Generation Z (Gen Z) entrepreneurs: startups at school

Studying hard for the final exam in the morning, then managing the company’s stuff in the afternoon til late night, the group of young students shared that their day must be busy that way when being a start-up founder at the age of Gen Z.

Startups from the research topics

Truong Ai Vy, Tran Vu Hoai An, and Huynh Quy Nguyet are the Gen Z students studying biotechnology at Nguyen Tat Thanh University. Acknowledging the need and the development trend of organic products, as well as the conversion of crop protection agents use from chemical to organic are concerned, a group of junior students decided to do the research topic on microbial products. Thanks to the guidance of lecturers, they have created highly applicable products, especially organic crop protection agents.

Students introduce their products in a startup competition

From that achievement, they participated in various startup competitions, from the university level to Hanoi contests, and then entered Top 20 projects in the national startup competition. With those first achievements plus the passion, the Vy, An, and Nguyet have prepared themselves to be entepreneurs.

The advantages of liquid and dry fertilizers are easy to improve the soil, create nutrition, treat diseases, kill pests, and composting. All products are “green” and complete an organic cycle for agricultural production.

In order not to waste time, those students affiliated with a company to provide raw materials, packaging, and finished products. The main task of the team is to research the formula, build the brand, then commercialize all products.

Initially, the team focused mostly on e-commerce. In addition, the team had to deliver goods by motorbikes to some agricultural provinces such as Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Lam Dong, etc. to introduce directly to farmers for free trial to gain their confidence in the product.

Out of the “comfort zone”,

Though the company has not recruited any employees yet, all jobs are done and shared by three founders. “We do 3 main tasks at the same time: products development, selling, and marketing. Being owner and also employee, we both work and train on jobs”, Ai Vy shared.

Vy, a Gen Z founder added “There are a lot of pressures, from boost sales to find customers, we do it all ourselves without sharing with the family who will not understand and do not want their children to suffer diffcultities when being independent too soon.

In line with the development trend

Mr. Huynh Van Hieu, Lecturer in Biotechnology Department of Nguyen Tat Thanh University, said that there is a high demand for sustainable agricultural production and organic agriculture in Vietnam today. The research products of Vy, An, and Nguyet group are completely consistent with the trend and development of Vietnamese agriculture in the future. Troubles in capital, finance, and sales are also common concerns of most young people starting a business. Besides the financial support which is not enough, the group must spend almost their own money to invest, thus regularly starving or eating instant noodles for a long time to save money for doing research. In addition, the disagreement and the high ego of young people are also big obstacles.

“To be an owner, we have to make sacrifices and can not stay in the comfort zone forever. We are only 21 years old. we shall learn from lessions and experiences if we fail. It is important to be insistent with the choice we made”, An expressed.

Looking back at the time of being enterpreneurs, those young people believe that the lesson drew is to drop your ego, trying to learn from seniors, refine yourself everyday to be the best version.

However, the most important factors for Gen Z in startups are brave thinking, confidence, good communication and good relationships. “As the result, you will receive achievements worthy for the efforts you made from what you create”, An affirmed.

Thanh Niên Newspaper