Growing up poor didn’t stop a young woman in Thua Thien Hue Province from reaching the pinnacle of success. She is La Thi My Le who is now the Director of the Karivara Technology one-member Co. Ltd. Le is one of the few female tech CEOs in Da Nang.

Mrs Le (first right) sharing her experience with some young people at a tech and startup event in Da Nang

Mrs Le was born in 1988 in a very poor family in the province’s Phu Vang District. Since being 8 years old, she has earned money to support her whole family by doing such odd jobs as cutting grasses, harvesting rice, and selling ‘banh nam’ (rice dumpling wrapped in banana leaf), and ‘banh loc’ (steamed clear tapioca cakes in banana leaves). Therefore, she has understood the values of labour power and money.

At the age of 16, Le left her hometown for Da Nang for the first time to seek full-time summer jobs. Her first job was a lottery ticket seller. Every day, she earned between only 20,000 VND and 30,000 VND in profits, so she often skipped lunch.

During her high school years, she went to Da Nang to make money from doing odd jobs in her school summer vacations.

After passing the entrance examination to the Hue University of Education with very high marks, Le received a scholarship which allowed her to study any university nationwide. Therefore, Le chose to study at the Information Technology Major at the Da Nang-based University of Science and Technology.

Studying in Da Nang was a turning point in her life. After her university graduation with a good academic result, Le worked as a versatile programmer at a large technology company in Da Nang. Thanks to her great efforts, the strong-willed girl got promoted as a project manager.

Although the work was going well, at the age of 30, Le decided to quit her current job to do her own business by establishing the Karivara Technology Co., Ltd.

This programmer-turned-entrepreneur has developed a global internship programme which has drawn much attention from both domestic and foreign students.

She expressed her hope that Karivara would become a gathering place for technology enthusiasts who would make great devotions to the city’s technology ecosystem.

In early August, Karivara launched Grubity Kitchen, an online and offline app that connects talented chefs and food lovers.

Despite being a CEO of a technology company, Mrs Le always loves family meals and that was the biggest motivation for the launch of Grubity Kitchen app.

With Grubity Kitchen, users can be cultivated their inspiration for food, and can be taught about such life skills as basic rules of kitchen safety, dining culture, smart and useful kitchen tips, and nutrition-related knowledge.

Mrs Le said she wanted to change young people’s popular mindset of seeking a stable job and treat any day like a normal day. Therefore, she has become actively involved in giving active support to IT activities and events in both Da Nang and Hue, as well as teaching at the BTEC FPT International College.