Amid Vietnam's technology startup boom, many young entrepreneurs have chosen fields with strong growth potential to build their careers. However, for Le Cong Thanh (born in 1983), Director of InfoRe Technology Company, the entrepreneurial journey did not simply begin with a desire to build a business or generate profits. It was also driven by an ambition to apply knowledge and technology to address social issues. From a project to digitize information about fallen soldiers to an initiative promoting widespread access to artificial intelligence (AI), his efforts illustrate how a technology company can combine business objectives with social responsibility.
Leaving Academia to Pursue a Challenging Entrepreneurial Path
After graduating from the Faculty of Informatics at Thuy Loi University, Le Cong Thanh was retained as a lecturer and continued his studies in a master's program in France. With his professional background and opportunities for development in academia, he could have chosen a stable career. However, his desire to return and contribute to the country's development motivated Thanh to seek a different path, one where the knowledge he had accumulated could be translated into technology products serving practical needs.
In 2011, he decided to establish InfoRe Technology Company, focusing on big data processing and artificial intelligence. At the time, Vietnam's technology market was still developing, while applications related to big data and AI had not yet become as widespread as they are today. Choosing a relatively new field offered many opportunities but also presented considerable challenges, particularly for a startup team with strong technical expertise but limited business experience.
Looking back on InfoRe's early days, Le Cong Thanh once shared that most of his colleagues came from software development backgrounds. They were capable of building products but lacked a thorough understanding of business operations, markets and corporate management. This gap between technical expertise and practical operational requirements made it difficult for the company to find customers and partners and maintain its funding. At one point, these pressures even brought the business close to dissolution.
Nevertheless, rather than giving up, Thanh and his colleagues chose to continue experimenting, adjust their approach and gradually gain experience. Overcoming these difficulties not only helped the team strengthen its management capabilities but also reinforced its view that a business should be developed on the basis of long-term values. According to him, entrepreneurship is not a path that always leads to success from the very beginning, as every failure can become a lesson that helps founders better understand the market, their products and their own capabilities.
These experiences also led Le Cong Thanh to determine that InfoRe needed to develop in a direction that went beyond creating commercially viable technology solutions to also addressing the practical needs of the community. This perspective gradually became the foundation for the company's social projects in the following years.
One of the notable milestones in Le Cong Thanh's entrepreneurial journey is Lietsi.com, an online platform developed to digitize information about fallen soldiers and martyrs' cemeteries across the country. What makes this initiative particularly noteworthy is that the idea did not originate from a conventional business problem but from a personal family story: one of his relatives had died in the war, but the family had not yet been able to locate his resting place.
Understanding the concerns of families whose loved ones had sacrificed their lives during the war, Thanh realized that finding information about fallen soldiers remained difficult because data was scattered across different localities, while access to such information was not always convenient for the public. In response to this situation, he and his team decided to apply technology to build an online database system, making it easier to search for and connect relevant information.
After two years of implementation, according to published project figures, Lietsi.com had digitized more than 700,000 records of fallen soldiers, helping thousands of families in their efforts to find information about their relatives. Behind this figure lies not only the result of collecting, processing and organizing data, but also an effort to bring technology closer to needs of profound humanitarian significance.
For Le Cong Thanh, every digitized record is associated with the memory of a person who sacrificed their life for the country, as well as the hopes of families still searching for their loved ones. Therefore, the value of Lietsi.com is measured not simply by the volume of data made available digitally, but also by its ability to help preserve historical information, connect family stories and support efforts to honor those who have contributed to the country.
The project's initial success further reinforced InfoRe's commitment to developing technology for the benefit of the community. Originating from a personal concern, Lietsi.com demonstrates how digital solutions can create social value when they are developed based on an understanding of users' actual needs.
This spirit was also reflected during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the InfoRe team participated in data analysis to support pandemic prevention and control efforts. At a time when the need to process information and support decision-making had become urgent, the experience gained through this work helped the company better recognize the role of data and analytical technologies in addressing large-scale issues.
It was also through its involvement in community-oriented projects that Le Cong Thanh recognized AI's potential to help workers and businesses improve productivity. While big data can help organizations organize and analyze information more effectively, AI opens up opportunities to bring intelligent processing tools closer to a wider range of users, including those without specialized technology training.
Bringing Artificial Intelligence to the Community and Expanding the Value of Entrepreneurship
Recognizing the increasingly important role of artificial intelligence, Le Cong Thanh and his colleagues continued developing the "Binh Dan Hoc AI" (AI for Everyone) project, aiming to help people access and use AI tools in ways that are simple, easy to understand and suitable for their daily work. Rather than focusing solely on technical experts, the project adopts a broader approach, enabling workers across various industries to learn about the technology and gradually apply it in practice.
According to information released during its initial development phase, the "Binh Dan Hoc AI" community attracted more than 250,000 members. Its activities were organized along two tracks: one for people learning to apply AI directly to their work, and another for those who both learn and share their knowledge with others. Through this model, people with experience using AI tools can support newcomers, thereby helping expand access to technology knowledge.
Le Cong Thanh believes that the development of AI offers Vietnamese workers opportunities to increase productivity, improve their skills and adopt new ways of working. As digital transformation takes place across various sectors, the ability to apply artificial intelligence is no longer an issue exclusive to technology companies but is gradually becoming a necessity for traditional industries as well.
From this perspective, the InfoRe founder once set a target of reaching one million Vietnamese workers through the "Binh Dan Hoc AI" program by 2025. Although the results against this target need to be updated with more recent figures, the project's initial direction reflects a desire to narrow the technology access gap and give more people opportunities to improve their capabilities in a rapidly changing working environment.
Beyond promoting widespread access to AI, Le Cong Thanh also pays attention to the formation and development of young entrepreneurs. Having experienced difficulties with funding, market access and management expertise, he understands that a good technology idea alone is not enough to ensure a company's survival. Entrepreneurs also need business knowledge, team management skills, the ability to build partnerships and, above all, perseverance in the face of market fluctuations.
Drawing on its practical experience, InfoRe places emphasis on working with capable students, creating opportunities for young people to participate in projects and gain experience. According to Le Cong Thanh, sharing knowledge, skills and development opportunities not only helps the company build a suitable workforce but also contributes to creating a positive startup environment where experienced entrepreneurs can support the next generation.
Alongside businesses' own efforts, Thanh also recognizes the role of policies promoting digital transformation and the development of science and technology. In his view, expanding access to data, technology and support resources will create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to innovate, strengthen their competitiveness and participate more deeply in international markets.
Nevertheless, for the InfoRe founder, the most important consideration in a business journey remains identifying the value a company can contribute to society. Revenue, profit and operational scale are essential factors for sustaining growth, but they are not the only measures of success. A business must also demonstrate responsibility towards its employees, customers, partners and the community it serves.
From his decision to leave academia and pursue entrepreneurship in 2011 to the project digitizing more than 700,000 records of fallen soldiers and efforts to bring AI closer to workers, Le Cong Thanh's journey reflects an approach to business that is closely linked to social responsibility. In this approach, technology is viewed not only as a tool for creating products and generating profits but also as a means of addressing practical problems, connecting people and expanding development opportunities.
The story of InfoRe's founder also shows that, for a new generation of Vietnamese entrepreneurs, a startup journey may begin with a business idea, but its long-term value also lies in the contributions a company makes to the community. When economic development objectives are combined with social responsibility, entrepreneurship can not only build a career for the founder but also contribute to driving positive changes in people's lives.
(Source: Vietnam Securities Economic Magazine)
