Tran Thanh Nam

Who: Tran Thanh Nam, Chief Operating Officer at Mobi Vi (also co-founder and board member)
What: PhD in Computer Science
When: Graduated 2005
Career/Industry: ecommerce/innovation

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 since then has seen it grow quickly on the back of massive growth in the reach and popularity of the internet, mobile phone and business uptake of electronic communications.

His company is developing a number of products -- both for financial institutions and individuals -- where funds can be transferred safely with the use of sophisticated and highly secure computer networks and programs.

MobiVi's e-wallet payment system could change the way people pay for and buy all kinds of services: products such as airline tickets can be directly bought on line; peer-to-peer payments can be undertaken via a mobile phone or over the web, and customers can pay an outstanding bill with the touch of a button.

Nam says being Chief Operating Officer is quite a challenge and PhD study at Monash University helped train him for the demands of the current job.

He studied a PhD in Computer Science in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University in Australia, 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 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."

Why choose Monash?
Monash University has campuses in Australia, Asia and South Africa, 56,000 students, 7000 staff and an enviable reputation for teaching and research excellence forged in just fifty years. It is rated among the top 50 universities in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement and is a member of the prestigious research intensive Group of Eight universities in Australia.

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.

"I think the University overall is a very good one. It is in the top eight good and large universities in Australia. Overall I would recommend Monash, because my own experience showed me it is a good university and Melbourne is a great city."