A former senior tech lead manager at Google, Huy Nguyen abandoned his career in Sillicon Valley to return home to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to pursue his dream of developing a blockchain.

In 2017, then 30-year-old Huy Nguyen was one of Google’s youngest senior tech lead managers.

However, in 2021, the man decided to leave Google and return to Vietnam to create a startup which he hoped would help his homeland develop its technology sector.

Sharing knowledge

Since returning to Vietnam, Huy Nguyen has spent his time as the CEO of KardiaChain – a blockchain technology startup which he co-founded.

Instead of solely focusing on developing his own business, Huy Nguyen spends a significant portion of his time attending community events dedicated to blockchain technology in Vietnam. 

These events, which share ideas on how to develop Vietnam’s technological sector, are one of Huy Nguyen’s primary reasons for returning home. 

Aside from them, Huy Nguyen also appears on talk shows for technology education, offers courses to students, and participates in workshops and conferences on regulation and policy.

During Huy Nguyen’s time at Google, he helped launch an online system for automatic bidding in telecom networks using blockchain technology so he believes that this experience gives him valuable insights he can share with the Vietnamese tech community. 

"Once I learned about blockchain technology, I realized how many benefits it could bring to various fields. If we use it wisely, it can even change the status of our nation," Huy Nguyen said.

He also believes that Vietnam is in its golden age of blockchain technology development and, based off this feeling, he hopes to raise awareness of blockchain in the community and help as many people as possible to learn about and access this new technology.

He does this by lecturing at universities, writing textbooks, and giving lectures on blockchain technology. 

He hosts workshops and seminars for executives and entrepreneurs in order to help them garner a better understanding of how blockchain technology can be applied to their business models.

"We need more 'catalysts' to help Vietnamese entrepreneurs create certain advantages in their own market so they can stop being the 'followers' of global companies," Huy Nguyen said.

A promising future

In addition to his work within Vietnam, Huy Nguyen also promotes Vietnamese blockchain technology in other countries, hoping to show the global community that Vietnam is a promising country and worthwhile investment.

This work takes Huy Nguyen all around the world, including a trip to Bangladesh where he engaged with student teams on behalf of the Vietnam Association for Information Processing at the global final round of the World Final ICPC 2020 competition. At the event, the Vietnamese delegation won the bronze medal.

Many people consider Huy Nguyen’s work in the local blockchain community to be extremely special because, rather than focus on his own business or spend time in the U.S., where his family has settled, he tries to build the community.

"I used to think that it was important to focus on my own work, but now I feel that I have greater responsibility for both my company and my homeland," Huy Nguyen explained.

"I want to be a part of the preparation process for Vietnam's next generations to take advantage of a new wave of technology," he said.

"A generation thoroughly educated and inspired by the fire of enthusiasm that can help spur Vietnam to become a new technological powerhouse."

Huy Nguyen strongly believes that Vietnam has a great opportunity thanks to the fact that the proportion of its population that works is twice the size of the proportion of the population that is dependent. This is often referred to as 'the golden population structure.'

"We have seen how much countries like the U.S., Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and China have benefited [from the golden population structure]," he said.

"I really do not want our country to miss this opportunity.

"The reason this motivates me so much is because I have the desire to put Vietnam on the world map of technology, and if we see an opportunity, we must do our best to seize it."

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!