After many years of studying and working in England, Singapore and Malaysia, in early 2025, Vu Duc Anh (28 years old) returned to Hanoi to open a startup company, providing personal listening - chat - companionship services.
With the main job being by his side, helping customers confide, the guy collected a fee of 300,000 VND/hour. Duc Anh commits to absolute confidentiality of customer information.
According to Duc Anh, listening and sharing services are quite popular in Japan, Korea, China or Singapore. However, in Vietnam, Need A Friend Company founded by him is the first unit to provide this service.
Many people want to talk about the problem they are facing to relieve their feelings but cannot find those who are willing to listen. They are afraid of the audience's judgments and the people they know about the problem.
Almost every day, more than 100 people contact me and talk about the problems they are facing, but very few people accept paying to buy the service. They say I am greedy and charge too high a price, Duc Anh said.
Although work is very sluggish, Duc Anh shared a happy signal that some customers have returned to use the service for the second time. Some customers even voluntarily pay higher fees.
The guy shared that once, at 2am, a girl called him to ask to buy 2 hours of chat. When arriving at the meeting place, Duc Anh was told by a customer that he had just broken up with his boyfriend, and returned home without the key to the door, so his mood almost collapsed.
"After about an hour of sitting still and listening to customers crying, I comforted her, then contacted the building security guard to help open the door. When the service service time expired, the girl suggested paying more money, but I only took the correct price, Duc Anh said.
Once, another customer just asked Duc Anh to go out to eat and hang out with him. The two went together all day but didn't say a word.
About 80% of customers are young people, having problems with love, education, family or work. There are people who do not need to meet in person but only want to talk via online applications. They don't need me to say anything, I urge some people to think positively when they want to listen to advice," Duc Anh said.
Although the service was criticized for being expensive, Duc Anh shared that he was "bearing losses", the company faced bankruptcy. With little revenue, the company cannot afford to pay for premises, electricity, water and wages for an office worker.
"I am working with the support of my family. I will find a better way to explain the value of the service, thereby improving the number of customers, the young man said.
Ms. Hoa (26 years old, in Hanoi) - a person who used to use Duc Anh's listening service - said she was very satisfied. Before meeting Duc Anh, she wondered what she would get if she spent a large sum of money.
Before using the service, I was almost in a psychological crisis, locking myself in, being afraid of communication, and being stuck. After saying everything I was thinking, I felt relieved and escaped from the cage I had created myself. Thinking more positively, life becomes brighter, now I am ready to make friends and participate in community activities," Ms. Hoa shared.
Mr. Dung (28 years old) is another customer of Duc Anh who hesitated to share the problem he is facing but confirmed that he will return to use the service.
According to information from the Ministry of Health, about 14 million Vietnamese people are facing mental disorders. However, only about 1 million people have received mental health care at medical facilities. The number of mental disorders is increasing as well as diversifying in many aspects such as anxiety, addiction, mental decline, autism, hyperactivity disorder, attention loss...
