USAID project made large contribution to Vietnam's SMEs

The scheme helped to improve the business environment and enhance the competitiveness of Vietnam's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) between 2018 and 2023.

The event was held in Hanoi and attended by Deputy Chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Sy Hiep, USAID Vietnam mission director Aler Grubbs, representatives of relevant government agencies, business support organisations (BSOs), and members of the business community.

“Through the LinkSME project, USAID has supported the government of Vietnam with many recommendations to foster business regulation reforms and increase the competitiveness of Vietnam's small businesses,” said Hiep.

“The achievements that USAID and the Vietnamese government made together through our partnership in the LinkSME project will serve as the foundation to facilitate trade and create new successes in the future,” Grubbs added.

The LinkSME project contributed to saving time and compliance costs for many businesses, as well as facilitating access to global supply chains, digital transformation strategies, and finance. The project supported more than 70 studies with recommendations and guidelines to enhance the implementation of resolutions dealing with simplifying business-related regulations. This technical assistance partly contributed to the reduction or simplification of close to 2,400 business-related regulations across nearly 200 legal documents.

Annual Administrative Procedure Compliance Index (APCI) reports were developed to assess the impacts of the government’s administrative reform and to provide recommendations to reduce administrative costs for businesses.

The project conducted pre-evaluations and screenings, comprehensive audits, and provided intensive technical assistance to enterprises that wished to participate in the global supply chain. International purchase orders from firms who benefited from the project's assistance totalled more than $8.6 million. Products are now supplied to large markets such as the US, Canada, and Hong Kong thanks to the scheme.

LinkSME assisted SMEs in restructuring their debts to gain access to loans with a value of around $18 million, and improved the capacity of nearly 200 bank officers to assist firms in obtaining access to finance. The initiative also organised training on how to access finance for 700 businesses.

To accelerate digital transformation, the project worked closely with the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the MPI to implement the 'Programme on Supporting Enterprises’ Digital Transformation from 2021 to 2025'. LinkSME provided training on digital transformation for more than 10,000 enterprises in 40 provinces and helped many organisations develop a customised road map for their digital transformation.

To enhance the capacity of BSOs, LinkSME developed e-handbooks on pre-evaluation and auditing, lead firm identification, business linkages, membership retention, and expansion to disseminate useful knowledge to all BSOs across the country. In-depth training for 150 representatives from BSOs in the country was provided on how to utilise these handbooks to better support their member SMEs’ supply chain linkages.

Although LinkSME's five-year journey with the Vietnamese government, businesses, and BSOs is complete, the achievements and outcomes that USAID worked to achieve with the Government Office and the MPI will serve as the foundation for enhancing the capacities of Vietnam’s SMEs and BSOs, facilitating trade, and creating linkages for new successes in the future.

This year, the United States and Vietnam celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their comprehensive partnership. The close cooperation over the past decade on unlocking economic growth, including through improving the business environment and strengthening private sector competitiveness, is yet another example of how the US and Vietnam work strategically together to create a better future for the peoples.

USAID initiative gives helping hand to SMEs With the support of the Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises (LinkSME) project funded by the US Agency for International Development, Vietnamese connections of such enterprises have been improving significantly, along with enhancements of their financial management and a more inclusive digital transformation.

Annual report on digital transformation highlights barriers to overcome The Ministry of Planning and Investment's Agency for Enterprises Development in collaboration with USAID LinkSME has just organised the webinar releasing the enterprises' digital transformation annual report 2021.

Uplifted vista for SMEs in digitalisation and finance accessing The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) collaborated with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises (LinkSME) on July 26 in Hanoi to host a seminar titled Empowering small and medium enterprises through digitalisation and access to finance.

USAID, MPI conduct enterprise training in digital transformation The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) in coordination with the United States International Agency (USAID) conducts intensive training for thousands of businesses across the country on digital transformation.