In Viet Nam, to some extent, women still face more barriers than men to embark on business ventures because they are limited by traditional ways of thinking and families-related burden.

Female entrepreneurs have formed their own communities for mutual support

Actually, they have a lot of untapped potential, initiatives, and good mindsets, and if they are encouraged and effectively used, they could develop many business models and create high-quality products and services for society.

More recently, the “I am Remarkable” event took place at the largest room of the Surf Space – Da Nang Coworking Space on Thai Phien Street, Hai Chau District. The room was decorated with abundant flowers and balloons, and it was filled with joys and laughter of over 60 women.

Amongst them, there are people who are entrepreneurs, programmers and the leaders of business support organisations. Noticeably, these talented women have gained the outstanding achievements in their business ventures.

The event was jointly organised by thr Google Developers Group (GDG) Mien Trung, the municipal Entrepreneurship Support Company Ldt (DNES), also known as the Da Nang Incubator, and Google's Digital 4.0 programme in Viet Nam, which provides free digital skills training to 500,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country by 2020.

The event was inspired by #IamRemarkable, a Google initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.

At the event, Ms Tran Ha My Loi, a trainer from Google's Digital 4.0 programme in Viet Nam, said that the sense of humility is still one of the weaknesses of women as they tend to be shy to talk about their accomplishments.

The event really helped the participants to share much about themselves in a comfortable manner, and show off their strengths with which they feel very satisfied, thereby enabling them to enhance their self promotion motivation and skills.

On the spotlight at the exchange event was the deeply inspiring stories shared by successful female entrepreneurs.

Ms Nguyen Thi Hai Oanh, a young single mother residing in Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province, has become a “language ambassador” in the central locality to help children learn how to speak English in an effort to forget about an unhappy home life and offer something meaningful to the community.

Having got divorced, Oanh came up with the idea of runs the ‘Amazing English Tour’ in which poor students from her hometown are taken to such tourists-packed destinations as Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue to interact with foreign visitors in a bid to enhance their English speaking skills.

“I was in a bad way with debt and the divorce a year ago, and I thought that social actvities would help pull me out. At the time, I was tutoring children for a low salary and I found out they had never had the chance to practise with a native speaker. I decided this had to change and took advantage of the short distance from my home district to Hue to give the children a chance”, said Oanh.

She affirmed that her project has helped her stand up against the most difficult period of her life, and recognise true values through her community work.

To date, Oanh has organised about 60 tours in total to Hue, Da Nang, and Hoi An for children.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Nhi, the founder of the Google Developers Group (GDG) Mien Trung, cum originator of the “I am Remarkable” said, through such a meaningful event, women can remove barriers to confidently pursue their passions and spread good values to the community.