Vietnamese startup EzQ wins two prizes at APEC meet

EzQ won the Best Startup award at the IDEAS Show APEC 2018 held in Taiwan last week.

Demonstrating a good understanding of user’s needs and applying technological advances for community development, the EqZ model impressed 14 judges from Creative HQ (New Zealand), Samsung Ventures, TechGrind Thailand, Plug and Play (United States), Born2Global (Korea) and Vietnam Silicon Valley to win two prizes: “Best Startup” (Jury Gold) and another reward from TechGrind.

“For us, the trust, appreciation and comments from the judges are of utmost importance. Earlier, we were not fully confident in our business model. Now we are inspired and motivated to pursue the solution that our company provides,” said Nguyen Hoang Giang, EzQ founder.

Starting with the needs and potential of the Vietnamese market, EzQ developed the idea of an ecosystem that links all market constituents. EzQ’s model aimed to cut back on middlemen, increasing profitability for the vendors but reducing costs for consumers.

Using the forthcoming trend of blockchain technology, EzQ seeks to provide a secure, safe and transparent ecosystem, Giang said. In particular, it will increase income generation opportunities to students, office workers, housewives and people with idle time.

Raphael Uranguai, Assistant Secretary/ Ministry of Commerce and Industry Trade Development and Promotion from New Guinea, commented that the business model of the Vietnamese startup showed that the digital economy was a leading area of interest in the Asia Pacific region.

IDEAS Show APEC is an annual startup technology conference. IDEAS Show APEC 2018 was attended by 40 representatives from Taiwan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. All the teams participating in the conference had the opportunity to visit some big and innovative startup hubs in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

There were also exhibition booths for introducing products, and meetings held to discuss and host concept presentations from startups.