Good Morning Vietnam

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Good Morning Vietnam is one of HEC’s many humanitarian societies. The team carries out projects each summer in Vietnam to combat poverty by supporting entrepreneurship, providing much needed materials, and pays visits to an orphanage to aid the children in various aspects of their young lives. 

Mission

•    Good Morning Vietnam is a microcredit and humanitarian society at HEC, carrying out two parallel missions in Vietnam every year. 

-Microcredit:
•    The first mission of Good Morning Vietnam is to provide small loans to people in Hué and My Tho in Vietnam in order to ‘help them help themselves’. By giving them the resources, the society allows them to make a living in various ways. This helps Vietnamese entrepreneurs who are not included in the traditional banking system, to develop their own projects in different fields such as agriculture and trade. Each summer the team visits families who have received a loan, evaluate its impact, and meet new candidates. Once the project and their economic and social situation have been analyzed, the association selects those who will benefit from a loan.
•    The families also receive training in basic economics.
•    Good Morning Vietnam also aims to support people in various types of jobs: for example, street vendors who need more stock, farmers in need of land development, or artisans who are looking to buy machines to boost productivity.

-Charity:
•    The society’s second mission is carrying out charity projects in both Hue and My Tho.
•    The team pays visits to an orphanage in Hué, where they take the children for medical and dental check-ups. They also buy materials such as colouring pencils and provide scholarships that allow children to get an education.
•    The charity project in My Tho consists of buying bikes as well as improving a school library.
•    The Good Morning Vietnam team often offer French lessons to those they meet during the trip, giving them further skills that could help them in years to come.

Events

•    The society spends the majority of the year preparing for the projects that they will carry out in the summer. This includes putting together a team and raising enough money to fund the activities they aim to carry out at the orphanage, buying materials, and the microcredit projects. 
•    Good Morning Vietnam also accumulates some of its funding from entering their projects for awards, for example winning the 2017 Nescafé Award (€1000), and EY Award for the Best Society (€2500) in both 2016 and 2018. 

Why Join this Society?

•    The microcredit aspect of Good Morning Vietnam is a great way for students to put into practice things they have learned in class and learn from first-hand experience.  
•    The summer projects are a chance to discover the improvements that their charitable efforts and microcredit can achieve and the positive impact they have on the lives of others. 
•    Joining the team is greatly rewarding as students get to experience first-hand the effect that the Hué project has on the lives of the children in the orphanage.  

Members

•    Each year there are around 15 members, from different program levels.
•    The society consists of a six-person office and two teams, one for each project. 

Funding

•    In 2016, campaigning for the My Tho project raised €2,710 (135% of their target)
•    Each year, the society’s microcredit budget is €30,000. This is put towards supporting entrepreneurs in the development of their own projects, providing a better foundation so that they can continue to progress.
•    Further funds are collected from a tombola at the HEC Gala, and go towards carrying out the projects. 
•    Good Morning Vietnam also receives €2500 in funding from HEC Paris. 

The Society’s History

Good Morning Vietnam started out as a microcredit society in 2001, and has since launched projects in Hué, and My Tho, in Vietnam. However, after realizing that microcredit was not their only opportunity to make a difference, the society launched their charity projects. Good Morning Vietnam teamed up with an orphanage in Hué to make a difference to the children’s lives, taking them for medical check-ups and offering scholarships to provide them with an education.