Dance with Unicorns

Content:Thu Lam | 2020-03-27

He has worked at Focus Report, interviewing senior government leaders, global businessmen. Jun Wakabayashi is now a strategic analyst who has a huge impact on technology startup projects at "AppWorks" and is an inspirational host at Founders Forum that attracts thousands of attention technology startups, founders have just taken place successfully in Taiwan and Ho Chi Minh City. His goal is to help change the world. Do you believe it?

Jun Wakabayashi, you’re an Analyst covering both "AppWorks" Accelerator and Greater Southeast Asia, please tell me more about your business in there?

"AppWorks" is both the largest startup accelerator in a region we like to call "Greater Southeast Asia" (ASEAN+TW) and one of the region’s most active early-stage investors. So we both invest in startups, as well as help incubate them through our equity-free accelerator. When we started in 2010, our efforts were centered on jumpstarting the startup ecosystem in Taiwan. During this time, the first wave of eager entrepreneurs was just starting to figure out how to capitalize on the mobile internet wave. After noticing a similar emergence happening in Southeast Asia and identifying several synergies with Taiwan’s own digital economy and technical talent pool, we began to bridge the two ecosystems closer together, giving birth to the concept of Greater Southeast Asia (GSEA). My mission now is to continue bridging the two ecosystems and establish "AppWorks" as a household name in Southeast Asia.

What community values ​​does "AppWorks" bring to the market?

Our motto is "By Founders, For Founders." This ethos permeates in everything we do. Having been founders ourselves, all of our decisions are made with a founder-first mentality, always catering to their best interests and helping them grow. Our accelerator, for example, is completely free. Contrary to many other accelerators you might come across, we don’t take equity or charge any fees, yet we still provide them with the necessary resources, mentorship, and connections to get their businesses off the ground. That’s because we don’t believe in charging founders for what we do, and we also know that funding can actually be counterproductive in the early stages before a startup reaches product-market fit. That said, if startups reach a point in their journey where a capital injection can significantly help them scale, then we’re happy to initiate those discussions as we also manage a VC fund in parallel.

And I think our value has resonated quite well with founders in the region. Our community now encompasses 351 active startups and 1,044 founders across GSEA. Together, "AppWorks" startups generate US$2.86B in annual revenue, have created 10,115 jobs, and boast an aggregate valuation of US$3.97B.

What strategy does "AppWorks" target in the field of technology?

"AppWorks" focuses on a theme that we call "ABS", that is AI, blockchain, and Southeast Asia. The advent of mobile 10 years ago completely redefined the global paradigm, specifically in how industries work and operate and how people went about living their daily lives. We’re now looking towards the next 10 years, which we believe will be transformed by AI and blockchain, particularly in fast emerging markets such as Southeast Asia that have traditionally "leap-frogged" developed nations in terms of technology adoption. Yes, the majority of talent, data, and capital is currently controlled by big tech—companies like Amazon, Facebook, or Google—we do believe that these two nascent technologies will eventually come down the cost curve and access will be democratized, even among startups. In due time, AI and blockchain will be more of a "must have" rather than "nice to have".

How does a startup approach the investment fund from "AppWorks"?

In some instances, founders will either find a mutual contact to help make a warm introduction or simply reach out to us cold. Though, we highly encourage startups to join our accelerator. It’s a 6 month program in which they get to really know us as investors and for us to get to know them as founders. We believe taking investment should not be decision made on a whim. Founders should only work with people that you trust and believe in your vision, and vice versa for investors.

The general framework that we utilize when evaluating founders are the 3Hs: heart, head, hands. Essentially, that means we look at the founder’s passion and determination, as well as his or her ability to learn and execute.

In terms of ticket sizes, we’re able to write checks ranging from US$200K to US$10M, focusing on the "ABS" theme I mentioned before.

At what stage do you realize that the trend of technology startup in the world is at the stage of development? Which technology trends will lead the market in the near future? What are some signs of a clear shift in global startup trends in recent times?

Globally, startup investment and interest in this space is at an all-time high. The first crop of unicorns that were created 10 years ago are now starting to go public, companies like Uber, Lyft, Slack, and Zoom. Though, not all these stocks are performing as well as many had hoped, so we’ll probably start to see a cooldown in private funding and valuations in the near-term.

The story, however, is a little different in GSEA. It’s a fast-growing region encompassing over 650 million people and the world's third-largest number of internet users, many of which are just now coming to terms with increasing affluence, consumer sophistication, and digital transformation. This has created a massive wave of opportunities that has sprouted the dozen of unicorns in this region that you see today. The first of these unicorns, SEA Group (inclusive of Shopee, Garena, and AirPay) went public on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2017. This was a huge stamp of approval for the region, validating its commercial viability and growth prospects for investors and corporations worldwide.

I believe we’re now entering the next phase of development. Unicorns like Grab, Gojek, Lazada, Tokopedia, Traveloka are increasingly focusing more on customer engagement and retention rather than rapid acquisition. Furthermore, they’re now the ones cultivating the next generation of entrepreneurs, passing down the best practices and technical acumen, while in some cases also serving as exit channels for earlier startups.

The region is still young and land-grab opportunities still abundant. Many of the regional VCs including ourselves have raised US$100M+ funds to help close the series B gap that many of the more mature startups in GSEA will invariably start to face.

Where is Vietnam in "AppWorks" market expansion strategy? How will "AppWorks" approach Vietnam market in the near future? Your assessment of the potential to develop technology trends in Vietnam?

Vietnam is a market with incredible potential. Aside from perhaps Indonesia, no other country offers both the scale and the growth story. Vietnam has a large and young population, fast-growing economy, rising middle class, and massive talent pool. The country’s economic development, rapid urbanization, and digital adoption over the past three decades—going from one of the poorest countries in the world to comfortably middle-income—has also been nothing short of a miracle. Collectively, these factors have opened up an abundance of opportunities for tech startups, ranging from logistics to education to healthcare.

There’s an almost festive-like energy reverberating throughout the local startup scene. The country has been experiencing a level of economic prosperity never before seen, and along with it seemingly igniting a generation of eager entrepreneurs laser-focused on tapping into the limitless possibilities at hand.

However, with emerging ecosystems like Vietnam, the one aspect that is currently lacking and where we can help fill a gap is a founder community, where entrepreneurs can share insights and learn from each other. The country is just now really going through its first wave of entrepreneurship, and many of these entrepreneurs look to other more experienced entrepreneurs for help or advice. As a developed market, Taiwan, on the other hand, has already gone through multiple generations of successful startups and serial entrepreneurs who have already gone down the path that many Vietnamese founders are just now going through—almost like a time machine. In bringing the two markets closer to each other, we hope to facilitate the diffusion of experiences, best practices, and tactics to accelerate the development of Vietnam’s ecosystem.

Please talk more about the Founder Forum series in Taiwan and Vietnam? What is the big lesson you want to convey through the sharing of guest tech founders at events? The impact behind the success of each of these events?

Being a founder is hard. There are so many things going against them, whether it’s technology, talent, regulations, or competition. And above all else, it’s incredibly lonely being a founder. With Founders Forum, we’re trying to get entrepreneurs to talk to each other, learn from each other, swap experiences, stories, and playbooks. At the end of the day, we want to help them shortcut failures and increase the probability of success. And if nothing else, they can hopefully walk away with a new friend, partner, or mentor.

As for the actual facilitation of the event, instead of diving into industry trends, business models, valuations, and market opportunities on the panel—the typical spiel you might hear at conferences—I deliberately decided to touch upon the darker side of entrepreneurship. I'm talking about the rejections, mistakes, screw ups, work-life hardships, and near-death moments.

Why? Because I don't think these things are talked about nearly enough. But I find it's exactly these type of topics that help humanize "success" and elicit a stronger sense of camaraderie and insight among founders. In knowing that there are others just like them going through the same journey, I hope that the other founders in these forums walk away with a newfound sense of empowerment and motivation, and ultimately continue along their path to make an impact in the world.

Through the activities at "AppWorks", how will you inspire the young founder community?

We believe in paying it forward. Our community is now 10 years old, encompassing over 1,000 founders across Greater Southeast Asia. Many of these founders have gone on to build some great businesses, achieve significant milestones, and accumulate invaluable experiences. We regularly tap into these type of founders to facilitate sharing sessions and workshops to pass on their insights and inspire the next generation of founders.

The trend of entrepreneurship spread around the globe thanks to the explosion of technology. The success or failure is only narrowly. What skills should startup founders need?

In the early stages, founders need to learn how to do less with more, validate assumptions with limited resources, and move fast in a hypothesis-driven manner. After finding a scalable business model, founders can then start focusing on cultivating their leadership skills, specifically as it relates to things like communicating effectively and operating efficiently. In the long-term, learning how to fostering a dynamic, yet sustainable culture to develop talent from within will also be paramount.

You previously worked at Focus Reports, interviewing high-level government leaders, global entrepreneurs, what do you find in common about these influential characters? And what do you learn from them?

I’ve probably now met with over 400 of the brightest and most successful minds the world has to offer. And the one thing that is evidently clear is that no such thing as an overnight success. The people I met got to where they are with a bit of luck and a whole lot of grit. Also, they were all in a position that collectively combined three things: a skill they were good at, a market that would pay them, and a personal interest or passion they had. In recognizing this, it really prompted me to understand what exactly is my "superpower" or skill that comes more naturally to me than anyone else, while identifying areas in the market that can effectively leverage it.

Furthermore, many of the people I met didn’t actually have a 30 year master plan that concretely defined a pathway into their current positions. It’s important to have a degree of flexibility and fluidity built into your journey. There’s a book called "Let your life speak" written by Parker Palmer that essentially tells everyone to look at the all the twists and turns your life has taken so far and observe any commonalties that who you truly are. This will help find the intersection of those three things I mentioned earlier: passion, market, and skillset.

Tell a few startup stories that have strongly inspired you?

I still remember this one pair of co-founders from Singapore who had spent the better part of the last 2 decades finding market validation for their plasma fractionation technology — a novel way to extract plasma from donated blood to produce albumin, immune globulins, clotting factors and other proteins for therapeutic use at lower costs and in the end save more lives. Truly disruptive technology, but was way too ahead of its time when they first developed it. Nevertheless, they kept at it, even taking out mortgages of their own houses and risking personal insolvency to carry the company through to its milestones. They’ve since received regulatory approval and the contracts have only been rolling in from there.

For me, I believe passion is contagious. Being able to interact with those gritty, bootstrapping entrepreneurs that are hellbent on driving a change they see in the world is often what keeps me going.

Do you experience failure in your career development so far? What lesson do you learn?

Too many to count haha. But what I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not the successes that define you but the failures, specifically your ability to overcome failure. Life is one long journey that’s riddled with hardships and challenges. But how exactly do you get past those moments where you feel like the world is stacked against you, with no one believing in you? It’s all about your why. Your inner purpose. The one core truth that underpins every single decision you make. Some people say they want to change the world, but why do they want to do it? It could be to create a better future for their children. It could be to prove themselves to their parents who never believed it them. It could be just to fulfill one of their own unmet needs. This level of actualization requires a lot of self-awareness and inner clarity, but it can be achieved by simply asking yourself why several times over.

Is there any luck in your success chapter? What brings you luck in your career? What are the great resolutions to create your own luck?

When it comes to luck, there’s a quote from Jim Collins in his book "Great by Choice" that resonated quite deeply with me: "It’s not the luck you get that counts; it’s what you do with it—your return on luck.". Basically, it assumes that everyone has the same probability of luck. But when you do come across that one key opportunity by chance, it’s about how to take full advantage of it that will really separate the goods from the greats. Beyond that, I believe consistently living your life in line with your values is all you need to do to generate luck.

How did you get to where you are now? Tell us your "how to". Where did you start?

I’ve now traveled to 50 countries, seen some pretty surreal places, accumulated a few experiences worthy of a dinner table sharing or two, and interviewed some of the brightest and most passionate minds on the planet. When I reflect on the progression of my career, the decisions I’ve made, a lot of the major milestones in my life were driven by an incessant habit of asking questions. The key takeaway is that invoking childlike curiosity and asking more questions — however simple or seemingly innocuous — will allow you to learn more about the world, about others, and most importantly about yourself.

You’re now lived in 7 countries outside US and Taiwan, while traveling to upwards of 50 for leisure, collectively highlighting your unique propensity for cross-cultural immersion and international business and expects the same of its influencers. After "AppWorks", are you looking at a brand called "Jun Wakabayashi"?

It’s already in the making, and I’ve been very fortune to work in a company like "AppWorks" that encourages each and every one of our colleagues to create a personal brand—your reputation is the one constant in life and will follow you wherever you go.


Meet the Top 10 NTT Startup Challenge 2020 Finalists

Content:NTT | 2020-11-27

NTT Startup Challenge is back virtually for startups in Southeast Asia for the 4th year and announcing its Top 10 Finalists to pitch on the Final Day event. This event is undoubtedly an event that all startup enthusiasts around the world have been waiting to enjoy.

With the theme "Smart World through Digital Transformation", the NTT Startup Challenge 2020 will discuss how digital innovation changes the world for the better through pitching competitions and speaker sessions. This event's winners will get access to global investors, NTT investor networks, cash prizes, strategic collaborations, and other prizes.

Yasunori Kinebuchi, NTT Startup Challenge program founder, says, "We are excited to pivot this year's event into a virtual format, opening up to more outstanding startups in Southeast Asia. Since the commencement of registrations in September 2020, we have seen over 500 startup applicants from various verticals. These include Gaming, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Shipment & Delivery, Health-Tech, BioTech & MedTech, Edtech, E-Fitness, Salestech, CRM & Work Collaboration Tech, and E-commerce. Across this wide spectrum of industries, we look forward to fresh ideas and innovative business models. We hope that these ideas will inspire and accelerate the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia."

As its main highlight, NTT Startup Challenge 2020 will feature the top 10 startup finalists from across Southeast Asia to present their startups on Final Day (November 25th, 2020) in front of a panel of judges from various backgrounds, including investors and business experts. Here are the top 10 finalists at NTT Challenge 2020:

1. Doctor On Call (Healthcare), from Malaysia. It is an online Medical Consultation via Chat, Video, or Phone Call connecting them to Drs through a virtual online platform.

2. Cashlez (FinTech), from Indonesia. It provides an online/ offline Payment Aggregation System for Retailers and Merchants.

3. HarukaEDU (Education), from Indonesia. It provides a turn-key solution to enable universities to offer quality online education with minimum investments and risk.

4. TukangSayur.co (Food), from Indonesia. It is a mobile-based grocery ordering and delivery platform.

5. Gorry Holdings (Healthcare), from Indonesia. It supports people living healthier, smartly, and sustainably.

6. Sales Candy (Sales), from Malaysia. It is a real-time lead management system that instantly routes to the salesperson's phone via its mobile app.

7. Block (Security), from Singapore and India. It focuses on harnessing the potential of Blockchain technology to counter growing Cybersecurity challenges in bold new ways.

8. JobHop (HR), from Vietnam. It connects reputable companies and the most suitable talents in SEA, starting with Vietnam.

9. Assemblr (AR), from Indonesia. It enables users to create an AR project or upload a custom 3D model from existing 3D software. Users can access & share AR content anytime, anywhere, seamlessly.

10. Simplify (Wi-Fi), from Malaysia. It is a peer-to-peer Internet sharing platform that allows you to sell your excess Wi-Fi or 4G mobile data to other Simplify users.

Last year, NTT Startup Challenge 2019 provided a cash prize of USD 10,000. The first winner was Nodeflux, the second winner was Modal Rakyat, and the third winner was AwanTunai. Also, Outside won the Panasonic Game Changer Catapult Award and Modal Rakyat won the Orange FAB Award. They can use the IT infrastructure for free by NTT.

This year’s finalists will present their startups in front of the respected judges and audience. Therefore, be one of the lucky witnesses in the selection of the three best startups this year. Register yourself to be one of the audience for the event; click here

About NTT Ltd.

NTT Ltd. is a leading global technology services company. Working with organizations around the world, we achieve business outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. For us, intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure. Our global assets and integrated ICT stack capabilities provide unique offerings in cloud-enabling networking, hybrid cloud, data centers, digital transformation, client experience, workplace and cybersecurity. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace that spans 57 countries, trading in 73 countries and delivering services in over 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.

Visit us at hello.global.ntt


Design Bold’s Founder, Hung Dinh advises enterprises to quickly take the chance of COVID-19 for digitalisation

Content:Kien Tuong | 2020-05-22

“COVID-19 has put companies into a circumstance requiring working from home; thus, we should consider this as an opportunity to enhance operational systems with sustainable and long-term strategies, instead of only concentrating on using technology as a temporal substitute to overcome the “social distancing” period instantly,” Design Bold’s Founder claims that towards the hardness from COVID-10, what important is firms need to digitalise their activities as soon as possible.

These days, the whole world population, including Vietnamese people that have to stay at home and quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19; hence, working-from-home solutions are becoming more necessary than ever. Due to that, apps like Zoom, Cisco, Webex, Skype, etc. are turning into such vital tools for individuals, organisations, schools or even governments to study and work online.

In fact, COVID-19 has brought the attention to unpopular software and increased the numbers of their users significantly. The most obvious example is Zoom, it used to have less than 10 million uses per day in December 2019, now that number is more than 300 million. Besides, Houseparty app also has more than 50 million new users in a month.

With such high potentials, many technology “giants” have started developing their own tools. Lately, Facebook, the biggest social network in the world, has launched their first online conference feature named Messenger Room which can connect maximum 50 users at the same time and be used by computers, mobile devices even without a Facebook account.

According to statics from grand research organisations, after the COVID-19 period, the online conference will be one of the most promising industries that will grow substantially and become an essential element of companies in the future because of its convenience, speediness and economy.

In Vietnam, indeed, enterprises, organisations and individuals are still too dependent on solutions from overseas countries. About this, Mr Hung Dinh, founder of Design Bold, the designing platform helps users from amateurs to professionals to design many kinds of materials with simple operations, opined that Vietnam has a great potential in I.T. and can be able to use domestic solutions.

“Vietnam owns many tools supporting working from home, in particular, there is Zalo to organise video meetings; Base, 1Offfice for company management and Design Bold, Haravan, Ladipage, etc. for designing solutions,” Hung offers some evidence.

In regards to the founder, what Vietnam has done to deal with COVID-19 shows that capability of the I.T. systems in Vietnam. He also evaluates that companies with stable technology foundations immediately let their employees shift their working places from office to their own home.

Nonetheless, not every company can figure out rapidly. “When observing this in the Vietnam Remote Workforce, I can see that there are some certain strengths in the I.T. systems of Vietnam, but they are not equally distributed, there are some firms with such enhanced technology while there are some lacking digital skills and culture,” he comments.

Design Bold founder assesses that Vietnamese companies have many opportunities to launch telecommuting models. Howbeit, the technology industry needs support and collaboration from other enterprises to develop a manual ecosystem. For example, the website remote.vn gathers all technology supporting packages to help other companies develop their technology systems. “Although it is just a short-term solution in the pandemic, this altruistic support demonstrates the potential of Vietnam technology development in the future, not in a classifying direction but in a way to grow together,” Hung shares.

Fast yet sustainable digital transformation.

Design Bold’s founder thinks that towards challenges from COVID-19, it is necessary to have a quick digital transformation but also companies need to be mindful about the risks.

“Instead of minding only about tools, the most important element is to change leaders’ ways of thinkings to alter the method of operating for each department so that the firms can run smoothly,” he says. “COVID-19 has put companies into a circumstance requiring working from home; thus, we should consider this as an opportunity to enhance operational systems with sustainable and long-term strategies, instead of only concentrating on using technology as a temporal substitute to overcome the “social distancing” period instantly.”

And the process of digital transformation needs the support, assistance and sharing resources as well as knowledge of different companies to overcome the upcoming challenges together because this will encourage the foundation which will actively trigger the digitalisation in Vietnam.

He thinks that in the circumstance that requires digitalisation like at the moment, there will be many firms risking their security and confidentiality while using telecommuting technology tools if there are no solutions in time.

For companies depending or using solutions from a third party or using social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom to work, Mr Hung thinks those are not safe environments. This founder explains, in the COVID-19 period, when every individual’s activities transfer from offline to online, the frequency of using smart devices to communicate will increase rapidly. This is a fruitful field for hackers to take advantages from consumers’ data and sell it to other parties.

For companies that are not using any third-party application, Design Bold’s founder still emphasises this is the opportunity for enterprises to take notices about security and confidentiality and they should take this issue seriously since company security and confidentiality are closely related to the security of every employee.

“Security can be a relevant and even challenging issue. But in a broader view, this is the opportunity for companies to reinforce many security measures so that if anything happens they will be immediately warned and solved,” Hung shares that this issue is one thing that before COVID-19, many firms did not take into consideration because most communicational activities are offline in the office.

The founder also states that security and confidentiality are the story of only companies, but every employee also needs to consider those issues of the company for their own sake. Especially in the COVID-19 period when companies are pretty vulnerable to any type of attacks, a small leak of confidentiality can lose companies’ billions dongs.

“Actually, when deciding to work from home, enterprises have trusted and put information security in the palm of employees’ hand. Thus, to have better security, first, the companies need to ensure their employees have a careful mindset in keeping personal information safe while taking responsibility for the whole companies’ confidentiality,” Hung advises.

According to this founder, when individuals are aware of the risk, the companies should have a specific guide for them to transfer their activities from offline to online safely. For example, with Facebook and email, there should be 2-step verification, or when working from home, they should limit their work at places with cameras, start using VPN and install software preventing malware, etc.

From the enterprises’ perspective, leaders need to ensure that the security progress is simple, clear and easy-to-understand, which should encourage communications so that employees can take part in and develop this progress. Besides, firms need to develop safe platforms for employees; for example, all employees’ devices are installed with security measures, etc.

Nguồn: http://vannghetre.com.vn/nha-sang-lap-cua-design-bold-hung-dinh-khuyen-doanh-nghiep-tan-dung-covid-de-chuyen-doi-so-nhanh-chong-6435.html


Taking vitamins, consuming garlic, gargling saline, etc. are not the best ways to prevent infectious diseases. Should we strengthen our immune systems?

Content:Writer Le Thanh Hue | 2020-05-18

"The concept of immune system improvement does not have any scientific meaning." Professor Akiko Iwasaki pointed out, to have a robust immune system, we only need to get enough sleep, exercise frequently, have a balanced diet, and try not to be stressed out.

Nervously looking for approaches to prevent Covid-19, many people try to consume much food and medicament, such as vitamin C, garlic, saline in order to better their immune system. Those actions could backfire!!!

To understand this matter, we need to understand the context of our body which can be told as a story like this:

Our body is quite the same as a fully operating nation; All types of bacteria, viruses, risk factors are called the enemies trying to enter to sabotage the peaceful nation.

The serene nation needs to operate normally and stay balanced. In the border, there are border guards while in the core, the reconnaissance units are casually checking, monitoring the situation. Other combat units are practising to protect the country at all costs with the its capability.

Suddenly, you are worried and request to reinforce the maximum power of border guards. You activate the defence system even though the enemies have not passed the borderlines yet. Did not stop there, you bring all-new weapons: vitamin C, wine-soaked garlic, saline, etc. So all of the new weapons are activated even though your army does not need those. The whole system is chaotic, with many types of panic since they do not understand why they have to activate entirely. Imagine having an enormous armoury, but the soldiers are not trained to use them.

Meanwhile, the nation need funds to produce goods for the demand but now the funds are forced to use to prepare for the war that may never happen. But if the weapons are not used, the costs to demolish are even higher, not to mention it can pollute the environment and cause arson. Furthermore, seeing other nations fighting wars, you invest in buying atomic weapons and backfiring yourself because to store them, it costs too much money. In the worst case, it could cause radioactive contamination, or if you somehow let it activate itself, then you lose everything.

Akiko Iwasaki is a Professor of Department of Immunobiology and Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University (founded in 1701, Connecticut, Yale is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States of America, following Harvard University) states: In fact, the concept of immune system improvement does not have any scientific meaning.

The truth is our immune systems are born with a 3-layer defence system to prevent the infection of diseases.

  • The first layer is the anatomical barrier that does not let pathogens infect our body such as skin, respiration and mucous membranes, etc.
  • Once the virus passes the first layer, the body will trigger an "innate" immune response. This reaction includes many chemicals and existing cells to reinforce alarming and start being against any intruder.
  • When those are not enough, the body will initiate adaptive immune system. This system includes new cellulars and protein and antibodies which take several days or weeks to form. More importantly, adaptive immune system can only target specific diseases. For example, the cellular T which kills Covid-19, won't be able to do the same to flu or bacteria. Therefore, for the last infected cases, the activation of adaptive immune system happens slowly. Then, it is necessary to inject the vaccine into the body to let the body face weak or dead bacteria or just a part of the bacteria. This helps the body to target the right enemies when they appear again.

When our bodies start getting sick, we need medicine to suppress the immune system.

Let's have a look at the symptoms of a simple cold; there are body aches, fever, being dizzy, sneezing and having phlegm. Actually, those symptoms are not originated from the virus. Instead, it is our body activating on purpose: it is a part of the innate immune response.

All mucus and chemical reactions are parts of inflammation, which is the foundation of a healthy immune response. When the immune system generates too much cytokine, then the doctor will reduce the fever and improve its side effects which can even lead to death.

When we get a fever or an inflammation by allergy to allergens, etc. which can be harmless elements like flowers' pollen, cat hair, etc., doctors will let us have medicine to suppress the immune system.

As you can see, we do not need to strengthen our immune system if we live the way we do every day.

If you are sick, then you can come to the clinic or hospital so the doctor can examine and give you the best treatment. Therefore, improving the immune system by food or medicament does not really make sense

Is there any shortcut to have a robust immune system?

There are rumours on the internet that some medicine or super luxurious food or the habit of taking vitamin C, eating garlic, gargling saline, etc. can be the shortcuts to improve the immune system. Those can be really dangerous if we see the following research.

* THERE ARE NO MEDICAMENTS FOR STRENGTHENING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Vitamin C and other vitamin supplements usually do not take effects on a healthy human, and even leave some side effects.

Some research has found that the low amount of vitamin C can lead to the high risk of respiratory infection and more severe symptoms. However, vitamin C is also one of the main factors contributing to some autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis.

Vitamin C is known for strengthening the humans' immune system. The health effects of this antioxidant had always been a secret until the 2-Nobel-prize winner Linus Pauling was obsessed with its ability to cure a common cold.

After many years of researching this vitamin, he finally took 18,000 mg every day, which is 300 times more than the recommended amount today.

Nevertheless, there is no evidence supporting the reputation of vitamin C in helping us fight the common cold and other respiratory diseases.

A research in 2013 of Cochrane, a research organization that is famous for its integrity, found out that, for a fully grown human, after seeing the symptoms of a common cold, a high amount of vitamin C has prescribed as a treatment. It left no effects and did not ameliorate any symptoms of the cold.

Fact: The lack of any vitamin is not beneficial for the immune system. Vice versa, the abundance of vitamin also leads to some harms for the system.

* THERE ARE NO SUCH BENEFICIAL BACTERIA STRENGTHENING IMMUNE SYSTEM

An evaluation in 2015 showed that beneficial bacteria, a type of bacteria contained in food, drinks or medicine, has reduced the number of respiratory infection cases and improved them.

The researchers went into the conclusion that beneficial bacteria may give better results than placebo treatment. Still, they also stated that the quality of the existing evidence is deficient.

What they want to say is there is no evidence showing any bacteria can protect us from Covid-19.

* ANTIOXIDANTS DO NOT IMPROVE YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

In an inflammatory response, white blood cells relieved oxygen compounds that destroy bacteria, virus and prevent it from duplicating. This is a double-edged sword since it can harm even the healthy, beneficial cells, which can lead to cancer and ageing and impairing the immune system.

To prevent this, our body depends on antioxidants. Those chemicals can control the oxygen compounds and keep our healthy cells safe.

Therefore, we can increase the amount of these chemicals by consuming food. Fruit, vegetables and seasonings that have bright colours such as carrot, blueberry, eggplant, turmeric, etc. tend to contain more antioxidants since they have vivid pigments.

At the moment, there is an experiment on using antioxidants for people infected with COVID-19 to recover. Nevertheless, this is one in hundreds of researches in potential treatments for Covid-19 patients.

In fact, in many years of research, no one has ever found any evidence proving that high amounts of antioxidants can "strengthen" immune system or treat or prevent people from viruses.

SO HOW SHOULD WE PREPARE FOR THE PANDEMIC?

Hippocrate, the father of medicine used to say: "Everyone has a doctor in him or her".

Marcus Aurelius, borned in 121, the king who was famous for his wiseness of the Roman Empire which was located from Syria to England, he was also the first historian. In his work of Stoic philosophy named "Meditationes", he wrote: "Mỗi khi bệnh ta phải nghĩ xem phải làm sao để tâm trí mình tránh xa mọi căng thẳng và vẫn sở hữu được trạng thái vui vẻ phù hợp. Đừng dại dột lắng nghe một cách hồ đồ trước lời thuyết giảng của những người không có hiểu biết (về y học)…"

Professor Akiko Iwasaki advised: "Don't use your blood money on controlling the immune system. Remember to: Sleep enough, do exercise, have a balanced diet and try not to be under pressure. If you cannot work on those, there is a way to make sure you have the immunity to certain kinds of diseases: vaccine.

Akiko Iwasaki is a Professor of Department of Immunobiology and Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University.


Nine motivational books for the after-Covid-19 period that you can't miss

Content:Donald Nguyen | 2020-08-09

Are you confident that you will have an income of 3,000 USD per month before the age of 30? According to the marketing and business training professional Dung Nguyen, reading not only helps you understand your self-value (for the office environment, 3000 dollars is a high milestone, and not so many people can do it) but also leads you to a context and a purpose with more instinctive feelings. This is necessary towards uncertain changes and big events in the upcoming time, after-Covid-19 period.

With 12 years of experience in the business, marketing and training industries, professional Dung Nguyen comes to an optimal format for young people to set the direction, determine, use the method to revive, change and achieve their success in any circumstance. Those pieces of advice are in nine recommended books that he has evaluated as a staff trainer with the action steps and influencers' stories of success.

"This list includes Vietnamese and translated books (there are some I recommend you to read the English edition) and some that do not have translated editions. The purpose of reading is to create a diverse approach; this list can apply to everyone, no matter their tastes." The expert suggested in the following order:

Learning to prepare, concentrate, and enjoy every moment.

1. "Mot doi nhu ke tim duong"

The book of professor Phan Van Truong is a small handbook about preparing for the journey of success. Still, the content is nothing like what to do in the 20s, what to do in 30s, what to do when becoming a leader for the first, etc. but in this book, he humbly redefines the meaning of success, audits and eliminates all nonsense and old-fashioned opinions about success. He jumps to the conclusion in the book that: the fate of everyone already possesses many preset crossroads.

My favorite chapter is the near-end chapter named "Kinh chieu hau". In that chapter, the author describes back in time the feelings in the age of 70 (at the moment), then back to the 60s, 50s to the year he was 20. Having been thought of his life all over again, he still found out his specific "stupid mistakes" of all the decades he lived and those did not happen only on the years of his 20s and 30s. But then time will help us realise what is actually essential and let us gain invaluable experiences in life.

The book is a perfect combination between the scientific and self-motivating attitude of the Western liberal arts education, with the vision of a wise man having a bit Eastern Taoism manner. The author's writing tone is so tender, humble and genuine that 400 pages are slightly passed just like an afternoon tea.

Googling for the background of Mr Truong, you will agree with me that he is one of the people standardising the success competence of Vietnamese in the global game (according to his achievements on a global scale.)

Equipping skills to adapt and making a breakthrough towards uncertain changes.

2. "21 lessons for 21st century"

The book from Yuval Noah Harari provides us with a situation of things happening and about to happen soon. Still with the attitude of "happiness internalisation", I think every one of us must know what is happening, the causes as well as the consequences of it, and most importantly: what we need to do to acclimate and change the situation to create a brighter future.

If "globalisation game" in the eyes of Phan Van Truong in his book is a significant and exciting competition (with the variety of business and culture all around the world), via Yuval's writing, it is, by default, a location that we need to understand and operate inside and have no chance to narrow it down. Many topics about 21st century (global warming, technology arms races,…) can only be turned and addressed by globalisation, not by the rivalry between countries or ethnic conflicts.

A concept that Yuval mentioned that I think it is relatable for young people who are and about to joining the labour force is "unemployable generations". They could be the young people who do not acquire enough information, vision and invest too much time into the skills that could be replaced and done better by machines. Or they could be the people at the end of their working-age (around 50s, 60s) who are stuck into the old-fashioned jobs that are no longer producing enough surplus to pay for an employee. Those people, or can be retrained with a lot of resources or worse, cannot be retrained (because their companies, countries are not able to provide the training or they just cannot acquire new skills). "It is not easy for a developing country to retrain millions of labours in the textile industry to become the knowledge workers for the artificial intelligence era," Yuval shares.

A late great man used to say: "the best way to help the victims is not to become one of them", thus, Yuval's advice is to equip yourself those two factors: proactive lifelong learning capacity and emotional resilience. He also emphasises, the latter element about emotions sometimes is even more important than the former because the process of self-reinventing with the amount of time becoming shorter and shorter (it could be from every ten or five years to every several months) can be really tiring and exhausting. In Vietnam and other Asian countries, we can quickly feel this fact via the hardness of college students studying different majors from their working fields. In the new century of technology, all of us will have to "study different majors" (to learn something completely different from what you have learned for the current jobs) and must not stop making an effort.

It is wasting if Yuval's works are only focused on the information and the details. His mindset and his interpretation are also another phenomenal factors that we should recognise and learn from. If you can spend some time watching his speech (on Ted Talks or Youtube), I am sure that you will agree with me.

Self-study

Speaking of the "self-study" topic, I think I am quite lucky since this is like a unique ability of our Vietnamese people with many authors and books. My following suggested list is about "self-study" topic with different content from four authors. Two of them belong to the past (passed away), and two others are not too aged. Four titles (in chronological order) are:

3- Toi tu hoc - by Thu Giang, Nguyen Duy Can, first edition in 1961

4- Goc nhin Alan danh tang doanh nhan Viet trong the tran toan cau - by Alan Phan, first edition in 2015

5- Cam nang tu hoc IELTS - by Kien Tran, (2016-2017)

6- Thiet ke cuoc doi thinh vuong - by Thai Pham, (2020)

Four people, four vast sources of information, with four practical fields for the young from right now (English, business) to long term period (self-development, lifestyle). We read to understand and know the pattern of self-studying: there is, of course, the methods but individuals need to find their own ways, from little actions to get big lessons and see some big success/failure causing by the little problem. Yet, most importantly, self-study needs to be perceived as a priority, a mission for oneself, and a happy time that we can feel and proactively do it every day even without standard orders, without fancy degrees, but nothing can compare to self-study in terms of pride and impact.

We usually heard about the concept of a startup nation to which I think many countries follow the example of Israel to attempt. But for me, our country and population can just be "the nation of learning and self-studying", soon one day, we will not only become a startups country but also have such significant accomplishments.

Practising self-discipline, physical ability and resilience.

7. "What I talk about when I talk about running"

The book by Murakami is a bit "strange" title from a familiar author. This is the book based on real-life stories of him. It was first published in 2007 before the running trend has become popular in Vietnam (from 2016 until now). In the book, Murakami talks about the impact of running (a physical activity) on his personal and work life. (If you like to read about realisation about running, you can read Shoe Dog too, an autobiographical story of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike).

Murakami describes running that is not so fancy, sometimes even hostile to him. But he feels grateful for it because of the pain when running and benefits it brought him. Self-discipline, physical health and resilience are the foundation of any success. I like this book because it was written from the viewpoint of a senior (it was published when Murakami was 58) telling his experience to keep going when the miracles of youth were no longer there with him.

I am impressed the most with the quote: "If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings." But when you are no longer young, the best thing that every one of us can do is running. Running for your living value when you are not young anymore, requires a lot of efforts.

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

Investing in finances education for yourself

8. "Rich dad, poor dad" from Robert Kiyosaki.

Kiyosaki wrote: "In life, money is as common and necessary as air. But it is different in one aspect; we were not born with the ability to utilise money instinctively. Money and money-related issues are factors that we need to learn". He called that Financial IQ and emphasised that most educational systems in the world are not applying this perspective well in daily life.

Honestly, I have no idea how lucky I was when I had the chance to read this book quite early until one of my friends (who was born in 1997, major in business and really good at doing business) aggressively posted on Facebook that why he did not know this book sooner. He said that there are many concepts, ways of thinking and approaching that if he had known it sooner, he would have learned, worked and lived so differently. Thus, I have to note right away that I must not forget this book in my suggestions.

Like football games (or any game), there are concepts and rules that we have to know in the financial world. I like the way that Kiyosaki describes and explains intuitively basic concepts such as asset (things that make more money when you own) and liability (things that lose your money when you own), "three types of income" (active, investment, passive), "four kinds of jobs" (employee, self-employed, business owner, investor), etc. If you are in a country that has good welfares (as well as a high rate of progressive tax) like Western Europe, Canada, Australia then you don't have to consider this topic too much. But in Vietnam, a country belonging to the frontier market where threatens and opportunities always go together, an investment for financial self-education is necessary, in my opinion.

Thinking different

9. Predatory Thinking

Predatory Thinking from Dave Trott is a book that has a strange writing style (of Dave Trott). Dave Trott is a "freak" in the creative and advertising fields in England which is the cradle of contemporary advertisement. The book emphasises the attitude of "self-learn, self-experience and self-evaluate" but it also reminds us of something that is usually forgotten: Think different, since, in life, most people approach problems in similar logical ways (and successors keep going with the same ways, this fault is called "think in the box"). That also explains the title of the book "Predatory Thinking".

Think different, work differently and also express differently. In the world where more and more logical thinking mindsets, there are always positions for such rare, interesting people. I myself think that both English and Vietnamese editions are alluring in their own ways, if you can, you should read both.

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#BookRecommended from marketing and training professional Dung Nguyen this episode helps you to evaluate who and where you are in the era of significant events and uncertain changes.

To conclude, how can we recognise people who brace and orient themselves well in the after-Covid19 world (and have a high chance of earning 3000 dollars per month before 30) after reading the suggestion booklist? We can summarise in 3 points:

- Understanding themselves and the times they are living

- Believing in self-study, self-development, having skills and motivation to do it.

- Understanding what is essential, "the rules" for each industry, knowing who to ask when in need for help and how to connect and attain that support.


Whether or not an entrepreneur starting with passion can achieve success?

Content:Vinh Thinh | 2020-04-18

Do you know which career will be the most likely to be chosen when online services and works become indispensable?

Based on technological and digital platforms, participants can earn income by sharing their passion for these platforms with a small niche market. Content creators and influencers (KOLs) are typical examples for that, or perhaps more simply, when people with significant numbers of followers post something on Instagram or Youtube, Tiktok, etc. to attract many more likes and views. These are new forms of work based on the "passion economy."

In Vietnam, the "passion economy" term is still a new concept. However, many people in the world embarked on this career and have had some success.

A few years ago, Squarespace, a founded website with the primary objective was to allow users to build their website with lower costs. This website was well-received, even became a source of inspiration for developing other similar platforms. Today, Squarespace is the choice of celebrities, photographers, writers, and other influencers.

Wix, a tool was built recently, even helping people create their website simpler by using "drag and drop", which everybody can do. This platform attracts lots of people to try it out and gets excellent evaluations.

In an upper level, we have Podia, Thinkific, Teachable, and Udemy; these platforms allow experts, who have professional knowledge, to establish personal "territories." In which, they can share information, do hourly consulting services, organize online courses, and, of course, turn their passions into livelihoods. There are also websites for many startups, undergraduates, and people who want to take off their careers with passion, etc. to learn pioneers' experiences.

According to chief economists as well as knowledgeable people, including Adam Davison, author of the famous "The Passion Economy" - this will be a career trend in the future, especially when online services and works are on the rise.

Except for foreign services, there are a few platforms for Passion Economy in Vietnam. LandedVibe is one of the few platforms which allow users to share whatever they have, from handmade goods, entrepreneurial stories, to life experiences, etc., opening the opportunities for millions of Vietnamese to join "the promised land" for startups and turn their passion into a potential business without significant seed capital.

Today, let’s meet startup Le Cao Tri, LandedVibe's CEO, and listen to his story behind the core technology applications which he figured out in the very beginning days, to see what "passionate people" have to trade-off for initial success.

To be a platform that focuses on user experiences, is there a difference between LandedVibe and e-commerce in terms of building ideas for product introduction, and selling nowadays?

LandedVibe is a startup company focusing on both product offerings and users' experiences. We considered following this business principle based on the two advantages we have: First of all, it is the background of the team cofounders and staff in product development. Besides, they came from different countries, exposed to different cultures, so they have a more flexible way to come up with an idea and operating model, and apply technology to each separate section.

Secondly, the platform that LandedVibe is building to optimize the experiences for users – "experience activities," which tend to be more "feelingly" than "physically." Advanced technology will help enhance and enrich these experiences, compared to a standard e-commerce website.

During the early phase, a Passion economy startup company like LandedVibe also has a lot of different from conventional e-commerce websites, mostly in customers' demands and in search results. For example, with an e-commerce website, shoppers will type in keywords about the product they want, look through the lists, and place an order.

However, in LandedVibe, searching is based more on people's feeling at that moment, there are no physical products on this platform, which will approach users differently. For instance, you are interested in "skateboarding," not only can you find anything about skateboarding, but also you can find other interests in the "new skills" category. Whether you are a skater, you can still reach a storehouse of ideas that you maybe need.

And to make sure users still reach what they want, LandedVibe staff had done various researches and searching trials to understand customers' desires before building a better search-and-replace filter.

How did you build that platform? What kind of technology that you adopted to it?

In 2008, I started LandedVibe myself as a personal preference project. Honestly, my very first lines of code to list fun-things-to-do for travelers and some friends in Chiangmai (Thailand), because I was there at that time.

I used the most accessible technology to build my project as fast as possible. I highly rated Laravel, VueJs, and Semantic UI, so I used them to begin with. One month after, my project was shifted to develop on Laravel Forge and online.

Were there any advantages and disadvantages when building the first platform? Can you tell about one advantage/disadvantage or the fondest memory when building LandedVibe?

It took one year to turn the idea into the actual platform, when I realized a growing demand for entertaining, discovering, learning, and studying. I expanded the platform not only for travelers but also for citizens.

I noticed many new demands for many new things at that time. And when the topic "Passion Economy" became more popular in 2018-2019, I decided to devote all my time and energy to building a platform with a priority of optimized interaction between people.

When implementing, this project also helped me touch the resources between "gig economy" and "professionals." This was a new challenge with the resources that lie in the middle. "Gig economy" slowly causes an imbalance in the ecosystem of labor markets, meanwhile "Professionals" gradually shift "nine to five"- a mundane job repeating over and over again to other flexible works.

Nevertheless, I acknowledged that Landedvibe has to face many difficulties. It was mainly the market reaction because of the too-new concept, many people have not understood yet, plus they have not recognized the demand for experiences in their cities.

When knowing LandedVibe, many people realized that their previous unconscious searching already has on this platform. Most people know and understand it takes time and specific, rational strategies and policies.

However, the fondest memory was also one of the difficulties initially, which was refused continuously by the investors, because they do not know what type of business to classify LandedVibe into. We were asked about problems and how to deal with it, but the early LandedVibe just answered: 50% was problem-solving, and 50% was a chance opening for tackling other people's problems. You are probably aware of what investors will say. They reasonably decline the new ideas which are not convincing enough for them to make a venture investment.

What is the difference in technology between LandedVibe and other platforms?

There are not many differences. LandedVibe can be called a market or a sharing economic base. And like other platforms, it also has essential criteria:

  • To deal with the problem of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
  • To balance providers and demands.
  • To find the products that are well suited to the current markets' needs and requirements as soon as possible.
  • Users can be both suppliers and purchasers.
  • To use a two-way review to increase interactions and prestige.

The only difference may be that LandedVibe finds an answer to thirst for knowledge about whatever subject in the world. For example, LandedVibe imitates the way Sportify divided topics based on emotional themes for searching, in order of searching based on hobbies. Of course, we are not sure whether this direction is right; maybe it needs a bit of time because the trading volumes of LandedVibe are not large enough to estimate.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages in host and content management? What kind of technology you and your coworkers use to make it easier? Can you tell us about some issues you have to deal with?

Host and content management is not an easy problem, especially in the beginning. LandedVibe chose to be a market supervisor to keep hosts and activities under the best control. Therefore, most of the time will be spent on contents and hosts verify in an attempt to enhance prestige.

However, LandedVibe expects to design a received process for host files and their activities on our platform, which makes the management becomes more relaxed. At this moment, we are not good enough to design automated technology, so we take advantage of human resources who were selected before.

When managing host, there are many problems, but mostly not too bad. For example, a host joined but not booking. After a while, he forgets about LandedVibe. But when he was booking again, he did not remember to answer.

Trong tương lai, anh sẽ đưa thêm những ý tưởng tính năng hoặc công nghệ mới nào vào sản phẩm của mình?

In the future, will you add more features or new technology into your products?

In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, LandedVibe decided to stop offline experiences and explore the online market, also called Online Vibes. The new format is promised to remove geographic boundaries to take skills outside their borders. People can set up a meeting online and sharing experiences, learning, entertaining, and other exciting things.