Internet Heroes in Vietnam

internet women vietnam Vietnamese women run 25 per cent of the total 160,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam. There are about 20 million Vietnamese online. It has been predicted that this figure will rise to as many as 36 million Internet-users in two years.

It is not surprising therefore that global Internet giants like Yahoo!, Google, and eBay have started to take notice of Vietnam. eBay for instance just announced a partnership with Vietnam’s ChoDienTu. They will develop a co-branded online auction site to go live in three months.

High internet usage combined with a relatively high percentage of women in business should mean a lot of female internet start-ups, that does not seem to be the case. In fact, they are really hard to find.

There are online resources for female entrepreneurs though, such as the vietnam’s women union (their site is under construction) or vnwomensforum, a forum for Vietnamese women to share knowledge, hold discussions and network. It was founded by Vietnamese Kieu Linh Valverde, a Vietnamese professor living in the States.

Vietnam also hosted the Global Summit of Women in June of this year, described as “an international forum to connect female entrepreneurs, experts, government leaders from all countries over the world, for the establishment of a global women coalition in order to share the best practices and successful business strategies.”

So who are the females in the e-business? An example is a true female internet hero Esther Nguyen, A Vietnamese entrepreneur who grew up in The States, who recently launched an online music site - Pops.vn, a legal music download site.

The Vietnamese web 2.0 start-up Vinalive also tapped in the female market with its PhunuNet. PhunuNet appears to follow the simple but successful model of iVillage, offering information on Love & Sex, Fashion & Beauty, Health, Lifestyle, Career, Pregnancy & Babycare etc. It also offers video sharing, groups, events and blogging tools. Eva.vn, a Fashion, beauty and shopping portal also targets women. It has an “Eva club”, where women open can share thoughts on family and social matters, and a dating section, where Vietnamese women to find their half. Strangely enough, both websites are launched by company ran by men.

Do you know of any Vietnamese internet heroes? Let us know!