Dang Thi Huong

Founder & CEO off the social enterprise HopeBox

"I was very fortunate to live with a happy family in Australia and learn what a happy family is supposed to be."

Huong’s story is about a resilient girl whose growth is connected with Australia at each step. At the age of 13, coming from an underprivileged background, the young girl from Vinh Phuc Province moved to Hanoi to work as a babysitter. Then, Huong decided to continue her education, even if it meant living in a slum for two years, making sticky rice to sell during the day and attending classes in the evening. "My life revolved around survival... But I believed that continuing my education would change my life" - Huong recounted.

Her biggest turning point occurred when a friend introduced Huong to KOTO - a non-profit social enterprise founded by an Australian-Vietnamese to support disadvantaged and marginalised youth through comprehensive hospitality, English, and life skill training.

"Back then, I was very timid and couldn't speak any English, and I had gone through many hardships and didn’t trust anyone" - Huong said. But at KOTO, Huong received vocational training and got a job at a 5-star hotel. The founder of KOTO himself helped Huong find a scholarship to go to Australia in 2012.

"My study at Box Hill Institute helped me grow tremendously" - Huong said. From a diploma scholarship, Huong was determined to pursue a university education, and Box Hill extended her scholarship to help Huong fulfil her dream. In 2013, Huong scooped the double awards of Victorian International Student of the Year for Higher Education and Premier Award from the state of Victoria, which covered a portion of her Master studies at Swinburne University of Technology.

Later, while working in Australia as a Business Analyst for a tech company, Huong realised that she was still pondering an aspiration to go back to Vietnam and worked for KOTO to give back to the organisation that changed her life. She decided to quit her job and return to Vietnam. "I figured that if I had stayed in Australia, I would have earned enough to buy a house, have a stable life, but that's not my life goal although I always called Australia home", Huong said.

Returning to Vietnam, and to KOTO, Huong led the Marketing and Partnership Department. She took charge of a project called "Her Turn" funded by DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), which brought ethnic minority girls to study at KOTO and then return to their hometowns to work at homestays or in community tourism. The project was a success, and the Australian Embassy continued to fund and invest in Phase 2 of the programme for 2022-2026

In 2017, Huong was selected for the Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue in Sydney, where she presented her idea for an organisation helping women who are victims of gender-based violence. She received a lot of encouragement to turn her idea into reality.

HopeBox was launched in early 2018. “After a year of operation, an Australian law firm (Allen Linkslater) helped us register to become the first social enterprise in Vietnam?. My friends in Canberra set up a Board of Directors and with the support from Hogan Lovells Australia, registered HopeBox Australia as a charity arm to help us raise fund.”

Despite many challenges, HopeBox has been able to partner with big corporations to provide gift boxes such as Uniqlo, Meta, RMIT and Vietnam Airlines, and while not large, these orders have a significant impact on exposure. HopeBox’s ultimate goal is not only to provide support to women but also try to raise awareness about these issues. The organisation launched its global campaign "Move for Hope'' in 2022 to engage participants to choose a way of exercise during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence towards Women.

In 2023, Huong serves as the Executive Director for the Australia-Vietnam Leadership Dialogue. At the beginning of 2023, she returned to Australia to participate in the Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Programme funded by DFAT. Huong is selected as one of the 12 Global Leader to participate in the Obama Foundation Scholars Program, rooted at Columbia University in New York, but still manages her business remotely. She also co-founded a second social enterprise called WExchange offering experiential learning programs for overseas students to Vietnam while providing free mentorships and leadership training for Vietnamese students between 9th-grade and high school from provinces in Vietnam.

Huong describes the Vietnam-Australia relationship as "Evolving", meaning that their ties are at the best they have ever been, are going very well, and are transforming to reach new heights.