By Anna Walters
UP graduate Steve Nguyen was voted the best entrepreneur age 30 or under in the Asia-Pacific region by BusinessWeek.com. The results were announced Jan. 2 on the Web site where Nguyen was among 25 finalists submitted by readers and editors.
"I am happy, proud and very satisfied that my sweat and tears have been recognized," Nguyen said. "This is a great honor for me, my family and my company."
Nguyen explained that this was the first time someone Vietnamese had won the competition. "This is a huge honor for my country," he said.
Nguyen graduated from UP in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering. He was also in the Entrepreneur Scholars (E-Scholars) program.
Although he graduated as an engineer, Nguyen said he always had a passion for entrepreneurship and wanted to work in an environment that integrated both business and the technical skills of an engineer.
Nguyen started two companies, Viet Tech and My World. He described Viet Tech as a software development company that focused on outsourcing to small and medium businesses. He said Viet Tech partnered with these businesses to help them integrate the use of technology into the workplace to accelerate their businesses.
My World is a Web 2.0 program in Vietnam. Nguyen said My World is similar to MySpace and Facebook because of the social networking aspect, but has a focus on social education. He said the Web site has a unique mix of everything in Vietnamese and English. The Web site has features such as sharing news, photos, music and blogging. Nguyen said the site's growth rate is phenomenal and is the first of its kind in Vietnam.
"The younger generation is very eager to learn English," he said. Nguyen saw a demand for technology in Vietnam; he explained that 58 percent of the population in Vietnam is considered the younger generation.
During his time at UP, Nguyen stayed very involved in gaining experience and participating in the E-Scholar program. Nguyen placed in two 15K challenges and competed in several other business competitions. He also worked as a programmer for Serena Software in the Silicon Valley.
Robin Anderson, dean of the business school, described Nguyen as focused and passionate.
"I was very excited for Steve and very happy to see one of our students succeed," Anderson said about Nguyen's honor as top entrepreneur. "It says a lot about our students."
Anderson said the E-Scholars program encourages students to find something they can do better than anyone in the world.
"E-Scholars strives for people to be the very best. Steve utilized the mentors (from the program) effectively and built a solid network," Anderson said.
Nguyen hopes for the companies to grow in size and expand services in the future.
"I've learned a great deal from the past two years and I want to help Vietnamese companies become successful," he said.
He also hopes to make My World the number-one site in Vietnam. Nguyen has plans to return to school and get his MBA.
"I'm learning as I do," he said. "I never started a business before, and I'm willing to sacrifice the time to learn."
