Fostering connection among Young Entrepreneurs – Achievement Award 2024

The ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival 2024 kicked off on Friday in Vientiane to foster connections among businesspeople from the 10-member regional bloc. The event brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs from the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to share their views on business opportunities and trends under the theme “Connect for Resilience Through CoCreation & Co-Investment.” The carnival featured speeches, panel discussions, and award presentations honouring outstanding entrepreneurs in the ASEAN region. Chairman of the HSMM Group of Companies, Soukthavy Chowdhury participated in a panel discussion where he shared his insights on business opportunities in Laos. Regarding mining, he noted that Laos is rich in natural resources, offering significant potential for local and foreign investment in this sector. “The (Lao) government support spolicy and infrastructure (that) will help local businesses increase operation & distribution capacity,” the businessman said. Mr Soukthavy, the recipient of the Lao Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award 2024, added that Laos also presents business opportunities, particularly for small and medium enterprises in logistics services. Explaining his claim, the businessman said this is because the dry port has opened up a more convenient and efficient trade route, which has paved the way for Laos to become “a trade gateway between Southeast Asia and China and also access the European market through other rail networks”. He also referred to the Laos-China Railway, part of the broader pan-Asia rail network that will eventually link China’s Kunming to Singpaore through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. Linking to the China-Europe railway, freight trains can access the European market. Soukthavy also underscored Laos’ agribusiness potential, recmmending that crops be grown in larger quantities and that more farm products be exported, leveraging the improved connectivity that offers more cost-effective transport. Exemplifying this, the Lao ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival Panel Discussion: Connect for Resilience Through Co-Creation & Co-Investment businessman, who is of Indian origin, said “In agriculture, [we should] grow pulses and lentils and export them to India.” Following the Covid pandemic, the demand for lentils in India has doubled. Most of the pulses and lentils currently exported to India come from Canada and Australia. Canada alone exports 1,400 metric tons to India. “Laos can also export lentils and pulses to India,” he said. Soukthavy was also the recipient of a Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Medal. This award recognises individuals and departments that contributed their wisdom and dedication to this year’s 9th ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival. The hydropower sector also has significant potential, thanks to the abundant rivers in Laos. “For Electricity, Laos is called a Battery of South East Asia, and exports electricity to Cambodia, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Myanmar,” he said. As a pioneer of the Lao perfume industry, Soukthavy, the owner of HSMM Fragrance, Laos’ first fragrance brand, said business related to agarwood – an important ingredient in the Lao business couple win the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award 2024 at the ASEAN Young Enterpreneurs Canival 2024 held in Vientiane on Friday during Laos’ chairmanship of ASEAN this year. Outstanding entrepreneurs from other ASEAN member countries were also honoured with awards. manufacture of perfume – is also lucrative, thanks to Laos’ fertile soil. “The cultivation and sale [of agarwood] to China and the Middle East will boost economic revenue. Currently, agarwood is the most expensive wood in the world and more expensive than gold,” he said. Incorporated in 2014, his company, which has invested in a large agarwood plantation, has established a perfume factory in Vientiane – the first of its kind in Laos. Launched in January 2021, HSMM Fragrance-branded products have been exported to many countries, including China, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf countries, where they have received a good response. Also recognised at the awards ceremony, Soukthavy’s wife Nazma Chowdhury, who runs a diamond business called NC Diamond Jewelry, was an additional recipient of the Lao Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award 2024. The chairwoman of the diamond business shared the reason behind her success, saying her business adheres to its model of striving to be ‘an outstanding symbol of luxuriously designed products at a reasonable price’. “Our luxury brand has a vision [that seeks] to allow everyone and anyone to express and adorn themselves with the beauty of diamonds,” she said. “We want to create a space where individuality and diversity are celebrated. We believe that luxury should not be confined to a select few, but should be accessible to all who yearn for a touch of elegance. NC Diamond Jewelry promises its best to customise and add on as per the client’s budget.”