Tuoi Tre Newspaper celebrates 10 years of scholarship "Giving Strength to Students" (2002-2012)

“Much or little is not my main concern, but whether it is given wholeheartedly or not. You can do it if you really want to.” Mr. Nguyen Van Dat – CEO of Phat Dat Real Estate Development – shared with Tuoi Tre on “Giving Strength to Students” scholarship for his hometown’s students. He said:

– Like many other entrepreneurs, I would like to make small contributions to the society when making profits in business. It is not to PR our company, but simply a humble gesture to support the community when we are doing good. Through my friends and acquaintance, I realized that “Giving Strength to Students”, run by Tuoi Tre, is a very meaningful program, supporting many difficult cases, so I decided to participate.

It is known that you contributed 5 billion VND and mobilized over 1 billion VND from your friends to form a 6-billion-VND scholarship fund. How is this fund used?

Long term vision has always been a main concern. Instead of using such money to give scholarships annually, I chose to set up a fund. Such fund will grant loans at an annual bank interest rate and earned interest will be scholarships awarded to students. For many years, we have lent the sum to Do Thanh Auto Joint Stock Company and in addition to the interest earned, this company has also contributed a few hundred million Dong each year to the fund.

We donate the entire fund to the program and assure loan security. Should there be a loss in the lending operation, we are ready to make up for the losses. Usually, we will not donate all the interest earned, but always reserve a portion into the common fund. This way, the original fund will grow gradually with a few hundred million more each year. Our aim when setting up this fund is not for it to remain 6 billions but to grow with time to tens of billion, to ensure its sustainably and stability.

You once said that your partners also participated in this program as a necessary condition in business, is that right?

It is true that our partners are called to participate in this fund as a required condition for long-term cooperation with PDR. Currently many partners have joined with significant amount up to several hundred million. But the real estate market recently has faced many difficulties thus affecting our operation, otherwise the funds will certainly not stop at that amount.

The annual number of poor new students is very high, but the number of scholarships is limited. What is your plan to grow or expand the breadth of the fund?

It is difficult to raise fund at the beginning of each school year, due to companies’ decision to grant funds may depend on their financial circumstances. I know there are many provincial or municipal associations with strong joint operation and connection that are much willing to join forces in order to build long lasting funds to support society. Given the complementary forces, I recon forming funds for such as “Giving strength to Students” will not be too difficult anymore.

No successful businesspeople refuse to contribute to their country, not to mention this is a very meaningful deed. When we open up an opportunity for a young person to attend university, we are also contributing to the development of society. Every university graduate not only can take care of themselves but also of their families while also contribute to the society when becoming successful. If only few dozens of the thousands of scholarship recipients become successful and give back to the society, this fund has already achieved great goals.

First, lets help our hometown.

In addition to “Giving Strength to Students”, Mr. Nguyen Van Dat also participated in supporting the “Preventing student from drop-out” scholarships run by Tuoi Tre to help students stay in school.

Understanding the difficult life circumstances, insufficient pay and almost no Tet bonuses, I have initiated a fund to support the teachers in the mountainous regions. Our financial situation at this point does not allow us to  be as generous as we would like to. However, I will definitely see to that the fund is successfully implemented. If we are to raise a young generation with great mindsets, we need great teachers with big hearts. So many places to help and so much to do, but my resource is limited and Quang Ngai, my hometown, will be the first destination.” Mr Dat shared.

QUỐC LINH (Tuoi Tre News)