August 30, 2026August 30, 2026Following its selection for the Shinhan Square Bridge 2026 Social Open Innovation Program, JABLY began refining its Vietnam PoC through an offline consultation with MSD United Way Vietnam and two mentoring sessions with MoMo Senior Vice President Nguyen Hoanh Tien.
Following JABLY’s selection for the Shinhan Square Bridge 2026 Social Open Innovation Program, the project quickly moved from initial planning into practical PoC development.
The next phase brought together JABLY, MSD United Way Vietnam, United Way Worldwide and MoMo (M_Service) to refine a solution focused on Vietnamese students interested in studying in Korea.
The goal was no longer simply to define the opportunity. It was to begin designing a student pathway that could respond to real needs in Vietnam.
After the official Shinhan Square Bridge kickoff in Incheon, JABLY began developing the first version of its Proof of Concept.
The central challenge remained clear:
How can Vietnamese students who are interested in Korea receive clearer, more structured support before beginning their study-abroad journey?
The initial PoC explored how JABLY could support students through areas such as:
understanding study opportunities in Korea;
identifying suitable universities and majors;
preparing application documents;
exploring scholarship opportunities;
planning financially with their families;
and understanding the longer-term journey from studying to building a future in Korea.
But before moving toward implementation, the concept needed to be tested against the local Vietnamese context.
As part of this process, JABLY welcomed representatives from MSD United Way Vietnam and United Way Worldwide to its office in Pangyo Techno Valley.
The meeting provided an opportunity to present JABLY’s initial PoC draft and receive direct feedback on how the proposed solution could better align with the objectives of the Social Open Innovation Program and the Vietnamese education ecosystem.
The discussion helped JABLY move beyond an internally developed concept and begin examining the project through the perspective of local partners.
One of the most important lessons from this stage was that a successful solution could not simply transfer a Korean model into Vietnam.
The project needed to understand how Vietnamese students currently make education decisions, where they look for information, and what obstacles prevent them from moving from interest to action.
Shortly after the offline consultation, JABLY held its first online discussion with MoMo, its host organization for the PoC.
The meeting introduced the initial project direction and created an opportunity to receive early feedback directly from the Vietnamese fintech platform.
MoMo’s role is particularly important because the PoC ultimately needs to connect with students through a digital environment that is already familiar and accessible to Vietnamese users.
The initial response to JABLY’s revised PoC direction was positive, allowing the project to move into a more detailed mentoring and refinement stage.
JABLY subsequently participated in two mentoring sessions with Mr. Nguyen Hoanh Tien, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Distribution Services at MoMo.
These sessions formed an important part of the early PoC development process.
Rather than immediately moving toward launch, the mentoring phase allowed JABLY to continue reviewing the proposed model, clarify the student journey, and prepare the project for further validation in Vietnam.
The mentoring sessions also reinforced an important principle for the project:
The PoC should be designed around the student experience, not simply around the information JABLY wants to provide.
This means reducing unnecessary complexity and helping students understand what they need to do at each stage of their journey.
For a student considering Korea, the process can involve many separate decisions.
A student may need to ask:
These questions are connected, but students often encounter the information separately.
The JABLY–MoMo PoC therefore aims to explore how these steps can be connected into a clearer journey.
Rather than presenting students with a large amount of information at once, the goal is to help them understand what matters for their individual profile and what their next step should be.
The consultation and mentoring process highlighted why local collaboration is essential when developing an international education service.
JABLY has experience supporting international students after they arrive in Korea. However, students preparing from Vietnam experience the journey from a very different starting point.
Understanding that starting point requires listening to organizations and people who already understand the Vietnamese market.
The collaboration with MSD, United Way Worldwide and MoMo therefore provides an important bridge between JABLY’s experience in Korea and the realities students face in Vietnam.
Following the offline consultation and mentoring sessions, the next step was to move from remote planning to direct field engagement in Vietnam.
JABLY began preparing for its first project-focused business trip to Ho Chi Minh City, where the team would meet universities, local organizations and other potential partners.
The purpose of the trip was not simply to introduce JABLY.
It was to validate some of the most important assumptions behind the PoC:
Who should the program primarily target?
When do Vietnamese students begin considering Korea?
Who influences their study-abroad decisions?
What information is currently missing?
What role can schools, universities and other partners play?
And how should the PoC be adapted before launch?
These questions would become central to the next stage of the project.
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