Female entrepreneurs share new business models at GMS discussion
A panel discussion featuring new business models – view of young and women entrepreneurs in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) as part of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30.
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Do Thu Giang, Managing Director of Green Generation Joint Stock Company (GreenGen), shared her business model that develops and distributes advanced biomass cookstoves for low-income people in rural areas.
She said that her company is participating in the Market Acceleration of Advanced Clean Cookstoves in the Greater Mekong Subregion project implemented by GIZ of Germany and SNV of New Zealand.
GreenGen wants to introduce its advanced biomass cookstoves to low-income people to reduce harmful smokes from traditional cooking methods and raise public awareness of environmental protection and climate change response, she said.
She raised statistics of SNV that more than 65 million households in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are still using some kinds of traditional biomass cookstoves for daily cooking, which produces tonnes of harmful emissions to the environment and affects the health of women and children.
Meanwhile, Souphaphone Souannavong, Founder & Managing Director of TOH – Lao Coworking Space & TOH-X Coworing Space, shared her country’s solutions to developing new business models.
She said Lao has implemented a number of measures to create cooperation opportunities and inspire businesses, especially start-up firms to operate effectively.
Lao start-up businesses have yet been a spotlight in the region, but with the country’s efforts to strengthen international cooperation and improve business models, Lao enterprises have been operating quite effectively and gained certain success.
Additionally, Lao enterprises have a lot of potential to expand operation in the future, she said.
Apart from doing research and creating start-up incubators, her company has actively involved in programmes to support start-up companies to reach further not only in the region but also at international arena, she added.
The Lao female entrepreneur also expressed her belief that the Lao business community will grow strongly in the time ahead with the application of science and technology.
“If we want to grow, we need to consider use digitalization”, she said.
The first-ever GMS Business Summit forms part of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10), which is one of the most important diplomatic events of Vietnam in 2018.
The GMS comprises Cambodia, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
