VinUni students win prizes in domestic and foreign startup competitions with an edtech solution

Nguyen Luu Anh Tuan, student at the College of Engineering & Computer Science, VinUni was determined to open a business in the financial sector with a start-up project called Finful. Tuan is deeply concerned with improving personal financial knowledge for Vietnamese youth, helping them ensure financial stability  in the future. 

Let’s find out more about Anh Tuan and Finful – a start-up that has won numerous domestic and international awards: 

• Top 50 Revolutionary Finalists at Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition and received the Maybank ASEAN Startup Awards 
• Winner of the Finnovation competition 
• Winner of the VSIC competition – Northern Area 
• Runner-up of the Zone Bootcamp competition 
• Global Finalist in the Social Business Creation contest 
• Supported by SIHUB-EXPARA – a startup launch pad  and TechYouth Incubator
• Trained and supported by Standard Chartered Bank’s startup program 

Nguyen Luu Anh Tuan pitching about his start-up at Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition.

Please share a bit about the Finful and what motivated you to start a business in the financial sector. 

Finful is a solution for finance education using lessons that are broken down into smaller parts, helping learners enrich their financial knowledge through an engaging learning experience. Finful’s long-term vision is to help Vietnamese people gain more financial knowledge and achieve their financial goals. 

Even though I studied at the College of Engineering & Computer Science, I still decided to start a business in the financial field because I had witnessed many cases where people lack knowledge about personal finance. This can lead to many unpredictable consequences. For instance, young people do not know how to do budget planning or save money and invest to have an independent future where they can follow meaningful passion without financial concerns. 

A major issue that I am worried about is financial fraud in Vietnam. As people lack knowledge, they are easily lured into these forms of fraud. Specifically, I knew a single mother with two small children who was cheated out of all her savings after nearly 20 years of working, leaving the whole family in dire straits. Such a situation could have been prevented if they had understood the financial market, compound interest, and common forms of fraud. In addition, I also see that being unable to manage personal finance well and not having a savings fund can cause serious consequences during a period like COVID19. During the pandemic, stories about families losing the main breadwinner in the house might have been less painful if they had understood about insurance and invested in insurance in advance. 

How do you make stiff, difficult financial lessons more interesting and turn it into a competitive advantage? 

Finful’s personal finance lessons are divided into small modules, with vivid and highly interactive illustrations (quantity selection, component classification,…) to help learners study more easily. 

I think the product’s competitive advantage compared to other competitors are: (1) lessons are divided into small pieces so you can learn them anytime, anywhere, (2) you can learn online so it is less time-consuming, more affordable and easier to maintain than taking a face-to-face course, (3) simplifies learning content by converting knowledge into visual illustrations, helping learners study more easily, and (4) provide Interaction with the lesson to keep learners interested with practical case studies to practice. 

What values do you see or hope Finful can contribute to the Vietnamese community in general and the international community in particular? 

Throughout the process, I can see that besides financial knowledge, it is also a matter of mindset and behavior. In addition, I also see that even when people have the right mindset, they also need tools such as planning, tracking spending, controlling risks to help them manage their finances or giving necessary advice. Not only do we want to help people gain financial knowledge but we also want to help them achieve financial freedom in the future. 

A big concern of mine is that for a startup to operate in the long run, it needs to be profitable first. Therefore, we have to made a decision to serve those who can pay for the product. However, I also want to help people in remote areas or young people with little financial knowledge because this is the target group who are more likely to encounter financial problems. Maybe when Finful is big enough, we will accomplish these goals or Finful will partner with individuals/organizations that have the ability to do it in the near future. 

It is known that the company’s website introduces many talented consultants in the industry. Can you share some stories of your collaboration with these advisors? 

My startup received a lot of support from VinUni and specifically the E-Lab. Our group was funded by E-Lab to operate and we also received a lot of advice from them. Not only did E-Lab help connect us with highly specialized advisors but they also introduced our start-up to investment funds or any other party that can support our development. Recently, we have received a lot of business advice from Mr. Marc Kramer – Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the university. In addition, we have also been able to connect with lots of great advisors because they also see the vision and mission that we pursue. 

What is your most memorable memory when your start-up won two international awards? 

When participating in the contest, we had the opportunity to meet and discuss with the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore – Mr. Heng Swee Keat. He discussed Singapore’s role as an international hub and emphasized the importance of young innovators in shaping a better world. Meeting and connecting with excellent projects around the globe also inspires our team to believe more in what we are building. 

Thanks to the experiences at Blaze Final Week, our group realized that the lack of financial knowledge is a major problem not just in Vietnam but most countries in Southeast Asia as well. With the launch pad after the competition, our team dares to set bigger goals and have more realistic plans to achieve those goals. 

Nguyen Luu Anh Tuan and his teammate at Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition.

 What are your plans for Finful in the future? 

– I will take a gap year (reservation) to focus on developing Finful further. At the end of this year, we plan to launch new products. We hope to receive support from everyone! 

Thank you!