VietNamNet Bridge - Billionaire Bill Gates is in the process of founding a large-scale charity project in Vietnam, according to some reliable sources.



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Billionaire Bill Gates (far right) in the signing ceremony of the financing agreement of $40 million for a charity project worth $80 million in Indonesia, on April 5.

 

On his personal page, a well-known journalist said that Bill Gates has started implementing a charitable project for Vietnam, called the “Vietnam Health Fund”.

This is Gates’ initiative, through which he is calling for the more affluent people of Vietnam to donate $50 million to improve the healthcare situation. For every US dollar Vietnamese donate to the project, Gates will contribute one dollar. A Vietnamese businessman has already committed to donating $5 million to the fund.

There has been no official announcement from either Bill Gates or his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on this program. But according to VnEconomy’s sources, this program is consistent with the existing action plans of Mr. Gates in Southeast Asia.

Last week, AsianNews reported that Gates, along with the Tahir Foundation and various Indonesian businesses, launched and built a fund called Indonesia Health Fund, with initial funding of up to $207 million. Of this figure, Gates and Tahir contributed half - $103.5 million. The Tahir Foundation is the large charity fund of the Chair and CEO of the Mayapada Corporation in Indonesia.

At the same time, another funding program worth up to $80 million was also initiated by the same group. Gates also donated $40 million to this fund, according to a deal inked on April 5.

This type of charity fund model is not new in Vietnam. In recent years, VCF, a charity foundation supported by VinaCapital, has also been operating under the above model.

VCF was founded in 2007 to implement development and humanitarian projects in Vietnam. The fund's Board of Directors holds fundraising activities, and for each Vietnam dong the fund raises, Vinacapital contributes VND1.

Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital, says the establishment of VCF aims to promote and encourage charitable activities in Vietnam. While supported by Vinacapital, VCF still operates its charity projects freely and autonomously.

One of the most important activities that VCF is implementing is "Heartbeat Vietnam", a surgical program for children with heart diseases. To date, 3,000 children across the country received surgery through this program.

VNeconomy