In 2010, VNG established the Vietnam Internet User Community Foundation (VNIF) led by VNG General Director Le Hong Minh, just six years after the information and communication technology company was founded. The foundation has ever since conducted multiple practical programs benefiting the community.

VNIF operates on a voluntary basis to support healthcare and education projects, help more people access the Internet, connect charity organizations, improve the living conditions of local people and build the human resources to serve the country’s development.

Companion of charity groups

The foundation, with the motto “Developing the Internet to change the life of Vietnamese people”, also links charity organizations, social sponsoring centers as well as individuals and units wanting to do charity work with people in need of support. The foundation aims to spread the humanity in life. The potential of the Internet is huge and through it, each individual’s acts can change the life of many others, according to VNG. Since its establishment, VNIF has carried out more than 20 charity projects in 13 localities, supporting over 10,000 disadvantaged people. The foundation has also accompanied many other charity funds such as Newborns Vietnam and Operation Smile, in meaningful campaigns with a total donation of more than VND30 billion. VNG has come up with Uprace, a charity race for the community, which was first introduced in 2017. In 2018, the race was held for all people, with an aim to pull Vietnam off the list of sedentary countries by 2023 and raise fund for the Newborns Vietnam. The Uprace 2018 attracted more than 10,000 participants. Last year, the number of participants surged to over 32,000, mainly from enterprises, sports clubs and universities nationwide as well as the overseas Vietnamese community. After the event, more than VND6 billion was donated to three charity funds to help reduce the infant mortality rate in Vietnam, grow one million trees and present 500 scholarships to students with difficult circumstances. The program this year was kicked off on September 18. Stunningly, more than 100,000 runners participated in the race, completing 1.4 million kilometers of roads and donating more than VND1.4 billion to four social organizations: Newborns Vietnam, Green Viet, VietSeeds and Operation Smile Vietnam.

Strong support for the poor

As a leading technological firm in Vietnam, VNG has been well-known for its Zalo chatting app which has been used by millions of Vietnamese people, and since its establishment in 2004, the firm has utilized its technologies to help improving the life quality of local people, especially the poor. At present, most Vietnamese people using smartphones have installed the Zalo app and hundreds of millions of people have installed the ZaloPay e-wallet. Due to the high number of users, ZaloPay has cooperated with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee to open a channel for benefactors to contribute to the poor. Accordingly, the program of supporting Covid-19-hit people was launched on both the ZaloPay app and the ZaloPay feature in the Zalo chatting app from February to June 30, 2020. Through the program, some VND1.6 billion was donated. On October 17, the ZaloPay e-wallet service provider, under VNG, presented VND500 million to the fund for the poor and social welfare of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee to respond to the committee’s call in the month for the poor (from October 17 to November 18) and the campaign “the whole country joins hands for the poor - no one is left behind”, launched by the prime minister. According to statistics from the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, by December 31, 2019, the country still had more than 984,000 poor and nearly 1.2 million near-poor households. Many of them are living in makeshift homes. This year, the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly hit Vietnam’s socioeconomic development and impeding the poverty alleviation effort. To contribute to the fight against the pandemic, the company in March donated VND5 billion to the National Fund for Covid-19 Infection Prevention and Control. On August 30, VNG presented 500 gift sets, each comprising rice, cakes, milk and tinned food, to students of Danang University of Science and Technology to encourage them to overcome difficulties triggered by Covid-19. In total, VNG has supported the fight against Covid-19 with VND8.2 billion. VNG, which has served more than 100 million customers in Vietnam and many other regional countries, has been evaluated at more than US$1 billion in the World Startup Report and the Google-Temasek Report. In 2019, Forbes Vietnam calculated VNG’s brand value at US$59.6 million and listed it in the top 50 leading brands in Vietnam. The firm was also listed as one of the six leading information technology brands in Vietnam and one of the best places to work for in Asia, voted by the HR Asia Magazine.

By Van Ly