At the Hilton Saigon ballroom on August 28-29, 100 outstanding candidates – selected from over ten thousand applications nationwide – buzzed with excitement as Jacob Binu, CEO of Nestlé Vietnam, began with his opening words:
“You are experiencing a hackathon unlike anything seen in FMCG recruitment in Vietnam, or even in SEA and globally, so just be yourself and have fun!”
Nesternship: NesUP Hackathon is part of the Nesternship: NesUP 2025 – a youth-empowering, skill-building initiative by Nestlé Needs YOUth and Onboardy with Vietcetera and VietnamWorks as Program Partners. The top 40 performers at the hackathon will earn a pathway to a career with Nestlé Vietnam. But beyond that, “this is not a competition, it’s also a learning opportunity”, as emphasized by Le Thanh Khang, Head of HR at Nestlé Vietnam.
He explained: “Some students who often attend interviews may naturally perform better in traditional recruitment. But true ability is revealed when you are tested in diverse situations. Nesternship: NesUP Hackathon is exactly such a chance. Here, you can showcase your potential more fully while also building skills, mindset, and experience through two days of intensive activities.”
Learn, play, compete, and discover oneself
The hackathon began with skills workshops delivered by representatives from Nestlé, Vietcetera, and VietnamWorks. The contestants learned how to analyze a challenge, extract insights, how to create well-structured presentations, and deliver persuasive pitches.
These sessions gave contestants not just tools for the competition but also practical skills for their future careers. They set the stage for highly interactive, hands-on activities that tested both mental and physical resilience.
As contestant Ho Tien Vinh shared after completing the Exploratory Rooms: “I feel like my creativity and perseverance leveled up. I really enjoyed how gamification was used to make teamwork diverse and exciting.”
In these Exploratory Rooms, teams with diverse personality types and career interests worked together to solve simulated workplace scenarios.Designed as a friendly take on an “escape room,” the Exploratory Rooms guided each team along their own route, not with locks or puzzles, but with tasks that revealed five core skills central to the Nesternship: NesUP program.
The main event of the hackathon was solving business cases. Teams received their assignments on the first day and presented their solutions the following afternoon after finishing the Exploratory Rooms.
Many students admitted the cases were tough, demanding strong analytical skills and handling large amounts of data. But thanks to the mini-game point system, teams could unlock Q&A sessions with Nestlé mentors, who guided them through the process.
Contestant Bui Manh Cuong, whose team won the business challenge, said: “This was an invaluable experience for practicing strategic thinking. We got our case at 3 p.m. and had to submit by 10 p.m. It was intense, but also thrilling!”
Many others agreed that the most crucial skills they gained were teamwork and communication: “Since we had just met, we had to balance different viewpoints, make quick decisions, and present our ideas clearly. That was absolutely essential.”
As Ta Thuy Minh, Chief Content Officer of Vietcetera, put it: Nesternship: NesUP Hackathon embodies our mission to help young people upskill. In a time of constant change, this is more important than ever.
Nestlé Vietnam’s vision: Investing in youth for sustainable growth
Vietnamese Party General Secretary, To Lam, once stressed that human development, especially the young generation – must be a top strategic priority to achieve the nation’s goal of becoming a developed country by 2045. People are both the foundation and driving force of sustainable growth.
Echoing this, Jacob Binu reaffirmed Nestlé Vietnam’s commitment to partner with the government by investing in youth development, part of the company’s core principle of Creating Shared Value (CSV).
Commenting on the strategic collaboration between Nestlé, Onboardy, Vietcetera, and VietnamWorks, Hao Tran (CEO of Vietcetera) noted that this joint effort pioneers solutions to workforce development challenges that all companies – large or small, local or multinational – face today.
At the event, he added: “If I could send one message to young people, it would be: never stop learning. It’s not only an attitude but also a lifelong skill you will always need, no matter where or when you work.”
Accelerating towards a sustainable career
Following the hackathon, the recruitment process for Nesternship: NesUP 2025 continues until mid-September. The top 40 performers will officially receive offers for a six-month full-time internship at Nestlé.
Although Nestlé’s largest internship recruitment drive of the year will close, its commitment to empowering youth will carry on, alongside partners Onboardy, Vietcetera, and VietnamWorks. This mission aligns with Vietnam’s broader vision to rise as a nation under the “Four Pillars” of the Central Resolution.
Beyond Nesternship, Nestlé is running other long-term programs to nurture student skills, from the #SparkTheNext Leaders Program and Technical Apprenticeship Program to NestGen – covering disciplines from business to engineering. Similarly, Onboardy, Vietcetera, and VietnamWorks plan to launch more strategic collaborations soon, each designed as touchpoints to inspire a new generation of capable, confident, and forward-looking young professionals.
Some moments at the event.
Nesternship: NesUP 2025 is a youth-empowering, skill-building initiative by Nestlé Needs YOUth and Onboardy with Vietcetera and VietnamWorks as Program Partners.
The program aims to equip Vietnamese young talents with hands-on skills and real-world insights into the FMCG industry - while building their confidence to navigate today’s ever-evolving professional landscape.
The Program Process:
July 4th - August 8th: Application & Online Assessment
August 28th - August 29th: NesUP Hackathon
September 16th: Onboarding
For more details, visit the website.