Pham Thi Thien Ngan and Vo Thi Quynh Nghi were awarded VND30 million in cash in total. Their public toilet proposal, which would cost VND4 billion (US$250,000), aims to be environmentally friendly and economical.

The silver prize of VND20 million went to a project called “Turning the Traditional Vietnamese Market into a Supermarket” by the team of Nguyen Lan Huong, Pham Ngoc Thien Thanh and Nguyen Tuan Duy from HCM City International University.

HSBC also presented a bronze prize of VND10 million to the Human Resources Solutions project from the team of Luong Ngoc Duc and Pham Duy Ham of Hanoi University.

The HSBC competition, lasting from March to June, was open to all full-time students aged 25 or below at local universities, colleges and vocational education institutions in teams of three.

All the winners will go to the grand finals in Hong Kong later this month to compete with champions from similar competitions in other Asian countries.