VietNamNet Bridge – Accessories designer Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, 32, from Lan Viet Fashion Company, has won the British Council's annual International Young Creative Entrepreneur award in Viet Nam.

London bound: (Left to right) Ngo Thai Uyen, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan and Dang Vo receive prizes on Monday. — Photo courtesy British Council

Lan graduated from Ha Noi Foreign Trade University and worked for a number of Japanese entrepreneurs who were exporting handmade Vietnamese handbags. Despite being untrained in design, she says she immediately saw the potential international appeal of locally made handbags and decided to strike out on her own.

In 2003 Lan established Lan Viet Fashion, exporting handmade handbags abroad. She now exports handbags to wholesale customers in the UK, Spain, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

She attributes much of her success to displaying her new designs at International Trade Fairs in London, Madrid, New York and Sydney.

Not only does she get to show off her products, but Lan says attending international trade fairs helps her to keep up to date with the latest trends.

In 2008, Lan attended a six-month training course at Ha Noi London College for Fashion Studies and graduated top of her class.

This year, as part of the "Vietnamese use Vietnamese products" campaign, Lan Viet Fashion plans to launch a new brand especially designed for the Vietnamese market called LanV.

Lan says she hopes winning the International Young Creative Entrepreneur award will bring new business opportunities inside and outside Viet Nam.

The first runner up was Ngo Thai Uyen. She graduated from the HCM City Fine Arts College in Applied Arts. However, as a fashion designer she was largely self-taught.

Uyen won the special prize at the Singapore Fashion Contest in 1997.

She is currently CEO and creative director of NTU Design, which helps to promote brand names, and head of the Fashion Design Department at ADS School.

In 2008, Uyen joined the Developing A Creative City project supported by the British Council Viet Nam, which aims to turn HCM City into a creative hub.

The second runner up was Dang Vo, the founder of BrandBox in Viet Nam.

Dang said he was driven by the desire "not to be a loser in life", and says he is always looking for new challenges.

After obtaining a BA in Architecture in Viet Nam, he earned an advanced diploma in visual communications from the Design&Arts College of New Zealand. He later travelled to Singapore working in a number of positions ranging from creative design, business and project development to business management.

BrandBox now works with a number of prestigious companies. "My clients have put their trust in BrandBox because I am building brands instead of houses. I believe that good brands will never come to an end," he says, adding that he hopes BrandBox, together with the domestic design industry, will go from strength to strength.

Alison Ball, director of the British Council HCM City, said: "The candidates were extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the design industry in Viet Nam.

The presentations were engaging, informative and although the applicants were young, the panel was very impressed by their entrepreneurial skills, achievements and creative ideas to further contribute to the development of the industry."