Tran Thanh Nam, PhD (2005)

He's studied and worked across the world, now Monash University graduate Tran Thanh Nam has brought his IT skills home to Vietnam to help build his country's prosperity.

Nam is the chief operating officer at MobiVi, Vietnam's leading electronic payment service provider.

He helped co-found the company in mid 2007, and it has grown quickly on the back of massive growth in the reach and popularity of the internet and mobile phones, and business uptake of electronic communications.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report in July 2009 found Vietnam's internet service will grow by a massive 20 percent in the five years to 2013.

Nam wants to harness the country's enthusiasm for technology and also revolutionise the way millions of people across Vietnam do business and undertake their personal financial transactions – making the quantum shift from cash to electronic commerce in a country where cash and cheques are the main form of payment.

His company is developing a number of products – both for financial institutions and individuals – that could change the way people pay for and buy all kinds of goods and services.

MobiVi's e-wallet payment system uses highly-secure computer networks and programs enabling, for example, airline tickets to be bought online, peer-to-peer payments undertaken via a mobile phone or over the web, and bills paid with the touch of a computer button.

The company is also working with banks and other financial institutions to streamline the safe electronic transfer of funds.

Nam left a job at computer giant Microsoft in the US to return to Vietnam to set up the company.

"The great thing about my work is that I am doing it in Vietnam," he says proudly.

"I have done quite a bit of work overseas as well – all of that was great – but doing exciting things in Vietnam, that is the best thing about my job right now."

Nam says being chief operating officer is quite a challenge and PhD study at Monash University helped prepare him for the demands of the job. He studied a PhD in computer science in the Faculty of Information Technology, graduating in late 2005.

"I learnt a lot in the four and a half years or so at Monash," Nam says. "The key thing is you learnt a lot through that process, how to do something significant, how to do it independently and largely, but also in co-operation with other people. So they are the sorts of skills you can apply anywhere. I am no longer a PhD graduate just doing computer science. I have to do business, I have to do operations, I have to do administration and that is a challenge I enjoy."

Nam – who set up the Vietnamese Students Club at the University – spent most of his time at the two largest campuses, Clayton and Caulfield, in suburban Melbourne. He says he enjoyed the mix of social, academic and sporting activities and would recommend Monash to other Vietnamese students.