UNESCAP and MPI launch women’s entrepreneurship programme

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment spoke at the Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship: Creating a Fender Responsive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem workshop

With the aim of supporting women entrepreneurs, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), with sponsorship from the Canadian government, in co-ordination with the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment have introduced the project ofCatalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship: Creating a Fender Responsive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.”

The project has been deployed in five countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, and Samoa. In Vietnam, the project will last for four years from 2020 to 2023 with the three major components of building policies and a legal framework; enhancing women businesses' approaching and using financial services; applying technological solutions at women's business.

Over the years, the number of enterprises whose owners are women has accounted for about 25 per cent of the total in Vietnam, with equal or even better business results than the ones owned by men. “While men entrepreneurs can persuade investors or their families to believe in them, women have to prove themselves by real working effectiveness. They have to cope with a lot of barriers regarding finance, technology, and land,” Vu Dai Thang, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, said at the event.

According to DM Thang, the project will help enhance women entrepreneurs’ position and unleash their potential so that they can grow stronger.

“This will be an important resource to help Vietnam implement more effectively policies and activities to promote the development of women-owned businesses through creating an increasingly favorable business environment for female businesses," he emphasised.

At the workshop, the consultations focused on difficulties in accessing finance and solutions, initiatives to promote women to use financial services to start a business, as well as institutional and policy difficulties. The workshop also spent a lot of time discussing the project's Draft Work Plan in 2020.

According to MPI data, female-owned enterprises and households account for less than 30 per cent of the total number of businesses in Vietnam, mainly operating in the field of commerce and services. About 60 per cent of women-owned enterprises are micro-sized (under 10 employees). In addition to the common constraints of the business sector, women-owned businesses also face major barriers stemming from social prejudice.