As a high school student in a village outside Hanoi, Nguyen Hoa Binh, 25, saved his daily breakfast money to buy books on computer software development so he could teach himself programming. He practised his skills on the desktop computer his parents purchased in 1994 after selling off an extra plot of their land.

Today, Mr Binh, an IT graduate from the prestigious Hanoi National University, is president and CEO of his own IT start-up, Peace-soft, which is trying to introduce the concept of e-commerce to Vietnam's growing number of internet users.