That’s all we receive and more. It is fantastic and really humbling that we have won and became the champion this year thanks to the efforts of all team members. We shall never forget the rush of emotions coupled with pride that evening. This win has provided us with the chance to realize our dreams and has provided a great incentive for the forthcoming journey so that the ZEOTIC team may contribute to the future development of a sustainable economy and a positive influence on the environment.”
- PinkMate Team – The 1st Prize Winner shared:
“It’s a long but worthwhile journey for start-ups like Pinkmate to take part in the GBA business challenge. Having incubated the idea since 2020, the competition has allowed us to bring our ideas of creating mastectomy bras closer to many advisors and investors. From the application process, preparing the business plan to the pitching round, through the training sessions, we recognize the advantages and disadvantages of the project, thereby making more effective plans in the future. It was an impressive final round, with five teams competing with five potential ideas, and we had the chance to exchange and learn about other teams’ project operations. Besides being very proud of being the 2nd runner-up, we are also very happy because the project has been highly appreciated for its positive impact on the breast cancer patient community in Vietnam. In other words, GBA’s award this year is an excellent motivator for PinkMate to continue supporting more and more cancer patients in Viet Nam.”
- LuWine Team – The 2nd Prize Winner shared:
“GBA Business Challenge 2022 is not a contest but a solid foundation for startups in general and LuWine in particular. It is fortunate for us to be in the top 5 and get the third prize. In this journey, LuWine team members received a lot of support from GBA through training sessions on how to develop a Business Plan, Presentation skills, etc. We appreciate the efforts from GBA in helping us bring LuWine to the market, contributing to enhancing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products as well as empowering local farmers. Besides, this is also an opportunity to meet and share with experts, entrepreneurs, and four other teams. After the final pitch, there were many entrepreneurs who gave us advice and suggestions for developing the business in the future. This is truly a wonderful thing. LuWine would like to sincerely thank GBA Business Challenge 2022 for the past journey. Our future success will be the late gift that comes with this thank you.”
