Thao Ly, the fall 2008 visiting scholar in-residence hosted by the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship, returned to her native Vietnam in January, and is now the Program Manager of the Saigon Hi-Tech Business Incubator (SHBI). SHBI is currently in the start-up stage, and Ly is executing its marketing strategy to secure the Incubator’s first tenants. The SHBI’s primary focus is on training Vietnamese entrepreneurs in business administration, and to provide working facilities, IT services, and consulting and training assistance.
Thao Ly is a woman with a plan. Her 10-year career plan has taken her around the world: from her native Vietnam to France, Canada, and ultimately, to Troy, New York, where she was a visiting scholar in-residence at Lally for the 2008 Fall semester. Hosted by the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship, her ultimate goal is focused on launching her first entrepreneurial venture within the next 5-10 years. Doing this, however, will require her to overcome sizeable hurdles and traditional barriers in Vietnam.
The youngest of three siblings, Ly made the bold, non-traditional choice to leave home and pursue her undergraduate and graduate education in business management. It was after receiving her Master's in innovation management from the Business School IAE in Toulouse, France, that she identified the need and opportunity to develop a business incubator in Vietnam to train young professionals and to support Vietnamese entrepreneurs starting businesses.
Ly heard about the Lally School from a sibling studying in Helsinki, Finland, with Lally Clinical Professor of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship, Pier Abetti. Armed with a Master's in innovation management and a year of study in corporate management in the MBA program at Laval University in Quebec, Canada[i], Ly applied for and received a three-month visiting scholarship from Lally to study the high-tech incubator model at Rensselaer, the oldest university-based incubator in the U.S. Her appointment as a visiting scholar landed her a job offer as program manager of the Saigon Hi-Tech Business Incubator (SHBI), a subsidiary of Saigon Hi-Tech Park, even before she arrived at Lally.
Ly is now one step closer to achieving her ultimate goal. Following her tenure at Lally, Ly returned to Vietnam in January 2009, and is now working with the SHBI director, as program manager, to implement the business plan she and Professor Abetti developed to establish and manage SHBI’s incubation program. Currently in the start-up stage, she also is busy executing the SHBI’s marketing strategy aimed at securing the Incubator’s first tenants. The Incubator’s primary focus is on training Vietnamese entrepreneurs in business administration and providing working facilities, IT services, as well as consulting and training assistance. For overseas entrepreneurs, SHBI provides training and assistance in strategy and management support for doing business in Vietnam. SHBI's overall mission is to facilitate interaction and networking between the business community and local professionals.
Asked what specifically about her Lally experience she finds particularly helpful in her new role, Ly says it was her mentor’s motto that resonates with her the most. “Professor Pier Abetti told me, “Start small, grow fast, learn along the way."
In 1986, Vietnam underwent broad economic, market and investment reforms. As a result, the country has seen the number of its state-owned enterprises dwindle from 10,000 prior to 1996 to somewhere between 2,000-3,000 post-1996. Vietnam is one of world's fastest growing economies with a GDP increase of 7.5 percent between 2000 to 2007. Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries form a large and fast-growing part of the country's national economy. Remarkably, Vietnam's rapid economic growth occurred despite its limited infrastructure, lack of technology, and an unskilled labor force.
But socio-economic hurdles, graft, and a deficit of business "know-how" persist throughout the business community in this rapidly rising Southeast Asian country. And conducting business in Vietnam is especially difficult unless one has established strong local connections. But these connections often come with a price as corruption runs rampant. And for women, competing in the corporate world is particularly challenging.
Thao Ly hopes to change that by creating and managing an educational center in her home country focused on training "elite" Vietnamese—educated students and young professionals with the drive to succeed—in "soft skills." Eventually, she wants to develop programs that "train the trainers," who will in turn lead soft skills workshops in Vietnamese universities. Soft skills encompass a range of fundamental business and social skills necessary to successfully compete not only in a global economy, but in this instance, the local Vietnamese market. From critical thinking and risk-taking, negotiation and cultural awareness, to time management and leadership, these are just a few of the critical "high touch" skills Ly says are needed to succeed in a fast-paced and high-tech economy.
The Paul J. '69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship (SCTE), established in 1988, helps foster new generations of entrepreneurs through outreach programs, education and research. Centered in Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management & Technology, The Severino Center lies at the core of Lally’s commitment to Entrepreneurship. The mission of the SCTE is to integrate educational and research programs by exposing every Rensselaer student to the practices and principles of entrepreneurship; infuse the fundamentals of entrepreneurship throughout the Rensselaer curriculum; extend Rensselaer’s leadership and national prominence in technological entrepreneurship.