Startup community lends a hand to women entrepreneurs in Vietnam

Woomentum, a Singapore-based startup community and crowdfunding platform, will launch its first event in Vietnam this month to support female entrepreneurs and their startups, by connecting them with investors and consultants.

“CrowdFundHer Live!” will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on April 25 at Dreamplex 2, 195 Dien Bien Phu Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh District.

The fourth "CrowFundHer Live!" event held in Singapore in June last year. Photo courtesy of Woomentum

Six women-founded startups chosen for the event operate in different sectors including education, Internet of things, lifestyle, hi-tech agriculture and fintech. This is a chance for them to showcase their work and vision to investors, seek funding and see how experts respond to their products.

Each of them will have eight minutes to present their projects and convince investors to back them. Woomentum will also facilitate discussions between the startups and interested investors.

Guests include Adrian Tan, director of Vietnam Innovative Startup Accelerator (VIISA), Ngo Thuy Ngoc Tu, co-founder of YOLA Language Center, Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Vice President of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), Violet Lim, CEO of Lunch Actually, and Michael Blakey, managing partner of Cocoon Capital, a renowned investor in UK.

Woomentum had organized four “CrowdFundHer Live” events in Singapore with support from Bloomberg, Google, the Hub Singapore and other organizations.

Thanks to such events, which drew 600 attendants, 23 tech startups have received S$200,000 ($143,200).

For the upcoming event in Vietnam, Woomentum will work with the Vietnam E-commerce Association, Startup Vietnam Foundation, Mat Bao Corporation, Baker McKenzie, Citylinks, VnExpress, among others.

Startups with Mouna Aouri (sitting), CEO of Woomentum. Photo courtesy of Woomentum

Founder Mouna Aouri said Woomentum will make its official debut in Vietnam this summer, offering opportunities for startups with female founders to approach new knowledge, access capital and receive valuable feedback to create better products. The April event will also allow members of the startup community to share their ideas.

She said Woomentum wants to work as a bridge to link Vietnamese startups with investors, entrepreneurs and consultants in Southeast Asia and more importantly, to connect male and female entrepreneurs.

Women are the emerging power of the economy in Asia, she said, adding that once they get access to technology and a good environment, female entrepreneurs will become an undeniable force.

Click here for tickets.