YellowBlocks x VTC10 — Doan Kieu My (Kimiko) on her mission as a super-connector

Recently our Founder and CEO Doan Kieu My (Kimiko) was featured in VTC10 — one of the biggest national portals — to share about her journey becoming an inspiring female leader and the vision of YellowBlocks as an emerging tech super-connector, below are five key messages.

4 min readMay 20, 2020

1. Homeland is where the heart is/ The journey of becoming a Women In Tech

Kimiko’s passion for Tech community building was traced to her family background, whose aunt was a senior program developer along with the parents who were respectively a doctor and a soldier. The turning point in her life came at the age of 16 — when she got the scholarship to study in Finland — set the first milestones for her entrepreneurial career later on.

Almost 10 years of studying and living in Finland provided her with the mindset of a global citizen. “Though making significant contributions to the nation, Finnish people never boast about their achievements. I was enlightened and learned from the high sense of responsibility and modesty of this country.” — Said Kimiko. She highly appreciated the time and all the people had encountered her life back then.

After all the time being away from her birthplace, Kimiko felt an urge to return to Vietnam to dedicate her values and knowledge she had gained in Finland to her beloved homeland. In 2018, Kimiko founded YellowBlocks — the first emerging tech ecosystem connector in Vietnam, in the hope of making it the bridge between Vietnam and the world for leading emerging Tech companies.

2. Uncover the market insight of the Tech segment in Vietnam

According to Kimiko, the Tech ecosystem in Vietnam is still fragmented and underestimated. The ecosystem hosts a diverse range of stakeholders, from accelerators, startup members to investors. But it lacks a central point that has the networks to connect the dots and curate the unique resources in order to maximize their collective energy.

“By connecting different stakeholders, YellowBlocks help them exploit hidden resources with initiatives and solutions in terms of business/ Tech/ Marketing. At the same time, YellowBlocks makes it easier for VC to closely observe their investment process as well as involving more experts to facilitate the synergy of the ecosystem.” — Said Kimiko.

3. Kimiko’s through her business partners/ teammates’ lens

Pursuing a career as a super-connector requires Kimiko multisectoral insights from diverse fields, the ability to connect, and create superior value for the society with pure passion. She is both a reliable business partner and an aspiring colleague — who are experts in diverse fields such as IT/ Business/ Marketing/ Startup.

“Their [YellowBlocks and Kimiko] expertise with the emerging tech ecosystem in Vietnam is absolutely unparalleled and they do have the connections to spread their expertise, they are [YellowBlocks and Kimiko] the perfect partner for us.” -Jerry Watkins, Director at RMIT Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE)

“Right at my first project with YellowBlocks, I was impressed by the professional problem-solving manner of Kimiko and the team [YellowBlocks]” -Nancy, Executive Assistant of YellowBlocks

“My is a successful and ideal woman for me to learn from. She’s excellent at technology and so hard-working.” — Joy, Content Manager of YellowBlocks

“I fully appreciated my opportunity to work with Kimiko and learn much from her professional working style such as how to work effectively, set up time management, and exploit the personal potential.” — Patrick, Creative Manager of YellowBlocks

4. Maintain work-life balance as a woman in business

Being both a woman entrepreneur and a mother, Kimiko is maintaining her work-life balance to manage her time of running YellowBlocks and caring for her family at the same time.

“Family is the most important part of my life. I will spend half of my time for work and half of my quality time with my family. I have a little girl, and I pay attention to taking care of her. I like playing with her and teaching her at home.” — Said Kimiko.

5. YellowBlocks’s vision in 2020

Over the past year, YellowBlocks has acquired strategic cooperation projects and signed an MoU — a cooperation agreement — with four governments from Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, and Austria.

According to Kieu My, YellowBlocks has three main goals for 2020: Supporting the technology community; Expand the PR — Communication service package targeting to Vietnamese Tech enterprises; Continue to play a role as a reliable solution for big corporations and VCs oversea to build their networks with the ecosystem in Vietnam.

About YellowBlocks
YellowBlocks is the trusted Vietnam tech gateway to provide local insights, premiere networks, and business / marketing / tech strategies for leading companies in emerging tech (ABCD — AI/ML/Robotics, Blockchain, Cloud, Data).

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