One of our students during her presentation
In December 2018, for the first time ever, PN Vietnam successfully organized a pitching contest for the 3rd-year students. This contest is a major highlight in the training program that PN Vietnam has been working on since last year. Let’s see how we did it!
The pitching contest is one of the main events of our Entrepreneurship Module, a new course included in our third-year course. During the contest, our 3rd-year students learnt the necessary knowledge and skills to launch a start-up from the first stage of looking for an idea to the last stage of setting up a business model. Some of the courses in the module include Market Research, Product Development, Marketing & Sale, Business Model Canvas. We believe that it is very important to train our students to become not only a successful developer but also an entrepreneur in the IT industry.
From the initial 42 ideas proposed by 42 students, 14 ideas were shortlisted, which then went through the weekly approval meeting with the mentors until being completed with a business model and finally join the pitching contest. The audience of over 100 people included not only PN Vietnam’s students but also a number of guests from our partners in IT companies.
Finally, 9 excellent ones were selected and implemented in actual IT projects. Some of the ideas were creative and astonishing, such as a website offering service to pick up children after school, an app for selling agricultural products online, and a moto rental app for travellers. This is a great opportunity for students not only to present their creative business ideas but also to apply what they learnt during the 6-week course.
An overview of the panel who assessed our students and the audience
The contest came with many challenges and opportunities. Pitching in front of a roomful of IT experts was probably stressful for the students, especially as they had to do the whole presentation in English. In a limited time (less than 10 minutes), the students had to present their business model to the judges and convince them of the potential of their ideas. However, their performances well exceeded our expectations.
Presenting their business ideas in English is a huge challenge for our students
The judges were very supportive and gave the students encouraging feedback
Some of the guests were really interested in the student’s idea and willing to support the project at the implementation stage. It was also very important that the students received lots of valuable advice and suggestions from the judges and learned how to approve an idea from a professional perspective. Let’s have a look at some of the positive feedback from our partners after the event.
“I was very happy to be invited to the pitching contest. PN Vietnam has students with a lot of potential. I hope that, in the future, the cooperation between Orient and PN Vietnam will develop and bring more success.” – Mr. NGUYEN Phong Son, Danang Branch Director at Orient Software Company.
“Thank you, PNV, for inviting me to this great event. It was very interesting to watch the students pitching their business ideas in English. Could I put forward a Senior Developer in my company as a possible mentor for PNV students?” – Mrs. TRAN Hanh Trang, Co-Founder & General Manager at Enouvo IT Solutions
In the end, all the teams did a great job and our students learnt a number of valuable lessons and practical skills through the pitching contest as well as during the Entrepreneurship Module. The success of this event is also a great motivation for our Training department to continue following this approach and upgrade the training program to provide quality education to the students as well as matching market demand in the IT sector.