The “Thách Thức $20 Triệu” announces the winning business plan

Ho Chi Minh City, 29 August 2007 – Among 92 business plans submitted, a plan to develop a luxury fashion retail chain has won the Mekong Capital $20 Million Challenge, a business plan contest organized by Mekong Capital in cooperation with Saigon Times group.

The winning plan was submitted by Ms. Trieu Thu Huong and Ms. Phan Hoang Mai from Hanoi. Both Mai and Huong most recently worked together as senior Vietnamese managers with Sheraton Hanoi Hotel.

According to the rules of the contest, the winning plan will receive an investment amount of $400,000 of which $10,000 is the prize to the developers of the plan, and $390,000 will be invested in the equity of the business. Out of the total commitment to invest $390,000 in the business, $200,000 will be invested in the business when the legal documentation is completed, and the remaining $190,000 will be invested after the company meets certain milestones, most likely with 6-9 months.

The selection committee consisted of 3 individuals who had each founded successful businesses in Vietnam:

Among the final 5 business plans, Mai & ashion retail chain was selected as the wining plan due to their passion and commitment. All five teams in the final round had potentially viable business plans. Therefore, the most important criteria that the selection committee considered was the ability of the team to execute the plan.

 Among the business plans submitted, most of the participating individuals and groups were holding senior positions at their companies and were under 40 years old. Many industries were represented including agriculture, telecommunications, retail, tourism services, consumer products, health care, environmental management, etc…

The top 5 finalists were outstanding business plans in fashion retail, food retail, consumer products, IT services and waste recycling. One came from Hanoi, one from a Vietnamese person living in the U.S. and three from Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Freund said “the luxury fashion retail plan was selected because apart from the feasibility, the two owners, Mai and Huong, have the qualities of successful entrepreneurs and are quite open to new ideas. It impressed us that they were determined to move forward with the plan regardless of whether they win the Mekong Capital $20 Million Challenge.”

The Mekong Capital $20 Million Challenge was initiated by Saigon Times Group and Mekong Capital in January 2007. The objective of the contest was to encourage Vietnamese managers and students to develop their own business plans and for the winning plan to receive $10,000 award and $390,000 investment to start the business. The contest sets a challenge to the winning team to develop a business plan that would start with $400,000 in capital, and transform that into a company worth at least $20 million within 5 years. Insofar as the plan is successfully implemented, 50% of the company’s shares will belong to the management team by the time the $20 million target is achieved.

The second Mekong Capital $20 Million Challenge is expected to be launched in Q1/2008. As the slogan of the contest “Start with an idea, succeed by action”, Saigon times and Mekong Capital hope this contest will provide more opportunities to young people who want to start up their own business.