"Without prejudice Viet Nam will become a great nation on technology". This is the sharing of CEO Nguyen Tu Quang in the Take-Off program – a talkshow for people who have the desire to change society - live broadcasted on the national television channel VTV1 in the evening of February 24.
Bkav would like to quote the original speech of CEO Nguyen Tu Quang:
In 1995, when I was a third-year student at Ha Noi University of Science and Technology (HUST), I wrote antivirus software and provided it for free to all computer users in Viet Nam with the aim of supporting people. This is simply a useful thing for the society that I can do.
Then, when I was a lecturer of HUST, I and a group of lecturers and students continued this voluntary job. However, in the 2000s, the Internet in Viet Nam exploded, there were more computers, more computer viruses and more network security problems. We were overloaded, we lacked volunteers, while there were so many requests for help. How to solve the difficulty.
Also in the early 2000s, the Enterprise Law was mentioned a lot in Viet Nam and I found the solution: establishing a business was the most scientific way to do this. That day there was no concept of startup.
In 2004, Bkav was officially established, and in 2005 we began commercializing Bkav antivirus software after exactly 10 years of providing it for free. My expectation was to have profit for reinvestment to expand support to the community.
In 10 years of providing for free, our sole purpose was to do something useful for the society. After commercialization, I realized we could do better than that. Viet Nam can produce technological products that can compete equally with world technology corporations. But people did not believe what I said. They called me "Explosive Quang" instead of Information Technology Knight.
In 2009, Bkav decided to participate in manufacturing smartphones.
This was an opportunity for Bkav to develop into a technology group, but more than that, this was a great opportunity for us to affirm the capacity of Vietnamese people. Viet Nam can produce the world leading technology products to compete with the leading technology corporations and this time it was a tangible product that can be portable and easier to perceive than software. I hoped this time I could convince the Vietnamese to believe in their own abilities.
As you may know, the conditions of science and technology in Viet Nam were very difficult, so until 6 years later we could produce the first product, anyway we got the solution to overcome that difficulty, to produce the first high-end smartphone owned by Vietnamese people.
On May 26, 2015, on the stage of My Dinh National Convention Center.
"Amazing", "Incredible" were the emotions from the bottom of my heart that was repressed for 6 years, it was not in the script. It was a combination of personal pride and greater than that is the assertion that Vietnamese people can.
However, things were not as I thought, not many people believed what we did. I fell into depression for the next 2 years. To overcome that, I had to study deeply into philosophy and cosmology to find out the nature of people and society to explain and find a way to solve my concerns. These are also my favorite areas from childhood.
And I found the answer: Prejudice. It was the prejudice that Viet Nam was an undeveloped country and could not compete with the leading countries. In particular, this was the prejudice of the entire society that cannot be changed overnight but changing it must be a long-term job. And I set for myself, for Bkav a mission to deal with this. Therefore, we were more determined, considering this as a long-term war but it was worth doing.
The first and second industrial revolutions on mechanization and electrification took place for 200 years, but the third industrial revolution on semiconductors, personal computers and the Internet took place for only 50 years. Since the 2010s, the humanity has entered the 4th industrial revolution. Just like that for the next 25 years it can explode.
And this is a great opportunity for countries like Viet Nam.
Many people will prejudice that Viet Nam will not be able to keep up with the world in this industrial revolution. Korea did not participate in the first and second industrial revolutions, they just started with the 3rd industrial revolution and they created miraculous development, becoming a great power. The opportunity for countries participating in the 4th industrial revolution is that in only 15 - 20 years they can boom or never.
Behind all industrial revolutions is the revolution of thinking and prejudice elimination. Since Aristole introduced the theory of the Earth as the center of the universe, the humanity needed more than 1,000 years to change this prejudice by the theory of the Sun as the centre and the Earth rotating around introduced by Nicolas Copenicus, thus creating an explosion of science and philosophy, the premise for technological revolution.
Viet Nam needs to eliminate the prejudice that Vietnamese people cannot make products that can compete with top countries. The result of the past 10 years of Bkav is a good example to confirm this. And we will continue this long-standing war.
So, if we change prejudice, in the next 10 years Viet Nam can develop boomingly, take off and in the next 15 years can become a technology power. You, especially young people, claim yourself this mission and thus building a mighty Viet Nam is not impossible.
Do your best, the rest will come!
Bkav
