Creating change often starts with a group of engaged individuals. The digital center in Vietnam also had this idea in mind when they organized a training for change agents in the digital upskilling landscape. One of them was Dr. Tran Ha Uyen Thi – a lecturer for e-commerce with a clear mission: advising small and medium-sized enterprises on their path towards digitalisation.
Dr Tran Ha Uyen Thi teaches at the University of Economics in Hue, a region in Vietnam that still has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to digitalisation. She wants to change this and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their digital transformation – because the need in Vietnam is great: more than 70 per cent of the population now own internet-enabled smartphones – and the trend is rising sharply. Most Vietnamese people now do most of their shopping and other services digitally. Dr Tran Ha Uyen Thi, therefore, took a training course by the Digital Transformation Centre (DTC) in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Agency for Enterprise Development. She exchanged ideas with experts and received training materials that she can use for her courses at the university.
“When I became a Champion Trainer and participated in the SME training program, I had the opportunity to work directly with local experts from the Asian Institute of Technology. I actively participated in the program and shared my knowledge and experience on digitalisation with companies in Dong-Thap province. I was able to apply what I learned in practice.”
Dr. Tran Ha Uyen Thi
Dr Tran Ha Uyen Thi now advises small and medium-sized enterprises on exploiting the potential of digitalisation – for example, to improve production processes and take ecological aspects into account from the outset.
“I am very motivated to contribute to the digitalisation of Vietnamese SMEs, especially in the central region of Vietnam, which is considered to be lagging behind other regions of the country in terms of digitalisation.”
Dr. Tran Ha Uyen Thi
Dr. Thi and other champion trainers play a crucial role in Vietnams digital upskilling landscape. Spread all over Vietnam, they advise small and medium-sized enterprises in their region and thus contribute to a digital and green revolution in Vietnam. Since small and medium-sized enterprises are an important part of the Vietnamese economic landscape. Through their engagement the trainers show: a green digital transformation is possible, if we share our knowledge and learn from each other.
“I learned a lot during the training. I used to think of digitalisation in companies as the application of digital technologies for the production and operation of a company. In the training, we talked a lot about digitalisation as a fundamental change for companies. It includes business models, mindset, employees and organizational culture.”
Dr. Tran Ha Uyen Thi
Digitalisation in Vietnam: a success story
