A group of DTU students from the Faculty of International Education won the second prize at the Startup Launch Pad (I'm possible) program held in Vinh Long City on December 2, 2023. For the project "Co Tu Ethnic Community Tourism", 5 dynamic and enthusiastic genZ girls  from DTU scored points with the Organizing Committee for their creativity and high applicability in reality.

5 Gen Z girls who love Technology and Travel "score"

Connecting with each other when they share the same research ideas and outstanding strengths that can support each other, 5 female students studying at DTU's Faculty of International Studies have made the most of their class schedules to work together to complete the "Co Tu Ethnic Community Tourism" project.

A group of students happily received the Second Prize of the Startup Launchpad program

The project with 2 specific tourism products includes:

- Cultural tour to explore Co Tu (2 days 1 night) includes activities: experiencing daily life, participating in traditional agricultural activities, handicrafts or traditional craft villages combined with learning about culinary culture and interacting with the ethnic community, ...

- Trekking tour - Conquering K'lang peak (3 days 2 nights) is extremely interesting with activities: walking, climbing on the road leading to Co Tu village in Tay Giang-Quang Nam district, camping in the middle of mountains and forests, conquering K'Lang peak and receiving badges, cycling to see the scenery on Truong Son road, ...

- Experience VR Tour 360 degrees: Visitors will experience VR Tour with images of Co Tu village and cultural attractions in Tay Giang with 360 degrees through the online website to have a full perspective of the land they want to visit and the tour before deciding to experience the service.

Understanding the skills and experience of each member of the team to divide the work is how 5 young girls "work together" to complete the project on time.

Ta Thi Khanh Dung

The brave and responsible team leader Ta Thi Khanh Dung can communicate in French and Japanese, highlighted by management and leadership skills responsible for ensuring work progress, supporting team members with content, building websites and VR Tours.

Nguyen Thi Mai Anh

Possessing an inspiring voice, the ability to make a coherent confident presentation in front of the crowd and the ability to edit videos, the girl with a pretty appearance with a dream of becoming a TV MC Nguyen Thi Mai Anh was unanimously assigned by the whole group to build videos, voice over VR Tour and present Pitching on Demo Day.

Tran Thi Ngoc Anh

"Pepper baby" Tran Thi Ngoc Anh stands out for her agility, dynamism and very flexibility when handling many situations along with the strength of convincing customers who are assigned the "responsibility" of searching for information, finding customers to test products and building product models.

Nguyen Doan Bao Chau

Loving fashion and having a good aesthetic "taste", the girl from Hue Nguyen Doan Bao Chau stands out with a strong personality, drastic in thinking and action, trusted by the whole team to design slides, images, advertising banners in the website and contest entries.

Nguyen Thi Tien

Very hard working and honest, her petite friend Nguyen Thi Tien loves to work with numbers, so the work of building a financial plan and calculating product costs is trusted by the whole team with Tien. In addition, with prudence, perfectionism and good presentation skills working on Microsoft Office, Tien has come up with a complete and standard business plan. I am also an effective member of the team when I am always the one behind supporting and connecting people to work, giving feedback to the rest of the members.

With the opportunity to practice teamwork skills regularly at DTU along with access to specialized knowledge in a real-world working environment, DTU students from the Faculty of International Studies have been actively learning new things and confidently demonstrating their abilities in competitions.

Ta Thi Khanh Dung, a representative of the group of students who won the second prize from DTU's Faculty of International Studies, shared:  "Once we happened to visit the village of the Co Tu ethnic group in the same land of Tay Giang in Quang Nam province, we heard from the village elders that the culture here is distorted.  The language is mixed, and the architecture of the house gradually fades. We were worried and motivated to do something to join hands to preserve the cultural identity of the Co Tu people. The project 'Co Tu ethnic community tourism' that we researched together not only wants to preserve many cultural beauties of the Co Tu people but also hopes to introduce the cultural identity Co Tu ethnic group to young people and international friends all over the world."

Startup launchpad to nurture talents

The Startup Launch Pad Program is one of the activities held during the "Digital Technology Exchange 2023" Festival taking place from November 30 to December 2, 2023 by the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province in collaboration with the Provincial Union of Friendship Organizations and The Dariu Foundation. Nearly 200 students, students and teachers nationwide came to the Festival and participated in many activities such as: Training on Robot and Drone content, Talkshow on the topic "Applied Technology", Robot and Drone Application Programming Playground for students, Exchange and Display of Programming products of the Code Club project,  Demoday Program - Product Demonstration, Startup Launch Platform Program.

At the Startup Launchpad program, students and students across the country had the opportunity to present their ideas, products, solutions as well as introduce test versions of the product to the Jury and the Founding and Executive Committee of the Dariu Foundation. The participating teams have also received a lot of support and mentorship from experts in many fields of Tourism, Information Technology, and Economics,... to complete and develop the project.

The best projects have been awarded with many supports to be implemented in practice in the future such as:

- First Prize with the project "Equipment to support wet rice farmers" (Vo Thi Sau Secondary School, Hau Giang) and the project "Automatic Waste Identification and Classification Solution" (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology),

- Second Prize with the project "Co Tu Ethnic Community Tourism" (DTU University, Da Nang City) and the project "Portable Injection Storage Box" (Nguyen Huu Huan High School, Ho Chi Minh City),

- Third Prize with the project "Smart Light Pole" (Cay Duong High School, Hau Giang) and the project "Cooldry Oven" (College of Industry and Trade Ho Chi Minh City).